The 29th Execution of 2026
A 77-year-old Florida
man was put to death Tuesday for a deadly hammer attack on a woman decades ago,
becoming the 16th person executed this year in the nation’s busiest death
chamber, reported The Associated Press.
Curtis Wilkie Beasley was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m.
following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was
convicted of first-degree murder, robbery and grand theft auto in the 1995
killing of Carolyn Monfort at her home south of Orlando.
The death chamber curtain opened at 6 p.m. with
Beasley already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm. A spiritual adviser
sat at his feet, remaining there throughout the execution.
When a warden asked whether he wished to make a final
statement, Beasley said, “I want to apologize for all the mistakes I made.”
The execution began immediately afterward. Beasley
breathed heavily as the drugs began flowing. His labored breathing eventually
subsided, and the warden checked Beasley’s eyes and shouted his name, but he
did not respond.
A medic entered the chamber at 6:11 p.m. and declared
Beasley dead soon afterward.
No relatives issued any public statements afterward
and it was not apparent whether any of the victim’s family had witnessed the
execution.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected
arguments that executing a man of Beasley’s age who was suffering from
cognitive decline would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The U.S.
Supreme Court declined to intervene Tuesday. Beasley was the seventh Florida
prisoner over
70 to be executed this year.
Beasley also was the 29th person — all of them men —
executed in the U.S. this year. On Wednesday Tennessee plans to execute
a woman for the first time in 200 years. Christa Pike, 50, is scheduled to
receive a lethal injection for killing a classmate in a jealous rage when both
were teenagers.
Arrested while working under a fake name
Court records show Beasley had been staying at
Monfort’s home in Dundee in August 1995 while he was pressure-washing and
painting nearby apartments owned by her son-in-law. Monfort’s daughter went to
the woman’s home after being unable to reach her for two days and found her
body in a blood-splattered laundry room.
Monfort had suffered multiple blunt-force injuries to
the head. Investigators found a bloody hammer head wrapped in a towel nearby.
Authorities began searching for Beasley after a
witness reported seeing him driving what turned out to be Monfort’s car.
Investigators determined that he had traveled to Miami and later moved to
Alabama, where he was arrested while working under a false name for an
electrical company. In 1998, Beasley was convicted and sentenced to death.
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Florida has conducted more than half of all U.S.
executions this year
Florida is approaching last year’s total of 19
executions, a record in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in
1976. In July, Florida executed
two prisoners in one day, the first state in nearly a decade to do so.
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Two more executions are scheduled this year although
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has temporarily
paused the next one.
William Lee Thompson, 74, is scheduled to be executed
Oct. 13 for raping and fatally beating a woman at a Florida motel in 1976.
After a doctor recently determined Thompson might have dementia, DeSantis
ordered a panel of three psychiatrists to examine him and advise if he is
competent to be executed.
DeSantis issued similar stays in 2023 and 2025 though
both executions proceeded after evaluations.
William Reaves, 77, is scheduled to be executed on
Oct. 20. He was convicted of fatally shooting a deputy outside a convenience
store in 1986.
All Florida executions are carried out via injections
of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the
Department of Corrections.
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