Florida executes Victor Tony Jones

Man convicted of killing married couple becomes 13th person executed in Florida this year

Victor Tony Jones, 64, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis said. 

A man convicted of killing a married couple during a robbery in South Florida in 1990 was put to death Tuesday in a record 13th execution this year in the state. 

Victor Tony Jones, 64, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis said. 

Jones' death extended Florida’s record for total executions in a single year, with the state planning to carry out 2 more executions next month.

The condemned man spent his final hours meeting with a spiritual advisor and remained compliant with prison staff. His final meal request was a Southern classic: fried chicken, collard greens, and sweet tea.

Jones was asked if he had any final statement and he said, “no sir,” according to DeSantis spokesman Alex Lanfranconi. 

The spokesman said there were no complications from the 3-drug injection. 

Jones was a new employee at a Miami-Dade business owned by Matilda and Jacob Nestor in December 1990 when he stabbed the woman in the neck and her husband in the chest, court records show.

Investigators determined that despite his wounds, Jacob Nestor managed to retreat to an office, unholster a .22 caliber pistol and fire five times, striking Jones once in the forehead. 

Police said they found Jones wounded at the scene with the Nestors’ money and personal property in his pockets. Jones was hospitalized and later convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in 1993 and sentenced to death. The jury also found him guilty of 2 counts of armed robbery.

Jones' death extended Florida’s record for total executions in a single year, with the state planning to carry out 2 more executions next month.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the highest previous annual total of Florida executions was 8 in 2014. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, followed by Texas with 5. 

Jones filed an appeal with the Florida Supreme Court earlier this month, based on intellectual disability and alleged abuse he suffered as a teen at a since shuttered state-run reform school. The court denied the claims, finding that the disability issue had already been litigated and that allegations of abuse were never presented during Jones' trial. Hours before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal without comment. 

Executions next month were ordered under death warrants signed by the Republican DeSantis. 

Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, is scheduled to become the 14th person executed in Florida on Oct. 14. He was convicted of killing two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond in 1996. 

Norman Mearle Grim Jr., 65, is scheduled for the state's 15th execution on Oct. 28. He was convicted of raping and killing his neighbor, whose body was found by a fisherman near the Pensacola Bay Bridge in 1998. 

Florida executions are carried out with a 3-drug injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections. 

Jones becomes the 13th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Florida and the 119th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on May 25th, 1979. 

Jones becomes the 34th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,641st overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. 

There are currently 10 more executions scheduled in the USA during the remainder of this year, with 8 scheduled in October, 1 in November and 1 more in December.

Source: The Associated Press, Staff; Rick Halperin September 30, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde