Florida death row is shrinking as executions accelerate

During the last 10 years, the number of death row inmates from Brevard county dropped from 12 down to three and soon it will likely be two.

Chadwick Willacy, formerly of Palm Bay and who has spent 36 years on death row for the murder of his 58-year-old neighbor Marlys Sather, is set to be executed by lethal injection on April 21. Willacy is 56.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been setting records trying to clear as much of the death row roster as possible ― in 2025, Florida executed 19 inmates, more than twice the number of the previous high of eight in 2014. But the dwindling roster of Brevard death row inmates can also be traced to a misinterpretation by the Florida Supreme Court of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2016 requiring unanimous jury recommendations regarding the death penalty.

In 2020, the Florida Supreme Court recognized its misinterpretation and reversed itself on the issue.

But between 2016 and 2020, several high-profile cases from Brevard were affected by the ruling, including Brandon Lee Bradley, who shot and killed Brevard County Sheriff's Deputy Barbara Pill in 2012. His sentence was reduced to life in prison. Randy Schoenwetter and others also had their death sentences reduced. Another death row notable, Margaret Allen, the Titusville woman who tortured and killed her former housekeeper, died on death row.

Long wait for justice or too much power in DeSantis' hands?

Many complain that 36 years, as in Willacy's case, or the 46 years that Bryan Jennings spent on death row before he was put to death in November 2025 is too long for families to wait for justice. But opponents of the death penalty say DeSantis is far too keen to execute inmates.

"Governor DeSantis has personally scheduled 25 execution dates since the beginning of 2025. He alone has the power to select those who will be executed, decide whether they are deserving of clemency, and then set their executions — an extraordinary and unprecedented concentration of life-and-death power in a single elected official," Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Institute told me. "The secrecy and lack of oversight that surrounds Florida's executions is especially troubling given recent evidence of procedural failures, including four executions where state officials used expired drugs and at least two executions where inadequate or undocumented doses of certain drugs were used."

In 2025, Florida accounted for 40% of the total number of executions in the United States. DeSantis has been quoted saying it's important to bring justice to the families of the victims.

Grace Ellen Hannah with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said DeSantis ramped up the pace on executions when he started his presidential run.

"Do we really want to give our government the power to kill its own citizens, particularly under laws that exempt the execution process from sunshine law disclosure?" Hannah asked. "He (DeSantis) has said that it's about justice for the victims’ families, but we regularly spend time with those same families and know that many of them don't want to see another life taken."

Former prosecutor says delays cause anguish for families of victims

But a retired Brevard County prosecutor, experienced in prosecuting death penalty cases, disagreed and said Florida goes to great lengths to assure the death penalty is reserved "for only those found guilty of the most heinous murders."

"Based on my 30 years of prosecuting death penalty cases and speaking with the surviving family of the victims, the suggestion by death penalty opponents that execution causes the families of victims anguish by having to relive the murder is nonsense," Gary Beatty said. "The only anguish I’ve heard from them is that it takes too long to carry out. Any anguish for victims' families comes from the delays in carrying out the death penalty."

"The very suggestion that opponents care a whit about the feelings of victims is a joke. The opponents will say anything to save the murderers, who are the only ones the opponents really care about," he continued.

I believe people can change, be rehabilitated, but I also know that true evil exists. I've seen it. Whether it is really for the victims' families or just politics, DeSantis shows no sign of slowing down executions.

Shortly after 6 pm on April 21, barring any last-minute court action, there will be one less killer from Brevard on death row.

Source: floridatoday.com, John A. Flores, April 20, 2026

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

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