Florida to set new record for executions

Florida prepares for 18th execution this year

FOX 13's Lloyd Sowers shares how the debate over the death penalty is heating up as Florida is set to execute it's 18th person this year.

FLORIDA - 58-year-old Mark Allen Geralds is scheduled to be executed Tuesday at the Florida State Prison in Raiford. Florida has led the nation in executions in 2024 and 2025.

The backstory:

Geralds was convicted of robbing and stabbing to death Tressa Pettibone in her home in Panama City Beach in 1989. Her body was discovered by her eight-year-old son. 

A jury unanimously recommended that Geralds get the death penalty following his conviction in 1990. Geralds has decided against fighting his execution, clearing the way for his execution by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Tuesday. 

His execution would become the 18th of the year in Florida, the most ever in a single year.   

There are currently more than 250 people on Florida's Death Row. Governor Ron DeSantis has stepped up the pace of executions. 

What's next:

Another execution is scheduled before the end of 2025 in Florida. Serial killer Frank Athen Walls is scheduled for execution on December 18th for committing five murders in the 1980's in Okaloosa County.