PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — On Thursday, Florida is set to execute Frank Athen Walls, a serial killer convicted of three murders who confessed to two more in the Panhandle in the 1980s.
Walls' execution will mark Florida's 19th this year, shattering the state's previous record of eight executions set in 2014. The dramatic escalation has sparked debate between those seeking justice for victims' families and advocates fighting for death row inmates.
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Relief after 28 years
One of those seeking justice was Maranda Malnory. The man who killed her parents, James Ford, was executed earlier this year, and for the first time in 28 years, Malnory felt she could breath again.
"Relief. I felt relief," Malnory said.
Ford brutally murdered Kimberly and Gregory Malnory right in front of their baby daughter on Easter Sunday, during a planned fishing trip. Prosecutors said he sexually assaulted Malnory's mother before shooting both parents, leaving the infant and their pitbull outside until they were found 18 hours later.
"He ultimately got what he got in the end, like I can wake up every day knowing he's not going to get out," Malnory said.
Ford's execution in January set off Florida's unprecedented surge of 19 executions in 2025.
Possible strain on the appeals process
Once a death warrant is signed, inmates have just 60 days to live, and defense attorneys say the cases being selected for execution feel random, fueling fears that politics, not policy, is driving the rush.
I think it's politics, I hate to say it," said criminal defense attorney Carey Haughwout. "I don't know what the explanation is, other than politics. And we do see people running for governor sort of upping the conversation about how many people they would execute."
Haughwout has represented death row inmates since 1985, and calls the pace shocking.
"To me, a really shocking turn of events. I have never in my 40 years of practicing law seen anything like it," Haughwout said.
Haughwout fears the rapid rate of executions could strain the appeals process. State records show there are only 36 qualified attorneys statewide to handle post-conviction death row cases, with just 60 days to file last-minute appeals once a death warrant is signed.
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"I can't imagine how they're keeping up with it in a way that ensures quality," Haughwout said. "The fear of executing the innocent is tremendous to me. We have done it in the past, and I think that's a huge fear."
Florida has exonerated 30 people from death row — 30 people sentenced to die who were later found innocent.
"Three zero, that's a big number, and you just worry that that could continue to happen here in Florida," said Dan Eisinger, Palm Beach County's public defender.
Legal changes raise concerns
Eisinger's concern extends beyond execution speed. In 2023, Florida became only the second state to no longer require unanimous jury decisions for death sentences. Now, just eight jurors can impose the death penalty.
"It's really troubling, concerning," Eisinger said.
In 2020, the Florida Supreme Court also ended comparative proportionality review, a safeguard that compared death sentences to similar cases to prevent excessive punishment. The review had previously reversed multiple death sentences.
"So you worry that these rulings, that these decisions, are going to make it easier for the state to execute folks, and that is troubling," Eisinger said.
Data from the Florida Department of Corrections shows 256 inmates currently on death row, with 17 in the five-county area, including six in Palm Beach County.
Financial costs questioned
Former prosecutor Maria Deliberato, now legal and policy director for Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, says the surge comes with moral and financial costs.
"Actually, since the modern era of the death penalty, post 1970, we've never had this many executions," Deliberato said.
Death penalty cases require more lawyers, investigations, court time and years of appeals. Housing death row inmates costs more than general population because they must be single-celled.
The Florida Department of Corrections has not provided requested records comparing execution costs with life without parole sentences.
"That's part of the honest conversation that I want to have. We have been asking the legislature for years now to do a cost study to truly look at what the cost of the death penalty is and what it would cost to replace it with life without parole," Deliberato said.
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A 2021 Ohio Legislative Commission report found capital cases cost $1 to $3 million more per case than life-without-parole cases.
In 2010, Rex Dimmig, who at the time was the chief assistant public defender of Florida's 10th Judicial Circuit, asked legislators if Florida can continue to afford the death penalty during a Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee meeting, estimating the state spent about $51 million annually on executions, with each execution costing taxpayers roughly $24 million.
On behalf of the Florida Public Defender Association, Dimmig called for a moratorium on the death penalty.
Victims' families divided
Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, understands the pain. Her own family member was murdered.
"I certainly can't excuse the crimes that these men were convicted of that led to them being on death row. I understand the pain that the families are in," Hanna said.
However, she now champions justice without killing.
"For some families, they do feel that it brings them justice. And I can't police that," Hanna said. "There are plenty, actually, in essentially every execution this year, there have been people connected to the victims who oppose it."
Governor defends pace
At a November press conference in Jacksonville, Gov. Ron DeSantis, the sole person who can sign death warrants, defended the execution surge.
"We've heard from a lot of the family members of the victims over the years, and there's a saying justice delayed, justice denied. So I felt that I owed it to them that this ran smoothly and promptly," DeSantis said.
Malnory agrees with the governor’s approach and hopes the public understands the fear of knowing the person who took your parents’ lives is still out there.
After all, the man who took her parents' lives also took away every memory she could have made with them.
"I grieve what my life could have been like had they still been here," Malnory said. "And I think that's the hardest part, is we want to talk about, 'Oh, this isn't fair to people.' Well, neither is not having your parents for 25 years."
Public support declining
Public support for the death penalty has fallen since the mid-1990s. A November Gallup poll found just 53% of Americans still support the death penalty — a slight majority, but declining.
Eisinger is calling on legislators to boost funding and resources for attorneys who can take on death row cases, while others push to end the death penalty altogether.
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