Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Jesse Guardado, setting a Nov. 5 execution that would be Florida’s 20th this year if the scheduled executions proceed.
Guardado, 64, was sentenced to death for the 2004 murder of Jackie Malone, 75, in Walton County. He pleaded guilty and received the sentence in 2005; the Florida Supreme Court upheld it in 2007. His execution is scheduled at Florida State Prison.
Three other executions are scheduled before then. James Robertson, 63, and William Lee Thompson, 74, are set for Oct. 13, followed by William Reaves, 77, on Oct. 20. Thompson was convicted of murdering, kidnapping and sexually assaulting Sally Ivester in North Miami Beach 50 years ago.
Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025, its highest annual total since capital punishment resumed in 1976. Guardado’s warrant is the second DeSantis has signed within a week.
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