Governor DeSantis Signs First Death Warrant

On Tuesday, April 23, Governor Ron DeSantis signed his first death warrant since assuming office in January 2019. The execution of Robert Joseph Long is scheduled for May 23 at 6:00 pm EDT. Long was sentenced to death for the 1984 murder of Michelle Simms in Hillsborough County. 

In August 2018, Pope Francis requested reformulation of the  Catechism of the Catholic Church's treatment of the death penalty. The revised instruction reflects the growing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of great crimes. Additionally, more effective forms of detention have been developed to ensure the due protection of citizens without definitively depriving the guilty of the possibility of redemption.

The FCCB will continue its practice of asking the governor to commute the death sentence of the condemned to a life sentence without the possibility of parole. We will be urging FLCAN subscribers to do the same as the date of the execution approaches.