Nearly three decades after a brutal attack left a five-month-old girl dead in a Jacksonville pond, the state of Florida is moving forward with the death penalty for her killer. Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant on May 1, 2026, for Andrew Richard Lukehart, 51, setting the execution for early next month.
The execution is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2, at 6 p.m. at the Florida State Prison in Raiford. According to the warrant and sentencing documents, the sentence will be carried out by the electric chair.
The details of the February 1996 crime remain as chilling today as they were during the original trial. According to court records, Lukehart was caring for Gabrielle Hanshaw when he became frustrated during a diaper change. Lukehart later told authorities that the infant would not lie flat, leading him to “forcefully and repeatedly” push her head and neck against the floor.
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His story shifted during the initial investigation. He first told officers he had accidentally dropped the girl and shaken her. In what he described as a panic, he took the infant’s body and threw it into a nearby pond after realizing she had died.
However, the medical examiner’s report contradicted claims of a simple accident, documenting at least five distinct, violent blows to the baby’s head that resulted in a fractured skull.
What added to the gravity of the case was Lukehart’s documented history of violence against children. At the time of Gabrielle’s murder, he was already on probation for a 1994 felony child abuse conviction involving an 8-month-old girl.
In that instance, the child suffered broken ribs, head trauma, and retinal hemorrhages. Lukehart’s conviction for that prior abuse came in early 1996, just as the investigation into Gabrielle’s death was unfolding.
A Duval County jury found Lukehart guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse on February 27, 1997. During the penalty phase, the jury recommended the death penalty by a 9-3 vote. On April 4, 1997, Judge Henry E. Davis followed that recommendation, citing Lukehart’s prior record and the “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel” nature of the murder.
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In his sentencing order, the judge noted that while Lukehart had a history of drug and alcohol abuse and came from a dysfunctional home, those factors did not outweigh the severity of the crime.
Over the last 30 years, Lukehart pursued an extensive series of appeals. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and sentence in 2000. Subsequent petitions for post-conviction relief and writs of habeas corpus were denied by both state and federal courts, including the U.S. District Court in 2020 and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022.
In a letter to Governor DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier confirmed that all legal avenues have been exhausted and there are no stays of execution currently in place.
Lukehart, who is currently held at Union Correctional Institution, will be moved to Florida State Prison for the execution.
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