A fierce legal battle is unfolding before the Florida Supreme Court over whether to halt the upcoming execution of death row inmate Andrew Richard Lukehart. Lukehart is scheduled to die by lethal injection on June 2, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. for a Duval County murder committed in 1996, but his defense team and state prosecutors are sharply divided over the safety of the state’s execution methods and the speed of the legal process.
Lukehart’s lawyers are making a last-minute push to pause the execution, arguing that the state’s current three-drug lethal injection protocol could cause him intense, unconstitutional pain. The defense points to Lukehart’s severe, progressive kidney disease and a major medical collapse he suffered on January 24, 2026, as evidence that his body cannot properly process the execution chemicals.
Furthermore, the defense has raised alarms about past Florida executions. They cite findings from medical expert Dr. Joel Zivot, who reviewed recent autopsy records and discovered mysterious injection marks on the shoulders of several deceased inmates—injections not listed in the state’s official rules.
READ: Supreme Court Appeals Mount In Final Hours For Florida Death Row Inmate
The defense also pointed to prison logs indicating that Florida may have used expired batches of the sedative etomidate in four executions between August and September of 2025. They argue expired drugs could lose potency, leaving an inmate conscious and able to feel severe pain while being paralyzed by the second drug in the protocol.
The state of Florida is firmly opposing any delay, urging the Supreme Court to keep the execution on track. State prosecutors argue that Lukehart’s claims are legally weak and untimely, describing the appeal as a routine attempt to disrupt settled law. The state emphasizes that under binding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, an inmate claiming an execution method is too painful must legally propose a realistic alternative method. Because Lukehart refused to name an alternative method, the state argues his challenge fails as a matter of law.
The two sides are also clashing over fairness and timing. Lukehart’s team argues that the 32-day window between the signing of the death warrant on May 1 and the scheduled execution date is far too short to properly investigate and litigate these life-or-death issues. They are also fighting the lower court’s May 5 denial of their requests for deeper access to state medical examiner and prison records, arguing that “haste has no place in a proceeding in which a person may be sentenced to death.”
In response, the Attorney General’s Office argues that due process does not require endless vehicles for delay, noting that Lukehart has had decades to challenge his sentence since his conviction. Prosecutors also maintain that Florida courts have routinely and properly rejected these exact types of execution record requests in recent years. Finally, the state points to Florida’s constitutional amendments regarding victims’ rights, arguing that further delays would violate the rights of the victims and their families to a prompt, final conclusion to a case that began thirty years ago.
The Florida Supreme Court is now weighing both arguments to decide whether Lukehart will receive an evidentiary hearing or if his execution will proceed as scheduled next month.
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