Florida executed James Robertson at 12:31 p.m. His last words were "Naw, I'm straight."

A completed execution is not the same as a scheduled warrant. The Port Charlotte Sun reported a time of death and last words from the chamber. The Associated Press account carried by the Los Angeles Times reported he was pronounced dead at 12:32 p.m. Those times are one minute apart. The guilty plea and the death sentence were already the judgment for Frank Hart's killing. What changed Tuesday is that Florida carried the sentence out.

James Robertson, 63, was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. The Port Charlotte Sun reported the curtain lifted at 12:20 p.m., that anesthesia began at 12:21 p.m., and that he was pronounced dead at 12:31 p.m. The Associated Press account, published by the Los Angeles Times and other wires, reported he was pronounced dead at 12:32 p.m. after a three-drug injection. Twelve thirty-one and twelve thirty-two are not the same minute. Both accounts agree he died Tuesday afternoon after the injection.

Asked for last words, the Port Charlotte Sun reported, Robertson said, "Naw, I'm straight." The Sun reported he smiled a toothless grin at the witness gallery before the anesthesia took effect. Gulf Coast News had reported earlier Tuesday that he woke at 5:45 a.m., that his last meal was steak, fried eggs, potatoes, toast, and milk, and that he had two visitors, a cousin and a pen pal. Those morning details held. The time of death did not exist until the chamber finished.

The conviction was not in dispute in the coverage. The Associated Press reported that Robertson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and waived his appeals in the 2008 strangling of Frank Hart at Charlotte Correctional Institution, north of Fort Myers. The Associated Press, citing court records, reported that he tied several socks together and strangled Hart while Hart slept, that he told investigators the attack was unprovoked, and that he killed his cellmate so he would be sentenced to death rather than live out his days in prison. The Port Charlotte Sun reported the date as Dec. 10, 2008, and that Hart was scheduled for release on Dec. 18, 2008. The Sun also reported that Robertson woke Hart and that Hart struggled. Asleep, in the Associated Press account, and woken and struggling, in the Sun's account, are not the same fact. A March 17, 2016 Florida Supreme Court opinion says Robertson admitted he waited until Hart was asleep and the guards had made their rounds, and that there was no provocation or fight.

He asked for this sentence. The Florida Supreme Court wrote that he was first charged with second-degree murder, that the state offered life in exchange for a guilty plea, and that he rejected the offer and insisted the charge should be first-degree murder because the killing was premeditated. The Port Charlotte Sun reported that in 2009 he wrote the state attorney's office saying the killing was premeditated and that he wanted the death penalty. In December 2012, Circuit Judge Christine Greider sentenced him to death. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed on March 17, 2016. The Associated Press reported that he later waived all post-conviction proceedings and that at a hearing earlier this month he told a judge he understood the execution had been scheduled and did not want final appeals to the Florida Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court.

After the execution, Frank Richard Hart's daughter, Rebecca Hart, addressed reporters, the Port Charlotte Sun reported. "To most people, he may be a name in a court record, a victim in a criminal case, or a part of a story they've watched on television," she said. "But to me, he was my dad." She said the Netflix series "I Am A Killer," which included an interview with Robertson, turned her father's death into entertainment. "My dad's death became a story for other people to watch, discuss, and move on from," she said. "But we never had the luxury of moving on as if nothing happened." She said Hart's life mattered before the murder and still matters. "I wish you could know that even now, I'm still speaking your name," she said.

Robertson was Florida's 17th execution of 2026, the Associated Press reported. Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew William Lee Thompson's death warrant last week, leaving Robertson as the only person on Tuesday's calendar. William Reaves, 77, is scheduled for Oct. 20. Jesse Guardado, 64, is scheduled for Nov. 5. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said the case shows the death penalty is not a deterrent. Legal and policy director Maria DeLiberato said Frank Hart deserved to be safe in state custody and that when someone commits murder to secure his own execution, the state has to confront what that says about the penalty. Florida executions use a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart, the Department of Corrections told the Associated Press. The guilty plea and the death sentence were the judgment for Frank Hart's killing. Tuesday's injection completed that sentence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.