Florida Man Scheduled for Execution
STARK, Fla. — A man found guilty of murdering a grocery store owner during a robbery is set to be executed on Tuesday night, marking the second execution in Florida this year.
Melvin Trotter, aged 65, is slated to receive three lethal injections at the Florida State Penitentiary near Stark, starting at 6 p.m.
Trotter was originally convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death back in 1987.
However, the Florida Supreme Court later determined that the trial court mishandled certain aggravating factors in his case, leading to a new sentencing in 1993, which again resulted in the death penalty.
The executions planned for Tuesday, as well as one earlier this month, follow a record-setting 19 executions in Florida last year.
In 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions than any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976.
Previously, the highest number of executions in Florida was eight in 2014.
Trotter was found guilty of strangling and stabbing Virgie Langford at her store in Palmetto in 1986. Court records indicate a truck driver discovered Langford alive post-attack, and she managed to provide a description of her assailant before succumbing to her injuries in the hospital.
Langford noted that her attacker was wearing a Tropicana employee badge with “Melvin” on it. Authorities later found a T-shirt with her blood type in Trotter’s home, along with his handprint in a meat cooler at the store.
Just last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied Trotter’s appeal. His attorneys claimed that the Florida corrections officials mismanaged their death penalty process. They also argued that Trotter’s age—65—should spare him from execution.
As of Tuesday, Trotter’s appeal was still pending with the U.S. Supreme Court.
This year, Florida leads with 47 death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas have each had five executions last year.
Thus far in 2025, Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida have conducted one execution each.
On February 10, the first execution of the year in Florida involved a man found guilty of killing a traveling salesman he met at a bar.
Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, was sentenced for the first-degree murder of Michael Sheridan in 1989.
Looking ahead, two more executions are lined up in Florida for next month. Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is set for a lethal injection on March 3, while Michael Lee King, 54, is scheduled for March 17.
The Florida Department of Corrections states that all executions in the state are carried out via injection using sedatives, paralytics, or heart-stopping drugs.
