By NEWSCOUNT Desk
Florida has scheduled the execution of James “Chicken Head” Robertson, a death row inmate whose case is unusual because he deliberately killed his prison cellmate in order to receive a death sentence.
Robertson is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 12 noon on October 13, 2026, at Florida State Prison in Starke.
The 63-year-old prisoner was already serving a lengthy prison sentence when he killed his cellmate, Frank Hart, at Charlotte Correctional Institution on December 10, 2008.
According to court records, Robertson waited until Hart was asleep and correctional officers had completed their routine rounds before carrying out the killing.
He took several prison socks, tied them together and used them to strangle Hart to death.
There was no reported argument or physical confrontation between the two men before the killing. Robertson later admitted that the murder had been planned and that he deliberately chose to kill Hart because he wanted to be charged with first-degree murder and receive a death sentence.
Robertson had spent decades in Florida’s prison system and had become increasingly unhappy with the conditions under which he was being held in maximum security.
He subsequently explained that he believed conditions on Death Row would be better than those he was experiencing in the prison system.
Rather than seeking release or a reduction of his sentence, Robertson therefore sought what would normally be regarded as the most severe punishment available under Florida law.
He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and waived a jury penalty phase. He was sentenced to death in December 2012 for Hart’s murder.
Robertson’s unusual case later received wider attention after being featured in the Netflix documentary series I Am A Killer, in which he discussed his prison experience and the circumstances surrounding Hart’s killing.
Nearly 18 years after Hart was killed, Robertson is now scheduled to face the execution he had deliberately sought when he murdered his cellmate.
His execution date is particularly notable because another condemned prisoner, William Lee Thompson, 74, was also scheduled to be executed at Florida State Prison on October 13.
Thompson’s execution was set for 6 p.m., six hours after Robertson’s scheduled execution.
Thompson was sentenced to death over the 1976 murder, kidnapping and sexual battery of 23-year-old Sally Ivester in North Miami Beach.
Ivester was abducted and killed after being attacked, leading to Thompson’s conviction and eventual death sentence.
The scheduling of the two executions would mean that Florida could carry out two executions at the same prison on the same day, only six hours apart.
However, Thompson’s execution has since been placed on hold pending a competency evaluation.
The stay followed concerns raised over his physical and cognitive condition, with his lawyers arguing that his deteriorating condition required further assessment before he could be executed.
The situation means that while Robertson’s execution remains scheduled for October 13, the proposed second execution of Thompson on the same day is subject to the outcome of the competency process.
Florida has already carried out a double execution on the same day in 2026.
On July 28, the state executed James Aren Duckett and Dominick Anthony Occhicone, with the two executions taking place about five hours apart.
If Robertson’s execution proceeds as scheduled, he would become the 17th person executed by Florida in 2026.
His case stands apart from most death penalty cases because the murder for which he received the death sentence was, according to his own account and court records, committed specifically to obtain the punishment he is now due to receive.
