Grady Judd criticizes Florida's death row delays

Sep 06, 2026

Florida's sheriff Grady Judd is pushing for far faster executions, framing decades-long death row waits as a failure of past state leaders — good news for supporters of the death penalty, alarming for those worried about wrongful convictions.

  • Judd says inmates sitting on death row for 20 to 25 years is indefensible and the process should take five to eight years.
  • The argument is that arrest, conviction, two or three appeals, and execution can all fit inside that window.
  • Judd draws a line between bar-fight killings and premeditated, first-degree murder, saying only the latter is at issue here.
  • Governor DeSantis gets credit for speeding up executions, while earlier politicians get the blame for the backlog.
  • The open question raised: why other states are not moving at the same pace.

Outlook: Expect Florida to keep signing death warrants at a fast clip, with pressure building on other states to follow.

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