US EditionFlorida man set to be executed for killing 2 during a home invasion
Walls admitted to three additional killings and was linked by DNA to another 1987 murder, making this Florida's 19th execution in 2025, a state record.
- On Dec. 18, 2025, Florida executed Frank Athen Walls at Florida State Prison by lethal injection after Governor Ron DeSantis signed a Nov. 18, 2025 death warrant and last-minute appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 15, 2025 failed.
- Investigators linked Walls to five murders, including the 1987 killing of Edward Alger and Ann Peterson, after his 1988 conviction and 1992 retrial, with a death sentence.
- Defense attorneys argued Walls' IQ of 72 and cited the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision on IQ threshold, but Florida courts and the Florida Supreme Court rejected disability and ineffective-counsel claims last week.
- Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, contributing to 46 U.S. court-ordered executions so far in 2025, while Joe Nelson said, `This one will officially end my law enforcement career` and Northwest Florida residents expressed relief.
- Decades-Long litigation over convictions and appeals included Eighth Amendment protections as argued in applications for stays, while investigators said Walls stalked Okaloosa County between 1985 and 1987, terrorizing the community.
74 Articles
74 Articles
Florida Man Executed for Killing Man and Girlfriend During Home Invasion, Marking State's 19th Execution This Year
Frank Athen Walls, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. on Nov. 18Florida Department of Correction via AP Frank Athen WallsNEED TO KNOWFrank Athen Walls was executed by three-drug lethal injection on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 18He was executed at Florida State Prison near Starke, Fla., marking the 19th prisoner execution in Florida this yearWalls was convicted of two counts of murder and was sentenced to death in 1988 for the murders of Edwa…
Florida Executes Killer of 2
A man convicted of fatally shooting a man and his girlfriend during a home invasion robbery was put to death Thursday evening in a record 19th execution in Florida this year. Frank Athen Walls, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:11pm following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near...
Florida serial killer Frank Athen Walls, 58, is executed — becomes state’s 19th death row inmate to die
Frank Athen Walls, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after being injected with a three-drug cocktail while strapped to a gurney inside the death chamber at Florida State Prison in Raiford.
Florida Executes Man Claiming Intellectual Disability After Supreme Court Denies Reprieve
Florida executed a man on Dec. 18 who was convicted of killing a man and his girlfriend during a home invasion 38 years ago, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a reprieve earlier in the day. The condemned man, Frank Athen Walls, had filed an emergency application with the court days earlier, arguing that he was intellectually disabled and that lower courts failed to properly consider his condition. Authorities pronounced Walls, 58, dead at 6:11…
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