Melvin Trotter, 65, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Feb. 24 at Florida State Prison, according to a death warrant signed Friday by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trotter was convicted of killing Virgie Langford, a grocery store owner, during a robbery in Palmetto, Florida, in 1986. He was initially convicted of first-degree murder in 1987 and resentenced to death in 1993 after the Florida Supreme Court found errors in the trial court’s handling of aggravating factors in his case.

Trotter’s scheduled execution represents Florida’s continuation of a record execution pace. Gov. DeSantis oversaw 19 executions in 2025, the most by any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in the state in 1976.

The Crime and Conviction

Langford was strangled and stabbed at her store in Palmetto during the 1986 robbery, according to court records. A truck driver discovered her alive after the attack, and she was able to provide a description of her attacker before dying at a hospital.

Langford identified the assailant by his Tropicana employee badge, which bore the name “Melvin.” Police later found a T-shirt with Langford’s blood type at Trotter’s home and Trotter’s handprint on a meat cooler at the grocery store.

Trotter was initially convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1987. The Florida Supreme Court subsequently found that the trial court had erred in handling the aggravating factors of his case and ordered a new sentencing hearing. Trotter was resentenced to death in 1993.

Attorneys for Trotter are expected to file appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge his execution.

Another inmate, Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, is scheduled to be executed on Feb. 10, two weeks before Trotter.

Florida’s Execution Pace

Florida maintained a pattern of two executions per month from May through December 2025. The state appears poised to continue this frequency, with both Trotter’s and Heath’s executions scheduled within two weeks.

Gov. DeSantis oversaw 19 executions in 2025, the most by any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous state record was set in 2014, when eight executions were carried out.

National Context

Forty-seven people were executed in the United States in 2025, the highest total since 2009. Florida led the nation in executions last year.