Two US death row inmates were executed by lethal injection on Tuesday in the states of Missouri and Florida, breaking their record with 14 executions and bringing to 37 the total number of people who have received the death penalty in the US since the beginning of 2025.
In Florida, Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, died at 6:15 p.m. (local time) after receiving the lethal injection in a Florida prison near Starke. He was convicted in 1999 of the murder of two women three years earlier, whom he groped and strangled, according to CBS News.
With the injection into Smithers, the state governed by Ron de Santis has extended its record for total executions in a single year and, in fact, so far in 2025 has executed more people than any other state with 14, ahead of Texas, with five.
Missouri authorities used the same method to execute 48-year-old Lance Shockley, who was declared dead at 6:13 p.m. (local time) for allegedly shooting a police officer in 2005. Shockley has denied wrongdoing for the past 20 years, maintaining his innocence, while his defense has criticized the lack of material evidence in the case.
These executions will be followed by two more this week, one in Mississippi and one in Arizona, for a total of eight scheduled through December 31 in a country where the death penalty remains in effect in just over half of its 50 states.
