This afternoon, barring last-minute stays, Florida will execute death row inmate Andrew Lukehart for fracturing a 5-month-old baby’s head in 1996, throwing her body in a pond, and claiming she had been abducted.
Andrew Lukehart was still on probation for felony child abuse for hurting another infant when he struck Gabrielle Hanshaw in the head five times, prosecutors said, and later testified he “forcefully and repeatedly pushed her head and neck to the floor” when she wouldn’t lie still during a diaper change.
Lukehart, 53, is set to be the eighth person put to death by the state this year as part of the drastically accelerated pace Gov. Ron DeSantis started at the beginning of 2025. Florida’s 19 executions last year, a new record, comprised nearly half of all executions in the United States that year, according to the annual death penalty report from Amnesty International.
Appeals to the Florida Supreme Court were denied on May 27.
The next execution has already been scheduled: 74-year-old Dusty Ray Spencer is set to be executed on June 25 for brutally beating and stabbing his wife, Karen Spencer, in front of her teenage son in 1992.
Here is what Floridians should know as the execution approaches, from the crime and trial to appeals.
Who is Andrew Lukehart, and what was he convicted of?
In 1996, Andrew Richard Lukehart was on probation from a 1994 conviction of child abuse for attacking Jillian French, the 8-month-old daughter of the woman Lukehart was living with at the time. French suffered numerous injuries, “including broken ribs, retinal hemorrhages, and trauma to the head,” court records show.
Two years later, he was living in Jacksonville with a woman named Misty Rhue, her two daughters Gabrielle and Ashley, and some of Rhue’s relatives, prosecutors said. On Feb. 25, 1996, Lukehart was left with Gabrielle when Rhue took Ashley to her bedroom. She saw Lukehart enter the bedroom to grab a diaper, and then heard him drive away.
Lukehart called from a convenience store half an hour later and told her to call 911 because Gabrielle had been kidnapped, prosecutors said. He was later found without a shirt or shoes, a block away from his abandoned. still-running car.
After an 18-hour search by law enforcement, Lukehart confessed that he panicked after the baby died at the house when he dropped and shook her, court records show. Gabrielle’s body was recovered at a local pond, where Lukehart said he threw her. The medical examiner testified that the baby had received five blows to the head before her death, two of which caused fractures.
Lukehart was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. A jury recommended death, 9-3.
What will happen at Andrew Lukehart’s execution?
Condemned inmates are typically moved to a holding cell near the death chamber on the day of their execution, where they are allowed final visits and a last meal.
Witnesses from the victims’ families, news media, the state, and the inmate’s defense team are escorted into viewing rooms shortly before the scheduled time. After prison officials read the death warrant and check for any last‑minute court orders, the lethal‑injection sequence begins, and a doctor pronounces death once the process is complete.
Afterward, the Department of Corrections will release Lukehart’s time of death and any last words he chooses to give.
Lukehart’s appeals denied
Courts denied multiple appeals over the years concerning Miranda violations, court instructions, and the lack of any proof of premeditation.
Lukehart’s attorneys appealed twice after the death warrant was issued, arguing that Florida’s lethal injection protocol constituted cruel and unusual punishment for him due to his severe kidney disease, that it was unconstitutional under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and that his 32-day warrant period did not provide him enough time for his constitutional due process rights. He also requested public records relating to Florida’s recent and scheduled executions.
The Florida Supreme Court on May 27 denied his appeal, stating that his kidney disease was known three years ago, that the state’s lethal injection protocol has been found constitutional many times before, and that his time for due process was sufficient.
DeSantis’ death warrants typically give inmates about a month for appeals. Other states provide nearly three times that long on average, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Florida law allows up to 180 days from the issuance of a death warrant until a scheduled execution.
The court also denied Lukehart’s request for public records, which mirrors requests of several death row inmates since documents released in 2025 suggested that the state is not following its own execution protocols for its three-drug execution method and may have used the wrong or expired chemicals or insufficient dosages.
“There is a presumption that members of the executive branch will perform their duties properly,” the court ruling said.
When is Andrew Lukehart scheduled to be executed?
Lukehart is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 2, at Florida State Prison near Starke.
Who has Florida executed in 2026?
To date, the state of Florida has executed seven people:
Former Lake County police officer James Duckett was scheduled for a March execution, but the execution was stayed pending DNA evidence.
The next scheduled execution is Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, convicted of beating and stabbing his wife, Karen Spencer, to death in front of her teenage son. The state is set to put him to death on June 25.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Florida executing baby killer Andrew Lukehart. Schedule, what to know
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Times-Union
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