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Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew the death warrant Thursday that had cleared the way for the execution of a Death Row inmate from Miami-Dade, more than five decades after the brutal torture-murder for which he was convicted.
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William Thompson, 74, was spared execution after DeSantis withdrew the warrant Thursday, according to a letter he sent to Florida State Prison Warden Randall Polk. In September, DeSantis temporarily stayed Thompson’s execution after his attorneys raised concerns about his mental capacity, including possibly having dementia.
Thompson’s execution was scheduled for Oct. 13 at Florida State Prison in Raiford. He was convicted of the March 30, 1976, killing of 23-year-old Sally Ivester, who had moved to Miami from Georgia with the hope of starting a new life.
The governor, in accordance with state law, appointed three psychiatrists, Dr. Wade Myers, Dr. Tonia Werner and Dr. Emily Lazarou to evaluate Thompson. The result of the Oct. 1. evaluation was unclear as of Thursday evening. The Miami Herald has requested the report but hasn’t received a response.
If Thompson was found to be incompetent due to a mental condition, he likely won’t ever be executed. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a person who lacks a rational understanding of the reasons for their execution cannot be put to death.
READ MORE: DeSantis temporarily halts Miami killer’s execution amid concerns about dementia
Thompson, then 23, and Rocco James Surace, then 30, beat Ivester with chains, burned her with cigarettes and assaulted her with a chair leg during the horrific ordeal inside the Sunny Isles Motel, 16375 Biscayne Blvd., in North Miami Beach. Ivester died of shock and internal injuries. Surace died in prison in 1993.
The details of Ivester’s murder are so haunting that a juror fainted during Thompson’s trial. Police called it “Dade’s meanest murder,” according to Miami Herald archives.
Thompson’s attorneys raised concerns about his mental state and deteriorating health in an emergency petition filed last month in the Florida Supreme Court. The petition, penned by attorney Brittney Lacy, requests that the Florida Department of Corrections immediately transport Thompson to a hospital to provide medical treatment because his health “requires emergent medical care.”
READ MORE: Miami killer has an execution date, but concerns about dementia could alter that
“He could not give counsel any details about his hospital stays,” Lacy said in the filing. When Thompson was asked about some of his recent procedures, including a surgery, he “did not understand” and “appeared unaware,” she said.
Thompson’s attorneys had him evaluated by Robert Ouaou, a Naples neuropsychologist, who “opined that Mr. Thompson meets the criteria for insanity due to his dementia and significant cognitive decline as Mr. Thompson lacks the mental capacity to understand the fact of his impending execution and the reason for it.”
When Ouaou evaluated Thompson, he concluded that Thompson appeared to be disoriented and “expressed numerous times that he was in severe pain,” according to the filing. Thompson was shackled to his wheelchair during the evaluation and appeared “too weak to freely move his arms or extremities.”
In the petition, Lacy details several recent hospitalizations in Tallahassee, Jacksonville and Gainesville during which medical staff noted that Thompson had “rapid deterioration” of his health and a “knowledge deficit.”
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Medical professionals at the prison assessed Thompson and noted that he was disoriented, walking unsteadily and had “a change in mental status,” according to the filing. Thompson “did not know who the president was. Stated it was Bush” and was “unable to verbally respond” to a nurse’s questions.
In a statement, Grace Hanna, the executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said the governor withdrawal of Thompson’s death warrant was “the correct decision.”
“Mr. Thompson is gravely ill, not competent, and intellectually disabled,” Hanna said. “His execution would have been an abject violation of the Eighth Amendment and an affront to human dignity.”
James Robertson is now scheduled to be put to death on the same day as Thompson was set to be executed. Robertson, 63, killed his cellmate Frank Hart in 2008 and was sentenced to death.
DeSantis signed Robertson’s death warrant on Oct. 1; Robertson is not contesting his execution.
Twisted torture murder
Thompson and Surace, court records state, ordered Ivester to ask her parents for money. When she came up with only $25, they were enraged. Surace took off his chain belt and began beating Ivester, and Thompson also beat Ivester — with the belt, a chair leg and a night stick.
During the course of several hours, Ivester also was sexually assaulted, kicked and left to die, according to reports at the time in the Herald.
READ MORE: Miami Death Row inmate to be executed for 1976 motel torture murder
The men only stopped the attack, the Herald stories say, when they hauled Ivester to a phone booth and forced her to call her mother for more money. Ivester’s mother, Betty June Ivester, recalled that her daughter sounded as if there was a “death rattle” in her voice when she called.
“ ’I’m all right. I’m all right. I’m going to be all right,’” Betty June said her daughter told her, according to the Herald’s report at the time.
In 1976, Thompson and Surace pleaded guilty to Ivester’s murder and received death sentences. But the case dragged on for decades.
Both Thompson and Surace appealed and were granted new trials. Thompson again pleaded guilty, and in 1978 was sentenced to die. Surace was found guilty of second-degree murder after Thompson took the stand and accepted all the blame. Surace was sentenced to 203 years and died in prison in 1993.
In 1989, a third jury recommended that Thompson be executed, and a judge sent him back to Florida’s Death Row.
Miami Herald staff writer Claire Heddles contributed to this report
This story was originally published October 8, 2026 at 4:08 PM with the headline “DeSantis cancels execution of Death Row inmate from Miami amid dementia concerns.”
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