Frank Athen Walls
Frank Athen Walls, 58, was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on December 18, 2025, and was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. Authorities said that earlier that day he met with one visitor and a spiritual adviser and ate a meal of steak, chicken and cheesecake, and reports said that before the injection he apologized to the family for the pain he caused. His attorneys argued that he functions at the level of a 12-year-old and raised an intellectual disability claim, but a hearing rejected it under the older standard, and the Florida Supreme Court declined to apply a new standard to his case. Earlier that month his lawyers also claimed the state used expired drugs and lower doses than its protocol requires, and a federal judge dismissed that case. A spokesman for the governor said no complications were reported.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. His attorneys said he functions at the level of a 12-year-old and that a hearing wrongly rejected his intellectual disability claim under the old standard, and before the execution they sued over the drugs, saying they were expired and the doses too low.
Reported by: Florida Department of Corrections (the agency that held him); news reporting on the execution.
Lawsuit: His lawyers filed a lawsuit in December 2025 claiming the state used expired drugs and lower doses than its protocol requires, and a federal judge quickly dismissed the case.
News reports (6)
- Execution List 1976-present
- 1980s Okaloosa County serial killer Frank Walls executed
- 1980s Okaloosa County serial killer Frank Walls executed - WEAR-TV
- Florida man executed for the killings of a man and his girlfriend during a home invasion
- Fla. executes record 19 inmates in 2025 under DeSantis
- Every United States Prisoner Executed 2025