Death row inmate spared from execution 50 years after torture murder

A death row inmate has been spared from execution amid reports he is suffering from dementia, 50 years after he was convicted of a torture murder. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew William Thompson’s death warrant on Thursday, October 8,  just five days before the 74-year-old killer’s scheduled execution.

DeSantis didn’t explain why he withdrew Thompson’s death warrant in a letter he sent to Florida State Prison Warden Randall Polk, according to The Post.

But the withdrawal comes as reports say Thompson, who was Miami-Dade’s longest death row inmate, is suffering from dementia. 

Thompson was first put on death row in 1976 before his sentence was overturned, reimposed, and he was spared from execution twice in the 1980s. He has been on death row since 1989.

The Eighth Amendment spares death row inmates suffering from mental illnesses if the disease stops them from understanding why they are being put to death.

Thompson’s attorney Brittney Lacy urged Florida Department of Corrections officials to rush the killer to a hospital as his health required “emergent medical care in an emergency petition on Sept. 16, according to court documents seen by The Post.

“He could not give counsel any details about his hospital stays,” Lacy said, revealing Thompson “appeared unaware.”

Thompson reportedly “did not understand” what he was being asked when quizzed by doctors about his surgeries, according to the petition.

He was examined by Florida neuropsychologist Robert Ouaou, who said Thompson “meets the criteria for insanity due to his dementia and significant cognitive decline.”

He “lacks the mental capacity to understand the fact of his impending execution and the reason for it.”

Thompson also told the doctor “he was in severe pain” and he was “too weak to freely move his arms or extremities,” according to Lacy’s filing.

Thompson had previously been hospitalized in Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and Gainesville – and doctors revealed he had a “knowledge deficit.”

He “did not know who the president was” and claimed it was “Bush,” according to the documents. It’s unclear which former President Bush he was referring to.

Thompson was “unable to recall [what he had] eaten, [whether he had] been seen by medical staff [or] spoken to by anyone,” his lawyers said.

Thompson was first put to death in 1976 after being convicted alongside his accomplice, Rocco Surace, for the murder of Sally Ivester, which happened at the Sunny Isles Motel in Miami Beach.

Ivester was with another woman, Barbara Savage, during her interaction with the two men – who would turn out to be her killers.

The men ordered Ivester to provide $200, but she could only cough up $25.

The rather measly sum prompted the two men to bash Ivester with chains, burn her with cigarettes as they unleashed a frenzied attack. 

Thompson and Surace then sadistically ordered Ivester to call her mom, asking for more money, before she was then assaulted. 

The killing was so brutal that local cops described it as “Dade’s meanest murder,” according to the Miami Herald.

Ivester died from shock and the internal injuries she sustained.

Surace initially pleaded guilty to the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Ivester – before the Supreme Court reversed his sentence. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 203 years in prison before he died in 1993 while in custody.

Thompson’s initial death row sentence was overturned – before he was spared from execution twice in 1982 and 1987. 

He was sent back to death row in 1989, where he remained for more than 30 years – before the motion was withdrawn.

“Withdrawing the death warrant for William Thompson was the correct decision. Mr. Thompson is gravely ill, not competent, and intellectually disabled,” Grace Hanna, the executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said, welcoming DeSantis’ decision.

“His execution would have been an abject violation of the Eighth Amendment and an affront to human dignity.”