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Updated Feb. 24, 2026, 10:15 a.m. ET Melvin Trotter is scheduled for execution for the 1986 murder of a 70-year-old shop owner in Palmetto. Trotter’s attorneys have filed multiple appeals, including one currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. This marks the second execution in Florida this year, following a record 19 death warrants issued in
Updated Feb. 24, 2026, 10:15 a.m. ET
- Melvin Trotter is scheduled for execution for the 1986 murder of a 70-year-old shop owner in Palmetto.
- Trotter’s attorneys have filed multiple appeals, including one currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.
- This marks the second execution in Florida this year, following a record 19 death warrants issued in 2025.
Unless the U.S. Supreme Court grants a last-minute stay of execution, a man who strangled and stabbed a 70-year-old shop owner four decades ago will be put to death by lethal injection Feb. 24.
Melvin Trotter, 65, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for brutally killing Virgie Langford in Palmetto in 1986. Trotter is scheduled to be the second inmate executed in Florida this year, two weeks after the execution of Ronald Palmer Heath.
The Florida Supreme Court on Feb. 17 rejected an appeal from Trotter’s attorneys for being past the appeals deadline. Another appeal awaits a response at the U.S. Supreme Court.
DeSantis set a new state record for most executions in a year with 19 death warrants issues in 2025. The previous Florida record was eight on one year, in 1984 and 2014. Last year, Florida executed four times as inmates as any other state in the nation.
As it has with every recent Florida execution, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis urging him to stay the execution and commute Trotter’s sentence to life in prison.
When is Melvin Trotter scheduled to be executed?
Trotter’s execution is scheduled to begin 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Florida State Prison, according to documents posted on the state Supreme Court website.
Who is Melvin Trotter?
Melvin Trotter of Manatee County received the death sentence, twice, for fatally stabbing Langford, 70, during the robbery of her convenience store.
Trotter was on house arrest for a previous burglary conviction when prosecutors said he waited outside Langford’s Grocery Store in Palmetto on June 16, 1986, for the last customer to leave. Langford was alone, cutting meat in the back.
Trotter walked in and began rifling through the cash register, grabbing some food stamps and about $100 to buy drugs, according to archived reports in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
It’s unknown if Langford came out or Trotter confronted her, but prosecutors said he stabbed her seven times with a butcher knife before fleeing. A truck driver found her and called for help.
Langford had “a large abdominal wound that resulted in disembowelment,” according to a summary by state Attorney General James Uthmeier. She was able to identify Trotter but hours after her surgery, Langford died of cardiac arrest.
Trotter was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in May 1987. He was also found guilty of burglary, robbery without a gun and robbery with a gun or deadly weapon, for which he was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
The Florida Supreme Court awarded Trotter a resentencing after it was found the court mishandled aggravating factors of his case. He was sentenced to death a second time in 1993. The court reaffirmed the death sentence in 1996.
Attorneys for Trotter filed multiple appeals, pointing to Trotter’s teenage diagnosis of mental disability. Under Florida law, the death sentence may not be imposed on an “intellectually disabled defendant.” State prosecutors said in 2005 that numerous evaluations over three decades portrayed Trotter’s intelligence as average.
Trotter’s appeals were denied in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2018, Uthmeier said.
When are the next executions in Florida?
- March 3: Billy L. Kearse, 53, confessed to shooting Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish with his own service weapon during a 1991 traffic stop.
- March 17: Michael King, 54, was convicted in the 2008 kidnap, rape and murder of Denise Amber Lee of North Port that resulted in increased training for 911 operators across Florida.
How many people are on Florida’s death row?
As of Feb. 24, there were 251 people on death row in Florida. The stats break down to 250 men (154 White, 86 Black, 10 other) and one Black woman.
How many death row inmates has Florida executed?
From 1924 until May 1964, the state of Florida executed 196 people. There were no executions from May 1964 until May 1976.
In 1972, the United States Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, but it was reinstated in 1976. Florida has carried out 126 executions since then, 19 in 2025 alone.
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.
Michelle Spitzer, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida, contributed to this story.
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