Florida: Melvin Trotter executed for killing a 70-year-old woman after nearly 40 years on death row

On Tuesday evening, 65-year-old Melvin Trotter was executed by lethal injection in the US state of Florida. He was sentenced to death for stabbing the 70-year-old owner of a grocery store to death in her shop in June 1986.

Trotter was addicted to crack cocaine and entered the store to steal money from the cash register. A truck driver found the victim still alive, but she died in the hospital as a result of her serious injuries.

In its statement, the organization Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) refers to Trotter’s socialization:

“The little boy, who was born as a result of rape, grew up without a father and suffered emotional neglect and physical abuse at the hands of his biological mother, who understandably had difficulty coping with the reason for his existence. He was placed in foster care at the age of only nine, where he continued to be subjected to violence, physical neglect, and abuse.”

Furthermore, FADP explains that in the county where Trotter was convicted, no one had ever been sentenced to death for murdering an African American—the racist background is once again evident in the classic case of Trotter, a black man who received the death penalty for killing a white woman.

Trotter’s lawyers had unsuccessfully appealed to the US Supreme Court, pointing out that Florida had recently been found to have violated its own guidelines regarding lethal injection by using expired chemicals, disregarding the correct dosage, and using unauthorized substances.

Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/24/florida-execution-melvin-trotter
https://www.fadp.org/statement-on-the-execution-of-melvin-trotter/
https://apnews.com/article/florida-execution-melvin-trotter-109cb2ff1255a814a0071cf04f4ad99a
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/23/florida-execution-melvin-trotter-virgie-langford/88833217007/