The state of Florida executed Mark Allen Geralds, convicted of murder, on Tuesday, bringing its annual record to 18 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
The execution of Geralds, 58, was carried out at 18:15 local time (23:15 GMT) at the Florida State Prison near Starke in the northern part of the state, the Florida Department of Corrections said.
Mark Allen Geralds is the 18th execution in Florida.
BREAKING: Florida executes Mark Allen Geralds, 58, for the 1989 home invasion murder of Tressa Pettibone.
Geralds was a handyman who previously did work at the home.
Pettibone was discovered fatally stabbed by her 8-year-old son and the house was ransacked.
Geralds declined a… pic.twitter.com/JxapzCMUe8
– Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 10, 2025
Mark Allen Geralds was convicted of the 1989 murder of Tressa Pettibone in Bay County on Florida’s west coast during a home invasion robbery. The victim was found stabbed and beaten on her kitchen floor after the armed robbery and home invasion.
Florida had not applied capital punishment to more than eight people in a single year since 2014, when it reached that number for the last time since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Geralds’ execution adds to a wave of capital sentences this year in the United States that exceeds 40.
To date, 45 people have been executed in the United States in 2025, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center.
Florida leads the country with 18 executions, followed by Texas and Alabama, with five each, and South Carolina, with four.
Another convicted Florida inmate, serial killer and rapist Frank Athen Walls, 58, is scheduled to be executed next Dec. 18 at Florida State Prison, increasing the state’s executions to 19.
Florida authorities have made several decisions in recent years to favor the application of the death penalty.
Among them is a law passed in 2023 that made the state the only one, along with Alabama, in which a unanimous jury decision is not required to recommend capital punishment.
Florida is also the state in which the fewest jury votes are required to recommend a death sentence: eight out of twelve members are sufficient.
With information from EFE
