Ron DeSantis signs a record 22nd death warrant this year for a crab fisherman convicted of killing a 7-year-old whose body was never found

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant on Tuesday for Willie Seth Crain, marking the 22nd execution slated for this year. According to FOX 13, Crain was found guilty in the 1998 death of 7-year-old Amanda Brown in Hillsborough County. Court records indicate that Crain was a commercial crab fisherman, and investigators believe he threw the child’s body into Old Tampa Bay.

While Crain has reportedly maintained his innocence, prosecutors stated that traces of blood belonging to Brown were discovered in his bathroom and on his clothing. After a unanimous recommendation from the jury, Crain was sentenced to death in November 1999. In 2000, he appealed the ruling, arguing that the prosecution provided insufficient evidence and that the death penalty was unconstitutional. However, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentences in 2004.

CBS News reported that Florida is currently processing a high volume of capital punishment cases. The state has already carried out 19 executions this year, matching last year’s record, including a double execution in which one inmate was the oldest in Florida’s history. It is the highest rate of executions in Florida since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1976.

The pace and number of executions have drawn criticism from advocacy groups

According to CBS, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is calling for a change in direction as the administration prepares to transition. The group has asked Gov.-elect Byron Donalds to pause all executions. Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor to several inmates, wrote a letter to Donalds urging a six-month moratorium, saying, “This pace has to stop.”

In the letter, Hood wrote, “I oppose the death penalty with everything I have seen. I am asking you for less than abolition. Six months. January 5 through July 5. Sign no warrant. Authorize no execution. Commission an independent examination of the pace, the procedures, and the human cost. Make the findings public before the six months are out.”

FOX 13 noted that Gov.-elect Donalds was previously asked about his approach to the death penalty in March. At the time, Donalds said, “criminals will not run our communities” and that he would “ensure violent criminals swiftly face the full weight of justice.”

The outlet reported that, according to court records, Crain met Brown after meeting her mother, Kathryn Hartman, at a local bar in Hillsborough County. The following day, Crain visited Hartman’s trailer for dinner and spent time playing with the girl. FOX 13 reported that the trio then went to Crain’s trailer to watch movies, and then returned to Hartman’s home for the night.

Hartman reportedly discovered the next morning that both Crain and Brown were gone. When she reached out to him, Crain claimed he was at a boat landing and did not know where the child was. According to the outlet, Crain also carries a prior conviction from 1985 related to the sexual battery of a child, although he has maintained his innocence in that case too.

The 80-year-old inmate is now scheduled for execution on Dec. 10 at Florida State Prison in Raiford, where the state carried out its historic double execution. Two other individuals are scheduled for execution before Crain: Thomas Mitchell Overton, 71, on Nov. 19, and Richardo Gonzalez, 56, on Dec. 1.