STARKE, Fla. — Florida is scheduled to execute a prisoner on Tuesday who told investigators he strangled his cellmate nearly 18 years ago because he wanted to be sent to death row rather than spend the rest of his life in prison.

James Robertson, 63, is set to receive a lethal injection at noon at Florida State Prison near Starke. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the December 2008 killing of Frank Hart and has given up all of his appeals.

If carried out, the execution would be Florida's 17th this year, extending a record pace under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A killing to reach death row

According to court records, Robertson and Hart were cellmates at Charlotte Correctional Institution, north of Fort Myers, when Robertson tied several socks together and used them to strangle Hart as he slept.

Robertson told investigators the attack was unprovoked and that he killed Hart because he wanted a death sentence. He said he was tired of prison life, according to investigators. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has noted that Robertson admitted to the killing specifically to obtain a death sentence.

Robertson had been incarcerated since 1980, when he was sent to prison at age 17 for burglary and assault. His sentence grew over the following decades as he accumulated convictions for escape, battery and weapons offenses while behind bars. Hart had been imprisoned since 2003 on........

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