Florida set to execute man who killed girlfriend's infant daughter, marking eighth execution in 2026

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is poised to carry out its eighth execution of 2026 on Tuesday evening, as Andrew Richard Lukehart faces lethal injection for the killing of his girlfriend’s infant daughter three decades ago.

Lukehart, 53, is scheduled to receive a three-drug cocktail at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was sentenced to death in 1997 after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of 5-month-old Gabrielle Hanshaw.

The case dates back to February 1996, when Lukehart was watching the baby while his girlfriend tended to her older daughter, who was ill. According to court records, Lukehart drove away from their Jacksonville home, and the child was gone. He later called his girlfriend, claiming the baby had been kidnapped and that he was chasing the kidnapper. The story quickly unraveled.

The next day, after crashing his car in a neighboring county, Lukehart confessed to investigators: He had dropped Gabrielle on her head, then shook her. In a panic, he threw the infant’s body into a pond, where law enforcement later recovered it.

Florida has executed more inmates than any other state this year, continuing a trend that saw 19 executions in 2025 — a modern record under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The governor has signed a flurry of death warrants, surpassing the previous single-year record of eight set in 2014. Legal experts say the pace reflects both DeSantis’s support for capital punishment and the state’s large death row population.

Lukehart’s attorneys had sought to delay the execution on medical grounds, arguing that the kidney medication he takes could react dangerously with the lethal injection drugs. They also contended that the one-month gap between the signing of his death warrant and the scheduled execution violated due process. Both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected those appeals, with the nation’s highest court denying his final bid on Monday.

Nationally, 47 people were executed in 2025, with Florida accounting for more than a third of them. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas each carried out five executions, tying for second place.

Another execution is already on the calendar in Florida later this month: Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, convicted of fatally stabbing his wife in 1992.

All Florida executions are conducted by lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.