Florida Governor Signs Death Warrant for Man Convicted in 1986 Manatee County Grocery Store Murder

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Melvin Trotter, a 65-year-old man convicted of the 1986 murder of a Manatee County grocery store owner and robbery, setting his execution by lethal injection for February 24 at Florida State Prison in Raiford. Trotter is scheduled to be the state’s second execution of 2026, following a death warrant signed for another inmate earlier in February.

Trotter was initially convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1987, but a later review by the Florida Supreme Court ordered a resentencing due to errors in how aggravating factors were handled. He was resentenced to death in 1993. Court records show that Trotter strangled and stabbed grocery store owner Virgie Langford during a robbery in Palmetto, and investigators later found physical evidence tying him to the crime. Langford initially survived long enough to identify her attacker.

Attorneys for Trotter are expected to pursue appeals in the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to block the execution. The case comes as Florida resumes a pattern of multiple executions per month, after DeSantis signed a record 19 death warrants in 2025, the highest number by any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in the state in 1976.

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