A Florida man convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and wounding his mother-in-law is scheduled for execution today. William Frances Silvia, 61, would be the 13th prisoner put to death in Florida this year.
The execution is set to take place at Florida state prison near Starke, with a three-drug injection scheduled to begin at 6pm local time. The US Supreme Court denied a request to halt the execution on Tuesday.
Silvia was sentenced to death after being convicted of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder for a 2006 attack on Patricia Silvia and her mother, Betty Woodard. Court records indicate Silvia purchased a shotgun and went to Woodard's Orlando-area home, where his estranged wife was living, and shot both women after an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile.
Silvia was first sentenced to death in 2008. After an appeal related to Florida’s death penalty sentencing procedures, he was granted a new death penalty phase in 2018 and again sentenced to death. An appeal arguing inadequate legal assistance from the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court.
Florida has carried out more than half of the 22 executions in the US so far in 2026. The state has two more executions planned for September: Harold Gene Lucas, 74, on 1 September, and Daniel Owen Conahan Jr, 72, on 10 September.