Florida is executing Donald David Dillbeck for the 1990 murder of Faye Vann.

Tallahassee, Florida. On Monday, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for a man who was convicted of fatally stabbing a woman after escaping from custody while serving a life sentence for the murder of a lawmaker.

Donald David Dilbeck, 59, is due to die on February 23 by lethal injection for the 1990 murder of Faye Vann in Tallahassee. He had escaped custody two days earlier while serving a life sentence for the death of Lee County Deputy Sheriff Dwight Lynn Hall in 1979.

This will be the first execution in Florida since Gary Ray Bowles was executed in June 2019, the longest period without execution in the state since 1983.

According to the governor’s office, Dilbeck escaped while participating in a professional outing program in Quincy. According to court records, he bought the knife on the way to Tallahassee in the neighboring county, then stabbed Vann in the mall parking lot and took her car. It crashed nearby before being caught. Vann waited alone in the car while her family shopped.

He served 11 years to life after being convicted of Hall’s murder. According to court records, Hall approached Dillback in a Fort Myers beach parking lot and Dillback ran away. As Hall caught up to him, Dilbeck grabbed Hall’s gun and shot him twice. According to the governor’s office, Dilbeck confessed to the murder.

DeSantis, sworn in for a second term this month, last signed a death warrant in September 2019 for the execution of James Daly, convicted of the 1985 murder of 14-year-old Shelly Boggio. But the execution was postponed by the courts and was never rescheduled.

In Florida, where there are currently 301 people on death row, the date of execution is set by the governor, who signs the death warrant. By comparison, in Texas, the state with the most active execution in the country, the dates of executions are determined by the court.

DeSantis criticized Broward County Jury Decision Not to Sentence Nicholas Cruz to Death for killing 17 students and faculty at Parkland High School, but was otherwise quiet when it came to the death penalty after two executions during his first year in office.

By comparison, his immediate predecessor, current Republican U.S. Senator Rick Scott, oversaw 28 executions. Since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Florida has been one of the most active execution states.

Democratic Governor Bob Graham oversaw 16 executions between 1979 and 1987. Republican Governor Bob Martinez oversaw nine executions in his single term in office, Democratic Governor Lawton Chiles oversaw 18 executions, and 21 prisoners were executed under Republican Governor Jeb Bush.

“Signing death warrants and carrying out death warrants was one of the hardest parts of the job,” Bush said in an email to The Associated Press during DeSantis’ first term. “It was exhausting in every way. I never felt comfortable doing it, but I had to do it.”