Frank A. Walls was convicted of murdering two people in 1987 and sentenced to death, a sentence affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. After years of unsuccessful state and federal post-conviction challenges, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant on November 18, 2025, scheduling Walls's execution for December 18, 2025. On November 26, 2025, Walls filed a Section 1983 lawsuit in the Northern District of Florida, alleging that Florida's lethal injection protocol posed a substantial risk of severe pain due to his chronic health conditions, including obstructive sleep apnea and low blood oxygenation. He argued that the protocol could cause pulmonary edema, a condition he claimed was exacerbated by his health status. Walls did not move for a stay of execution until December 3, 2025, nearly two weeks after the death warrant was signed and a week after filing his complaint. The district court denied the stay, citing Walls's dilatory conduct and the precedent set in Long v. Secretary, Department of Corrections. Walls appealed immediately and moved the Eleventh Circuit for a stay pending appeal.
Chief Judge William Pryor, writing for the panel, affirmed the denial of the stay, emphasizing the 'strong equitable presumption against the grant of a stay' for last-minute challenges. The court applied the standard from Powell v. Thomas, requiring the inmate to show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable injury, no harm to the state, and no adverse public interest. The court focused heavily on the doctrine of undue delay, citing Nelson v. Campbell and Bucklew v. Precythe, which establish that last-minute stays should be the 'extreme exception, not the norm.' The court found that Walls's delay was inexcusable for two primary reasons. First, Walls had known about his chronic health conditions for at least eight years, and Florida's lethal injection protocol had been in place since 2017. The court noted that even if Walls waited four months after discovering specific drug logs or a change in his medical condition, that delay was still too long, as the Eleventh Circuit previously held in Long that a five-month delay was 'too long.' Second, the court rejected Walls's argument that the district court should have measured delay from a later date, noting that the record established his conditions were known for years. The court also highlighted that equitable rules apply to stays of execution independently of statutory limitations periods; filing within the statute of limitations does not excuse inequitable delay. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in applying the precedent from Long, which denied a stay for similar reasons of delay and res judicata.
The scheduled execution of Frank A. Walls on December 18, 2025, remains in effect. The decision reinforces the Eleventh Circuit's strict stance on the timing of Eighth Amendment challenges to execution methods, signaling that inmates must raise claims well in advance of their execution dates. The ruling leaves open the question of whether Walls can bring a new claim if his medical condition changes significantly after the current execution date, but it effectively bars this specific challenge based on the history of his known conditions and the timing of his filing.