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Man convicted of killing a grocery store owner is set to be executed in Florida

Melvin Trotter, convicted of a 1986 grocery store murder, faces lethal injection after multiple appeals were denied; Florida had 19 executions in 2025, a state record, officials said.

  • At 6 p.m., the Florida Department of Corrections plans to begin a three-drug lethal injection on Tuesday, with Melvin Trotter, 65, scheduled for execution.
  • In 1986, investigators say Trotter attacked Virgie Langford at her Palmetto store; a truck driver found Langford alive, and police found a T-shirt with the victim's blood type and a handprint on a meat cooler.
  • Initially convicted in 1987, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing after finding errors, and in 1993, Trotter was resentenced to death again.
  • Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court denied Trotter's appeals while final appeals were pending Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court; his attorneys argued Florida mismanaged protocols and cited his age, 65.
  • Two Florida executions are scheduled in March, following a record 19 last year and 47 executions nationwide in 2025.
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A man convicted of killing a convenience store owner during a robbery in the late 1980s was executed in Florida on Monday, the second execution of the year in the US state. Melvin Trotter, 65, was convicted of first-degree murder after he strangled and stabbed Virgie Langford in her Palmetto store in 1986, Sky News reports. Trotter was first sentenced to death in 1987, but the Florida Supreme Court found several errors in the trial court and ord…

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Winnipeg Free Press broke the news in Winnipeg, Canada on Monday, February 23, 2026.
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