Mark Allen Geralds, aged 58, is set to face execution by lethal injection on December 9 at Florida State Prison. His execution marks a significant point in Florida’s history, as he becomes the 18th person to be executed in the state in 2025. Under Governor Ron DeSantis, this year has seen an unprecedented number of executions, surpassing any Florida governor’s record since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976.
Previously, the highest number of executions in a single year was eight, a record set in 2014. This increase underlines a particularly aggressive approach to capital punishment in the state.
The death warrant for Geralds was signed just one week before the planned execution of Bryan Fredrick Jennings on November 13. Following closely, another convict, Richard Barry Randolph, is scheduled for execution on November 20.
Geralds was found guilty of a series of serious crimes, including murder, armed robbery, burglary, and grand theft auto, leading to his initial death sentence in 1990. Although the Florida Supreme Court later overturned the sentence, it upheld Geralds’ conviction, resulting in a resentencing to death in 1993.
Geralds was convicted of murder, armed robbery, burglary and grand theft auto and sentenced to death in 1990. The Florida Supreme Court later vacated the sentence but affirmed the conviction, and Geralds was resentenced to death in 1993.
According to court records, Tressa Pettibone’s 8-year-old son found her beaten and stabbed to death on the kitchen floor of their Panama City home in February 1989.
Geralds had previously done remodeling work at the home and knew the family’s schedule, including when the children went to school and that Pettibone’s husband would be out of town for work. Investigators found that Geralds pawned jewelry with traces of Pettibone’s blood on it, and plastic ties used to bind Pettibone matched ties found in Geralds’ car.
Attorneys for Geralds are expected to file appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
So far 41 people have been executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida leads the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis. The state’s most recent execution was the Oct. 28 lethal injection of Norman Mearle Grim Jr., who was convicted of raping and killing his neighbor.
