A Florida man who beat and killed his girlfriend's 5-month-old daughter nearly three decades ago and threw the infant's body into a pond was executed by lethal injection Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison.
State officials said 53-year-old Andrew Richard Lukehart was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. after receiving a three-drug lethal injection at the prison in Starke, Florida.
The execution proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court declined last-minute appeals, allowing Florida's eighth execution of 2026 to go forward, according to local and national media reports, according to People.
Lukehart was condemned for the 1996 murder of his girlfriend's 5-month-old daughter in Duval County. Investigators said he severely beat the infant while caring for her, then disposed of her body in a nearby pond in an effort to hide the crime.
According to court records, Lukehart initially told authorities that the baby had been abducted from a vehicle, triggering a large search effort in the surrounding area. The investigation quickly focused on inconsistencies in his account, and investigators later recovered the infant's body from a pond near where he said the abduction occurred.
Medical examiners testified that the child suffered extensive blunt force injuries, including trauma to the head and body that were inconsistent with an accident.
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Prosecutors argued that the pattern and severity of the wounds showed the infant had been violently beaten before being left in the water, and jurors accepted that version of events.
During the trial, the state presented evidence that Lukehart was alone with the baby when she sustained her fatal injuries. Witness testimony and physical evidence placed him at the scene where the body was dumped, and the jury concluded that he acted with premeditated intent when he killed the child, WSLS reported.
Over the years, Lukehart's attorneys filed multiple appeals in state and federal courts challenging both his conviction and death sentence. Recent filings questioned aspects of the penalty phase and raised concerns about lethal injection protocols, but courts repeatedly rejected those arguments.
The Florida Department of Corrections said witnesses, including members of the victim's family and media representatives, observed the execution from designated viewing areas.
As is standard procedure, officials conducted a final examination before a prison physician formally pronounced Lukehart dead and documented the time of death, as per Judiciary.
