William Lee Thompson was scheduled to be executed on Oct. 13 for the 1976 murder of 23-year-old Sally Ivester

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis canceled the execution of a 74-year-old man convicted of murder, just days before he was scheduled to die.

In a letter to Florida State Prison Warden Randall Polk, the politician, 48, withdrew the order, which he previously signed on Sept. 11, to carry out the death sentence for William Lee Thompson.

DeSantis did not offer an explanation as to why he was withdrawing the order for the execution, which was scheduled to take place on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Thompson was sentenced to death for his role in the 1976 murder of 23-year-old Sally Ivester in Miami-Dade County.

His co-defendant, Rocco Surace, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murder and died behind bars in 1993.

While Thompson’s original death sentence was overturned on appeal, a jury later voted 7–5 to recommend the death penalty at his 1989 resentencing.

After spending approximately five decades on death row, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty claimed that Thompson “has an intellectual disability and was described by people who knew him as easily manipulated and dominated by Surace.”

The organization also emphasized that Thompson has since become “gravely ill, has dementia, and requires complete assistance with basic activities such as bathing, using the toilet, and moving between his bed and wheelchair.”

According to CBS News, Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said that Thompson “did not know where he was” in a September mental health evaluation.

“He did not know where he was, stated that ‘Bush’ was the president, and, at times, did not even recognize that he had been sentenced to death,” she said. “In accordance with state law, he underwent an evaluation last week. Officials never released the findings or explained today’s withdrawal.”

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Less than a week after issuing a death warrant for Thompson, DeSantis created a three-member panel of psychiatrists to evaluate whether he was legally insane.

“Counsel for William Lee Thompson asserts that a neuropsychologist met with Mr. Thompson on Sept. 15, and that said neuropsychologist ‘opined that Mr. Thompson meets the criteria for insanity due to his dementia and significant cognitive decline as Mr. Thompson lacks the mental capacity to understand the fact of his impending execution and the reason for it’,” DeSantis stated in the initial executive order, per CBS News.

Alongside his physical and mental health concerns, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty stated that Thompson also suffers from heart failure, chronic kidney disease, severe liver disease, blood clots in both lungs, pneumonia, severe malnutrition, broken ribs and a stage-four pressure wound on his tailbone.

DeSantis withdrew the death warrant hours after the Florida Supreme Court denied Thompson’s motion for a stay — a formal request to temporarily pause or stop a legal proceeding.

“Mr. Thompson suffers from dementia and his health is failing — both of which were gravely concerning with an impending execution,” Thompson’s attorney, Bri Lacy, said in a statement to ABC News. “Now that Mr. Thompson is no longer under a death warrant, we hope FDOC (Florida Department of Corrections) will relocate him to an adequate medical facility and provide the care he needs.”

Another execution remains scheduled on Oct. 13 for 63-year-old James Robertson, who pleaded guilty to the 2008 murder of his cellmate Frank Hart at Charlotte Correctional Institution.