Wayne C. Doty is a Florida death row inmate condemned for the 2011 murder of fellow prisoner Xavier Rodriguez, a killing he committed while already serving a life sentence for a 1996 murder in Plant City. A jury unanimously recommended death at his 2018 resentencing, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed that sentence in 2020, and in January 2025 the same court denied his postconviction appeal. No execution date has been publicly scheduled.
Two Murders, Fifteen Years Apart
In April 1996, Doty, then 24, shot and killed Harvey Horne II, a 37-year-old watchman at Hardee Manufacturing Co. in Plant City, Florida. Horne was found shot in the head at his mobile home on the plant’s grounds.1Tampa Bay Times. Plant City Man Guilty of Killing, Robbing Caretaker A jury convicted Doty of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm in March 1997, and he received a life sentence. Later reporting described the crime as a drug robbery in which Doty shot his foreman point-blank in the face after an argument.2Plant City Observer. Florida Death Row Inmate Becomes States First to Demand Electric Chair
Fifteen years later, on May 17, 2011, Doty murdered Xavier H. Rodriguez inside Florida State Prison in Raiford. Rodriguez was serving a 10-year sentence for a 2006 robbery with a deadly weapon and had been moved to the high-security facility in 2010 for disciplinary reasons.3Gainesville Sun. Convicted Murderers Indicted in Fellow Inmates Death According to court records, Doty began planning the killing about two weeks earlier, after Rodriguez called him names and stole some of his tobacco.4FindLaw. Doty v. State, No. SC2023-1123
Both men worked as “runners” on K-wing, a job that let them move around the unit. Doty obtained a homemade knife from another inmate in exchange for tobacco and hid it in the ductwork of a third-floor interview room. He and co-defendant William “Crawfish” Wells lured Rodriguez there by betting him tobacco that he could not escape from “Coast Guard handcuffs.” Once Rodriguez’s hands were bound, Doty grabbed him from behind, applied a chokehold until he lost consciousness, and stabbed him repeatedly while Wells watched the door. Medical examiner Dr. William Hamilton testified that Rodriguez died from strangulation and multiple stab wounds and was likely still alive but unconscious when the stabbing began. Doty later confessed that he had hoped to cut out Rodriguez’s heart to make sure he was dead, but the knife was too dull. He and Wells tied a ligature around Rodriguez’s neck, smoked a cigarette, showered, confirmed the death, and then called a sergeant to confess.4FindLaw. Doty v. State, No. SC2023-1123
Wells was already serving six life sentences at the time — five for a 2003 quintuple murder in Mayport, Florida, and one for a 2008 attempted murder committed while incarcerated. A Bradford County grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder for Rodriguez’s death.3Gainesville Sun. Convicted Murderers Indicted in Fellow Inmates Death
Trial, Death Sentence, and Hurst Resentencing
Doty represented himself at trial and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2012. The penalty-phase jury recommended death by a 10-to-2 vote. The trial court found three aggravating factors — a prior violent felony conviction, commission of a capital felony while under a sentence of imprisonment, and that the murder was cold, calculated, and premeditated — and weighed them against seven nonstatutory mitigating factors before imposing death.5FindLaw. Doty v. State (2015) The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence in 2015.
Then the ground shifted. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hurst v. Florida struck down the state’s capital sentencing scheme, ruling that judges rather than juries had been making findings the Sixth Amendment reserved for jurors. On August 7, 2017, the circuit court granted Doty relief under Hurst, vacated his death sentence, and ordered a new penalty phase.4FindLaw. Doty v. State, No. SC2023-1123
The second penalty phase ran from February 19 to 26, 2018. Doty again represented himself, with attorney Alice Copek as standby counsel. This time the jury’s recommendation of death was unanimous, and the trial court imposed the sentence. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed in 2020.6FindLaw. Doty v. State (2020) Doty then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether Florida’s sentencing procedure violated due process and the jury-trial right by not requiring certain aggravating-factor determinations to be made beyond a reasonable doubt.7U.S. Supreme Court. Wayne Doty Certiorari Petition, No. 21-5672 Certiorari was denied on November 1, 2021.4FindLaw. Doty v. State, No. SC2023-1123
Psychologist Dr. Harry Krop testified in mitigation that Doty had endured childhood abuse, neglect, and abandonment, and diagnosed him with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Dr. Krop told the court that Doty was “not trying to make excuses for what he did or what he has done in life.”8FSU Law Digital Collections. Doty v. State, Initial Merit Brief
Choosing the Electric Chair
In August 2015, between his two penalty phases, Doty became the first Florida inmate to invoke the statutory option of execution by electrocution instead of lethal injection. In a handwritten affidavit signed August 12, 2015, he wrote that he was “invoking my right of free will to choose execution by electrocution due to confliction surrounding executions through lethal injection.” He said he wanted the state to carry out his sentence quickly and cited a desire for “spiritual freedom.” His former private investigator, Sean Fisher, suggested Doty feared that continuing legal challenges to lethal injection could delay his execution indefinitely.9The Ledger. Inmate Becomes States First
Florida’s electric chair had been unused for 16 years. A law signed by former Governor Jeb Bush gave condemned inmates a one-time option to select electrocution. The Department of Corrections said that because Doty had waived his appeals, an execution could technically be scheduled at any time, but Governor Rick Scott did not sign a death warrant.9The Ledger. Inmate Becomes States First The Hurst vacatur soon overtook the question.
Doty was later featured in the Season 1 finale of the Netflix documentary series I Am a Killer. “I’m a violent individual, that’s just the way I am,” he said on camera. “That’s what’s been embedded in me since I was a kid.” He also asked, “What’s the point in having capital punishment if it’s not going to be used in the proper manner?” Harvey Eugene Horne III, the son of Doty’s first victim, told the program he wanted Doty to grow old in prison rather than get the swift execution he sought, calling him a “murdering coward.”10Crime+Investigation UK. I Am a Killer: Wayne Doty
The 2025 Postconviction Ruling
After the U.S. Supreme Court declined review, Doty filed a postconviction motion under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. The circuit court summarily denied it, and he appealed.
In a unanimous per curiam opinion issued January 16, 2025, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial on all eight claims.4FindLaw. Doty v. State, No. SC2023-1123 Among them:
- Relative culpability. Doty argued Wells was the mastermind and more culpable. The court held the claim procedurally barred because it could have been raised on direct appeal, and noted that proportionality review of relative culpability has been abolished in Florida.
- Self-representation. Doty argued he lacked the mental capacity to represent himself under Indiana v. Edwards. The court found the record showed he had “ably represented himself.”
- Ineffective assistance of counsel. Doty faulted both his original trial counsel and standby counsel during resentencing. The court ruled that a pro se defendant cannot claim ineffective assistance of standby counsel.
- Requests for a PET scan and MRI, denied because Doty could not link the imaging to any non-barred claim.
- A request to interview a juror, denied as a “fishing expedition” unsupported by the record.
Rehearing was denied on February 27, 2025, and the court issued its mandate on March 18, 2025, closing the case.11Florida Courts. Doty v. State, SC2023-1123 Docket
Where the Case Stands
Doty remains on Florida’s death row. His direct state avenues for challenging the sentence appear exhausted, and as of mid-2025 the Florida Supreme Court docket shows no pending motions.11Florida Courts. Doty v. State, SC2023-1123 Docket Federal habeas corpus review is still available in theory, though Doty has said he would rather the state carry out his sentence than prolong the litigation. No execution date has been set.