DeSantis Signs 13th Death Warrant of the Year, for Victor Jones, Murderer of 2 in 1990

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for a man convicted in the 1990 murders of a couple in Miami-Dade County, as the state continues a record-setting year for executions.

Victor Tony Jones, 64, is scheduled to be executed Sept. 30 and could become the 13th inmate put to death by lethal injection this year in Florida. The Jones death warrant came after Curtis Windom was executed Thursday evening at Florida State Prison in the 1992 murders of three people in Orange County.

Jones was sentenced to death for murdering 66-year-old Matilda Nestor and 67-year-old Jacob Nestor at their business in December 1990, according to court documents.

“Evidence at trial established that Jones, who worked for the Nestors, stabbed Mrs. Nestor once to the base of her neck which severed her aorta, and stabbed Mr. Nestor once in the chest, which entered his heart,” a letter from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier that accompanied Friday’s death warrant said.

A 1995 Florida Supreme Court opinion said Jones was on his second day of work with the Nestors when they were murdered. Jones was captured at the scene.

“There was evidence that after being stabbed, Mr. Nestor retreated into the office, where he pulled the knife from his chest, attempted to call for help, drew his .22 caliber automatic pistol and shot five times, striking Jones once in the forehead,” the 1995 opinion, which rejected an appeal, said. “No money or valuables were found on either victim or in Mrs. Nestor’s purse which was found on the couch in the main office next to the defendant. The evidence also was consistent with Mr. Nestor’s body having been rolled over after he collapsed so that personal property could be removed from his pockets.”

Jones was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed robbery.

The death warrant likely will touch off legal battles about whether Jones should be executed. DeSantis also has signed a death warrant for David Pittman, 63, who is scheduled to be executed Sept. 17. Pittman was convicted in the 1990 murders of three family members of his estranged wife in Polk County.

Before this year, Florida’s record for executions in a year during the modern era was eight in 1984 and 2014. The modern era represents the time since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, after a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling halted it.

In addition to Windom, inmates executed this year were Kayle Bates on Aug. 19; Edward Zakrzewski on July 31; Michael Bell on July 15; Thomas Gudinas on June 24; Anthony Wainwright on June 10; Glen Rogers on May 15; Jeffrey Hutchinson on May 1; Michael Tanzi on April 8; Edward James on March 20; and James Ford on Feb. 13.

–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida