Florida inmate seeks Supreme Court stay for DNA testing

Attorneys for Daniel Conahan Jr., a 72-year-old Florida death row inmate, have petitioned the Supreme Court to stay his execution scheduled for Thursday. Conahan was sentenced to death for the 1996 kidnapping and strangulation of Richard Montgomery in Charlotte County, Florida.

Conahan has denied involvement in the murder and has been requesting DNA testing on evidence from the crime scene and the victim's body since March 2025 to establish his innocence. The petition notes that Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant on August 11 while the motion for DNA testing was still pending. A state postconviction court denied the motion for testing within 24 hours of the warrant being signed.

The legal filing emphasizes that Conahan is not seeking an immediate declaration of innocence or release from prison, but rather a stay of execution to allow the Supreme Court to review his claims regarding the DNA evidence.