Former professional boxer going back to death row

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (WWSB) - 50-year-old Dwight Eaglin, from Clearwater, was sentenced to death for the second time on Friday morning.

The judge upholding the sentence delivered by a jury in January, 2026, sentencing him to death for count one- first degree murder of correctional facility officer Darla Lathrem, and sentencing him to death for count two- first degree murder of fellow inmate Charles Fuston.

The family of Lathrem in the courtroom for the sentencing on Friday. Giving a verbal statement outside the courthouse that they are glad the court upheld the sentences.

Eaglin was convicted in 1998 for the first-degree murder of John Frederick Nichols. He was convicted and given a life sentence in 2001.

While serving his life sentence, Eaglin attempted a prison escape on June 11, 2003 at the Charlotte Correctional Institution in Punta Gorda, Florida.

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During the botched attempt, Eaglin ambushed and killed corrections officer Darla Lathrem and fellow inmate Charles Fuston.

Eaglin was then sentenced to death on March 31, 2006.

After a subsequent challenge to Florida’s death penalty laws, a Charlotte County jury returned a new recommendation for a death sentence on January 22, 2026. The same ruling he was originally sentenced to nearly 20 years earlier.

Eaglin will now return to death row, and the defense will submit the forms for the mandatory review by the Florida Supreme Court. No date has been set for when Eaglin will serve this new death penalty sentence.