Florida Supreme Court denies appeal for Jeffrey Hutchinson, convicted of quadruple murder

This would be Florida's 4th execution of 2025, following a pause in 2020-2022.

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday, April 21, unanimously denied Jeffrey G. Hutchinson's latest appeal, according to an order posted on the state court's website.

Pending any other moves in state or federal courts by his attorneys, the war veteran convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her 3 young children in Crestview nearly 3 decades ago is scheduled to be put to death at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 1, 2025.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant on March 31.

Hutchinson's attorneys argued he had brain damage and cognitive impairment from injuries suffered during the Gulf War, according to Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida, and that the newly discovered diagnosis of Gulf War Illness would have meant his acquittal on 1st-degree murder charges or life in prison rather than the death penalty.

However, when the state Supreme Court upheld an April 4 ruling against Huchinson from Okaloosa County Circuit Judge Lacey Powell Clark, the court said facts "that he was exposed to sarin gas and numerous explosions while serving in the Middle East as well as his various post-war symptoms" were well-known during or before his trial.

“As for the diagnoses or conditions on which Hutchinson relies, we acknowledge that the scientific understanding of Gulf War Illness has evolved over time,” the opinion said. “However, the illness was a well-known diagnosable condition at the time of Hutchinson’s trial. Indeed, even at that time, experts recognized that the illness encompassed mental-health and cognitive effects.”

If the execution goes as planned, Hutchinson will be the 4th execution in Florida this year. A 5th Florida execution, for convicted murderer and serial killer Glen E. Rogers, is scheduled for Thursday, May 15, 2025

The previous executions were James Ford on Feb. 13, Edward James on March 20 and Michael Tanzi on April 8. Florida did not execute any inmates in 2020, 2021 and 2022 but put to death six men in 2023 and one man, Loran K. Cole, in 2024.

Here's what to know.

Who is Jeffrey Hutchinson?

Jeffrey Glenn Hutchinson, now 62, was convicted and sentenced to death for the quadruple murder in 1998 of his girlfriend Renee Flaherty, 32, and her three children, Geoffrey, 9, Amanda, 7, and Logan, 4.

A former mechanic and security guard before joining the Army and becoming a paratrooper and Army Ranger, Hutchinson was raised in Florida but was living with Flaherty in Spokane, Washington, before they moved to the Sunshine State. Flaherty was estranged from her husband, who was stationed in Alaska, and Hutchinson was twice-divorced.

How were Renee Flaherty and her children killed?

According to court records, Hutchinson and Flaherty had been fighting on Sept. 11, 1998, before he packed some clothes and firearms into his truck and went to a nearby bar. As he drank, he told the bartender (an acquaintance) that he was "pissed off."

Prosecutors said Hutchinson came back to the house with a Mossberg 12-gauge pistol-grip shotgun and shot and killed the occupants within an hour of leaving the bar. He shot each of the victims once in the head, they said, with the oldest child also shot in the chest.

Hutchinson called the police and told a dispatcher, "I just shot my family." Police arrived to find him spattered with blood and lying in a daze on the garage floor, still holding the phone.

At times, Hutchinson claimed the murders were carried out by two masked men, that he was heavily intoxicated at the time so it couldn't be first-degree murder, and that he had diminished responsibility due to mental disorders from his service.

Hutchinson was diagnosed as suffering from Gulf War Syndrome, but the trial judge ruled him competent to stand trial. He was found guilty and given 3 death sentences for the children's murders and a life sentence for Flaherty.

Multiple appeals over the years have been rejected or dismissed by the Florida Supreme Court, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

When is Jeffrey Hutchinson scheduled to be executed?

Hutchinson's execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at Florida State Prison in Raiford.

How many death row inmates has Florida executed?

From 1924 until May 1964, the state of Florida has executed 196 people. There were no executions from May 1964 until May 1976.

In 1972, the United States Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, but it was reinstated in 1976. Florida has carried out 107 executions since then.

When is the next execution in Florida?

Glen Rogers, known as "The Casanova Killer" or "The Cross Country Killer," is scheduled to be executed on Thursday, May 15, 2025.

Rogers was convicted and sentenced to death in 1997 for the stabbing murder of Tina Marie Cribbs near Tampa 2 years previously.

In 1999, Rogers was tried in California for raping and strangling Sandra Gallagher and was sentenced to death again. The 2 women were part of the 4 Rogers was believed to have killed, all red-haired and in their 30s, as he was driving across the country in 1995.

At one point, Rogers claimed he'd killed nearly 70 people, although he later said he was kidding. He also claimed to have been paid by O.J. Simpson to kill Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in 1994, as explained in the documentary "My Brother the Serial Killer."

Source: Pensacola News Journal, Staff, April 22, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

Singapore executes three drug mules over two days

Singapore hanged three people for drug offences last week, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003. These come a week before a constitutional challenge against the death penalty for drug offences is due to be heard. Singapore has some of the world's harshest anti-drug laws, which it says are a necessary deterrent to drug crime, a major issue elsewhere in South East Asia. Anyone convicted of trafficking - which includes selling, giving, transporting or administering - more than 15g of diamorphine, 30g of cocaine, 250g of methamphetamine and 500g of cannabis in Singapore will be handed the death sentence.

Florida | After nearly 50 years on death row, Tommy Zeigler seeks final chance at freedom

The Winter Garden Police chief was at a party on Christmas Eve 1975 when he received a phone call from his friend Tommy Zeigler, the owner of a furniture store on Dillard Street. “I’ve been shot, please hurry,” Zeigler told the chief as he struggled for breath. When police arrived at the store, Zeigler, 30, managed to unlock the door and then collapsed “with a gaping bullet hole through his lower abdomen,” court records show. In the store, detectives found a gruesome, bloody crime scene and several guns. Four other people — Zeigler’s wife, his in-laws and a laborer — lay dead.

Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case

A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail. Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Vietnam | Woman sentenced to death for poisoning 4 family members with cyanide

A woman in Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing family members including two young children in a series of cyanide poisonings that shocked her community. The Dong Nai People's Court found 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing and using toxic chemicals. Judges described her actions as "cold-blooded, inhumane and calculated," saying Bich exploited the trust of her victims and "destroyed every ethical bond within her family."

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog