Florida executes Thomas Gudinas

Man executed for raping, killing Florida woman outside bar

A man convicted of raping and killing a woman near a central Florida bar was executed Tuesday evening.

Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, following decades on death row for the 1994 killing of Michelle McGrath. His execution proceeded as scheduled after last-day appeals were denied.

DOC spokesperson Ted Veerman reported that Gudinas woke up at 4:45 a.m. His last meal was a pepperoni pizza, fries, and a soda. He had one visitor today—his mother.

When asked about how the DOC staff is handling the pace of executions, Veerman said the “professional” staff is doing a “fantastic job.”

When the curtain to the execution room opened at 6.00pm, Gudinas was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his left arm. Then, after the warden got off the phone with the governor’s office, he asked Gudinas whether he wanted to make a last statement. Although Gudinas’s words were inaudible to those in the viewing room, [a spokesperson for Gov. DeSantis] said he repented and made a reference to Jesus.

The time of death was 6:13 p.m. Following the execution, DOC reported the execution took place “without incident.”

Gudinas became the 7th person executed in Florida this year, with an 8th execution scheduled for next month. The state executed 6 people in 2023, compared to only 1 the year before.

Gudinas' lawyers had argued that he should be spared due to what they described as lifelong mental illness, but the Florida Supreme Court rejected that claim last week, ruling that protections for intellectually disabled individuals do not extend to those with other mental or psychological conditions.

McGrath was last seen leaving Barbarella's, a downtown Orlando nightclub, shortly before 3 a.m. on May 24, 1994. Her body was found several hours later in an alley near a nearby school, showing signs of severe trauma and sexual assault.

Witnesses placed Gudinas at the scene, and another woman testified that he had chased and threatened her earlier that same night. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995.

His attorneys also filed a federal appeal arguing that Florida's system of allowing the governor sole discretion to issue death warrants violates due process and results in an arbitrary system. The U.S. Supreme Court had not ruled on the issue before the execution took place.

Gudinas becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Florida and the 113th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on May 25, 1979. Only Texas (595) and Oklahoma (129) have executed more people since the July 2, 1976 US Supreme Court decision of Gregg v Georgia allowed states to resume executions after a 4 year moratorium. Virginia, which is now tied with Florida with 113 executions, abolished the death penalty on March 24, 2021, when Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill into law. The law took effect on July 1, 2021. That made Virginia the 23rd state to abolish capital punishment and the 1st Southern state to do so.

Gudinas becomes the 24th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,631st overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. Scheduled executions are on pace to make this the busiest year for capital punishment since 2015. Florida leads the nation in executions this year, followed by Texas and South Carolina with 4 each. Alabama has carried out 3, while Oklahoma has executed 2. Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, and Tennessee have each executed 1 person. Mississippi is scheduled to carry out its 1st execution since 2022 on Wednesday.

FADP Statement

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty issued a statement about the execution that said in part:

Tommy was just 20 years old when he was arrested for the murder of Ms. McGrath. Tommy was born to a teenage mother and spent the first two weeks of his life in the hospital, struggling to grow and develop, returning 6 times in the first 6 months of his life when he’d stop breathing.

And on top of his medical issues, there was the chronic abuse — Tommy was subjected to a childhood full of cruel and humiliating punishments at the hands of his father — who burned Tommy’s hand over an open flame and made Tommy stand outside wearing a sign saying he wet his bed.

By the time his childhood was over, Tommy would have only a 4th grade education and been shuffled through 105 separate placements through the Division of Youth Services. 105 different places to lay his head at night.

Click to enlarge

Source: The Associated Press, FADP, Agencies, Staff, Rick Halperin, June 24, 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

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