Florida | DeSantis sets execution of man who killed Indian River deputy, temporarily pauses another execution

Deputy Sheriff Richard Raczkowski, left, William Reaves, right.

William Reaves is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Oct. 20th. It's the 18th death warrant Gov. DeSantis has signed this year.

Reaves shot Deputy Sheriff Richard Raczkowski in September 23, 1986.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his 18th death warrant of the year Friday. William Reaves, convicted of the 1986 killing of an Indian River County Sheriff's deputy, is set to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke on Oct. 20.

According to court records, Reaves shot Deputy Sheriff Richard Raczkowski four times in the back outside a Zippy Mart convenience store near Vero Beach on September 23, 1986.

Reaves had tried to get a taxi. He used the pay phone (accounts vary slightly on whether it was unsuccessful taxi calls or a 911 hang-up that brought the deputy). Once there, the deputy treated it as a low-level welfare/transport call: he radioed dispatch both to check if Reaves had warrants and to get a cab rolling. They were waiting together when the gun slipped out of Reaves’ shorts.

After the deputy attempted to block Reaves from retrieving the gun, a struggle ensued, and Reaves wrestled the weapon away from Raczkowski. The deputy asked Reaves not to kill him and turned to run away, at which time Reaves fired four times into Raczkowski’s back. He would die a short time later.

Reaves went to the home of a friend, who later told police Reaves confessed to shooting the deputy as he was high on cocaine and panicked.

Reaves was arrested three days later at a bus stop and charged with first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and trafficking in cocaine. He entered a not guilty plea but was found guilty of first-degree murder in September 1987, with the jury giving a unanimous recommendation for the death penalty.

The Florida Supreme Court reversed the conviction and sentence in 1991, finding the trial court erred by allowing a prosecutor on the case who had previously defended Reaves in a criminal matter.

A second jury again found Reaves guilty of first-degree murder in February 1992, with the jury voting 10-2 to recommend a death sentence.

Florida leads the nation in executions, carrying out 15 of them this year after 19 were performed last year, the most in a single year by the state since the U.S. Supreme Court ended a four-year nationwide moratorium on capital punishment in 1976.

Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, is scheduled for execution on Sept. 29 for the 1995 murder of a Polk County woman who was bludgeoned with a hammer in her home.

Last Friday, DeSantis signed a warrant for William Lee Thompson, 74, to be executed Oct. 13 for the murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery of Sally Ivester more than 50 years ago in North Miami Beach.

DeSantis signed an executive order Thursday temporarily pausing Thompson's execution. He also appointed three psychiatrists to examine Thompson's mental capacity, including determining if he has dementia.

Counsel for Reaves quickly filed a motion Friday for a stay until pending motions for a stay they have also filed regarding Thompson are resolved.

“Both clients are due the best representation counsel can provide, particularly when both clients are facing a scheduled execution date,” stated the motion from Reaves’ counsel Brittney Lacy.

The state has conducted 43 executions under DeSantis, or 31 percent of the 140 carried out since 1976.

Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers has been pushing for DeSantis to sign the warrant for Reaves, as he “is one that, in my opinion, should be a priority case.”

"It's very frustrating as the Sheriff,” Flowers told WPEC last July. “We want people to know that we're holding people accountable. And in this case, yes, he's jailed; yes, he's sitting there, but ultimately it was decided a long time ago that he would face the death penalty, and it's time for him to actually face the consequences. He's exhausted all of his appeals. Many other cases just like his have resulted in execution, and for some reason, he continues to cost us taxpayer dollars every single day.”

Source: News Service of Florida, Jim Turner, September 20, 2026

"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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