Florida carried out its 18th execution of the year on Tuesday under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ’ aggressive use of the death penalty in his final term.
William Reaves, 77, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 shooting death of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski.
The death chamber curtain went up promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time, and Reaves was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm. Asked if he had any last statement, he replied, ”No, I do not.”
The injection began immediately after that. About 30 seconds later, Reaves took several big breaths and then stopped moving. After a few minutes, the team warden shook Reaves’ shoulders and yelled his name, but there was no response.
A medic was called into the chamber a short time later to check for a heartbeat or any other signs of life, and Reaves was pronounced dead about a minute later.
Reaves was the 8th Florida prisoner over age 70 put to death this year, highlighting the nation’s aging death-row population as Florida continues to far outpace the rest of the country in total executions.
Last year, Florida set a state record with 19 executions in a single year, and it would tie that mark if another execution is carried out next month as scheduled.
DeSantis, who leaves office in January after 2 terms, has said his goal is to deliver justice to victims’ families who have waited decades for death sentences to be carried out.
Reaves struggled with a deputy after dropping a gun
Raczkowski responded to a 911 call at a Vero Beach convenience store in September 1986, according to court records. Reaves later acknowledged he had placed the call from a payphone outside the store.
While Raczkowski and Reaves spoke, a gun fell out of Reaves’ shorts, officials said. The two struggled over the weapon, and Reaves eventually regained control of it. Investigators said the deputy was trying to run away when Reaves shot him 4 times. The deputy later died from his wounds.
Reaves was convicted and sentenced to death about a year after the shooting. But the Florida Supreme Court overturned the conviction because of a conflict of interest with the prosecutor and ordered a new trial. Reaves was convicted again and sentenced to death in 1992, and subsequent appeals were unsuccessful.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon rejected Reaves’ final appeal without comment.
Lawyers challenged lethal injection procedure
The Florida Supreme Court last week also rejected Reaves’ appeals to spare his life.
One issue raised by his attorneys was Florida’s method of execution. All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
The court has previously upheld this lethal injection protocol against similar challenges. It differs from the single-drug injection used by states such as Tennessee, where death row inmate Christa Pike was rushed to the hospital last month after surviving 2 lethal doses of pentobarbital.
Defense attorneys also argued that the jurors who recommended the death penalty for Reaves were never told that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs rated Reaves—an Army veteran—as 100% disabled by post-traumatic stress disorder, which was caused by his service in the Vietnam War. More than 100 veterans sent DeSantis a letter Monday urging him to stop the execution.
Florida is close to matching last year’s record-setting numbers
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Besides leading all other states last year, Florida has carried out more than 1/2 the 32 total executions in the U.S. so far this year. In July, Florida executed 2 prisoners in one day, the 1st state in nearly a decade to do so.
Jesse Guardado, 64, is next scheduled to die by injection in Florida on Nov. 5. He was convicted of robbing and killing a woman in order to buy drugs in 2004.
Reaves becomes the 18th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Florida and the 143rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment on May 25, 1979. Only Texas (603) has carried out more executions in the country since the US Supreme Court allowed states to begin re-sentencing people to death via its July 2, 1976 Gregg v. Georgia decision.
Reaves becomes the 32nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,686th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
Source: Associated Press, Staff; Rick Halperin, October 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
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
Death Penalty News
For a World without the Death Penalty
Comments
Post a Comment
Offensive pro-DP comments will not be published.