Florida is set to carry out 18th execution this year and moving closer to tying record
More than 100 veterans urged mercy, but the state said its three-drug protocol was lawful and carried out its 18th execution of the year.
- On Tuesday, Florida is set to execute William Reaves, marking the 18th execution this year under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, with the 77-year-old scheduled to receive a three-drug injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke.
- Reaves was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1986 shooting of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski, who responded to a 911 call at a Vero Beach convenience store before the fatal confrontation.
- Defense attorneys argued jurors were never told the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs rated Reaves as 100% disabled by service-related post-traumatic stress disorder. The Florida Supreme Court rejected his final appeals last week.
- More than 100 veterans sent a letter on Monday asking DeSantis to stop the execution. All Florida executions use a three-drug lethal injection protocol, which the state court has previously upheld against challenges.
- Florida has carried out more than half of the 31 total U.S. executions this year, nearing last year's record of 19 executions. The next scheduled execution is Jesse Guardado on Nov. 5.
181 Articles
181 Articles
DeSantis Signs Another Death Warrant Hours After State Kills 46th Inmate on His Watch
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant Wednesday for Thomas Mitchell Overton, who in 1992 killed a Tavernier couple whose unborn child did not survive the attack. With another execution set for Nov. 5, the planned Nov. 19 execution of Overton, 70, would become the 20th conducted by the state this year, the most for a year since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976.
Florida executes William Reaves Jr., 77, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD
Reaves execution encapsulates the barbarism of capital punishment in America: the execution of an elderly man, a combat veteran whose psychological injuries were never put before the jury, sentenced to death by a non-unanimous jury.
William Reaves, 77, was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1986 shooting death of Agent Richard Raczkowski
On the ballot: Will Florida remain the nation’s death penalty capital?
Gov. Ron DeSantis in his final two years in office has turned Florida into the death penalty capital of the developed world. Since securing their party’s nominations, neither man running to replace him this fall has discussed in detail whether they would keep that distinction.
The Scoop: Wed. Oct. 21, 2026, Tampa Bay and Florida headlines by WMNF
Florida has carried out its 18th execution this year Florida has carried out its 18th execution this year. William Reaves was put to death Tuesday by lethal injection. He was convicted of shooting and killing a sheriff’s deputy in 1986. That comes as lethal injection is facing increased scrutiny following the failed execution last month of Christa Pike in Tennessee. The two states use different protocols. Florida uses a three-drug injection. Bil…
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