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Florida kills 77-year-old man in state’s 18th execution of year
The Guardian • • nation
Key Points:
- Florida executed William Reaves, 77, marking the state's 18th execution of 2025 under Governor Ron DeSantis’s aggressive death penalty policy in his final term.
- Reaves was convicted for the 1986 shooting death of Indian River County deputy Richard Raczkowski, with his execution carried out by a three-drug lethal injection at a state prison near Starke.
- The execution highlights Florida’s leading role in US executions this year, having carried out more than half of the 32 total nationwide, and continuing a trend of executing older death row inmates.
- Reaves’ appeals, including challenges to Florida’s lethal injection method and undisclosed PTSD-related disability from his Vietnam War service, were rejected by both the Florida and US Supreme Courts.
- The next scheduled execution in Florida is Jesse Guardado on November 5, convicted of a 2004 robbery and murder.
