STARKE, Fla. (AP) — 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 three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the Sept. 23, 1986, shooting death of Indian River County sheriff's deputy Richard Raczkoski.
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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 eight 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 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 two terms, has said his goal is to deliver justice to victims’ families who have waited decades for death sentences to be carried out.
Raczkoski 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 the two men conversed, a gun fell out of Reaves’ shorts, officials said. They then struggled over the weapon, and Reaves eventually regained control of it. Investigators said the deputy was trying to run away when Reaves shot him four times. Raczkoski 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 newly sentenced to death in 1992. Subsequent appeals were unsuccessful.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon rejected Reaves’ 11th-hour appeal without comment.
The Florida Supreme Court last week also rejected Reaves’ appeals seeking to spare his life.
His attorneys challenged Florida’s three-drug lethal injection protocol. All Florida executions are carried out via injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
The court has previously upheld the protocol against similar challenges. Florida's method differs from the single-drug injection used in states such as Tennessee, where condemned inmate Christa Pike was rushed to a hospital last month after surviving two doses of pentobarbital.
Reaves' attorneys also argued that jurors who recommended the death penalty were never told the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had rated the Army veteran as 100% disabled because of post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his service in the Vietnam War.
More than 100 military veterans appealed to DeSantis to halt the execution in a letter Monday, citing those factors.
A total of 47 people were executed in the United States in 2025. Florida led the nation that year with 19 executions and has accounted for more than half of the 32 U.S. executions, including Reaves', that have been carried out so far in 2026.
In July, Florida executed two prisoners in one day, becoming the first state in nearly a decade to do so.
Jesse Guardado, 64, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection in Florida on Nov. 5. Guardado was convicted of robbing and killing a 75-year-old woman, Jackie Malone, while stealing items on a crack cocaine binge on Sept. 13, 2004.
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The story has been updated to correct the spelling of the deputy's last name to Raczkoski, not Raczkowski, throughout.
