Killer rapist is the seventh inmate executed in Florida this year
Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, died by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Tuesday
A convicted killer rapist executed in Florida Tuesday is the seventh inmate to be put to death in the state this year.
Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, died by lethal injection at Florida State Prison. He was convicted in the May 1994 raping and killing of Michelle McGrath near a bar.
Gudinas had repented and made a reference to Jesus during his final words, The Associated Press reported, citing a spokesman for Governor Ron DeSantis.
This is the seventh execution in Florida this year and another is scheduled for July. In 2023, the state executed six people, and in 2024, there was only one execution.
So far, 23 men have been executed in the U.S. this year. Accounting for all the scheduled executions, this year will have the most executions in a decade.
Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each.
Alabama has executed three people, Oklahoma has killed two, and Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana and Tennessee have each conducted one execution. Mississippi is set to join the other states on Wednesday with its first execution since 2022.
McGrath was last seen at a bar called Barbarella’s shortly before 3 a.m. on May 24, 1994. Her body was found with evidence of serious trauma and sexual assault in an alley next to a nearby school several hours later.
Gudinas had been at the same bar with friends the night before, but they all later testified they had left without him.
A school employee who found McGrath’s body later identified Gudinas as a man who was fleeing the area shortly beforehand. Another woman also identified Gudinas as the person who chased her to her car the previous night and threatened to assault her.
Gudinas was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995.
Attorneys for Gudinas had filed appeals with the Florida Supreme Court and the Supreme Court.
The lawyers argued in their state filing that evidence related to “lifelong mental illnesses” should exempt Gudinas from being put to death.
The Florida Supreme Court denied the appeals last week, ruling the case law that shields intellectually disabled people from execution does not apply to individuals with other forms of mental illness or brain damage.
A federal filing argued the Florida governor's unfettered discretion to sign death warrants violates death row inmates' constitutional rights to due process and has led to an arbitrary process for determining who lives and who dies.
The Supreme Court rejected Gudinas’ appeal earlier Tuesday.