Florida is set to execute Thomas Lee Gudinas on Tuesday for the rape and murder of Michelle McGrath near a central Florida bar in 1994. Gudinas, 51, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. This would mark the seventh execution in Florida this year, with an eighth scheduled for the following month.
The case dates back to May 1994 when McGrath was last seen at Barbarella’s bar before her body was found with signs of trauma and sexual assault in an alley next to a school. Witnesses testified that Gudinas had been at the same bar with friends but was seen fleeing the area shortly before McGrath’s body was discovered. Another woman also identified Gudinas as the man who had chased her to her car the previous night and threatened her.
Gudinas was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995. His attorneys have filed appeals with both the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court, arguing that evidence of his “lifelong mental illnesses” should exempt him from execution. However, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the case law protecting intellectually disabled individuals from execution does not apply to those with other forms of mental illness or brain damage.
In a federal filing, Gudinas’s lawyers argue that the Florida governor’s discretion in signing death warrants violates death row inmates’ constitutional rights to due process, leading to an arbitrary process in determining who is executed. The US Supreme Court has yet to make a decision on this matter.
With Florida leading the nation in executions this year, the scheduled execution of Gudinas is part of a trend that could make 2025 the year with the most executions since 2015. Texas and South Carolina follow closely behind with four executions each, while other states like Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi have also carried out executions this year.
The case has sparked debate over the ethics and process of the death penalty in the state, with advocates on both sides closely watching the outcome of Gudinas’s scheduled execution.
