William Reaves, a 77-year-old Vietnam War veteran, was executed by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday evening, despite a last-minute clemency appeal backed by more than 100 fellow veterans. Reaves had been sentenced to death for the 1986 murder of an Indian River County sheriff's deputy.
The execution, which took place at Florida State Prison at 6.12pm local time, was the state's 18th this year and the eighth involving a prisoner over the age of 70. Reaves received a three-drug lethal injection.
Death Sentence and Appeals
Reaves' defense team had highlighted a critical oversight in his original trial: jurors were not informed of his 100% disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs, granted due to severe post-traumatic stress disorder from combat service in Vietnam. The clemency plea, sent to Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday, was accompanied by a legal challenge to Florida's three-drug lethal injection process, which uses a sedative, a paralytic agent, and a cardiac-arresting drug.
The Florida Supreme Court rejected his state appeals last week, and a final petition was left before the US Supreme Court. Outgoing Governor DeSantis, whose term concludes in January, defended the state's aggressive capital punishment timeline, stating that justice for victims' families is long overdue after decades of waiting.
The 1986 Murder
The murder occurred in September 1986 at a Vero Beach convenience store. Deputy Richard Raczkowski responded to a 911 call made by Reaves from a nearby payphone. Court records show that during their conversation, a firearm slipped from Reaves' shorts, leading to a struggle for the weapon. Reaves regained control and fired four rounds into Raczkowski as the deputy tried to run. Raczkowski later died from his wounds.
Reaves was initially sentenced to death in 1987, but the state Supreme Court overturned the verdict due to a prosecutor conflict of interest. A 1992 retrial yielded the same result, and he received a second death sentence.
Florida's Execution Surge
Florida has accounted for more than half of the nation's 31 executions this year, building on its country-leading totals from 2025. The state carried out a record 19 executions in 2025. This acceleration included a rare double execution in July, the first instance of a state executing two inmates on a single day in nearly 10 years.
The execution chamber is scheduled to be used again on November 5 for 64-year-old Jesse Guardado, convicted for the 2004 robbery and murder of a woman to fund a drug habit. Should Guardado's execution proceed, Florida will tie its previous record of 19 executions in a calendar year.
