Florida executed William Reaves on Tuesday evening, 40 years after he shot and killed an Indian River County sheriff’s deputy. Reaves, 77, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke after a three-drug lethal injection. Asked for last words, he said, “No, I do not,” the AP reported.
It was Florida’s 18th execution this year. The state set a record of 19 in 2025, and it will tie that if the next one, scheduled for Nov. 5, goes ahead. Florida has carried out more than half of the 32 executions in the U.S. so far in 2026.
What did William Reaves do?
In 1986, Deputy Richard Raczkoski answered a 911 call at a convenience store in Vero Beach. When a gun fell from Reaves’ clothing, the two struggled over it. Reaves got it back and shot the deputy four times. Raczkoski died later that day. Florida’s Supreme Court threw out Reaves’ first conviction because of a conflict of interest involving the prosecutor, and he was convicted and sentenced to death again in 1992.
The deputy’s brother said his brother “finally got justice.” Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers put it differently, calling it closure rather than justice.
Why did veterans ask DeSantis to stop the execution?
Reaves served in Vietnam, and the VA rated him 100% disabled from PTSD. His lawyers argued the jury that sentenced him never heard that. More than 100 veterans asked Gov. Ron DeSantis to halt the execution. His lawyers also challenged Florida’s three-drug method. The Florida Supreme Court rejected his appeals last week, and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his final one without comment.
Why is Florida executing so many people?
DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has signed death warrants at a pace no Florida governor has matched. Reaves was the eighth Florida prisoner over 70 put to death this year. Many of these cases are decades old, and a growing share of the people being executed are elderly.
The BeezLoop Take
Richard Raczkoski was doing his job when he was killed, and his family waited 40 years for this day. Their relief is real and deserves respect.
But Florida’s pace raises questions that go beyond any one case. Eighteen executions in a year, eight of them men over 70, plus a veteran whose jury never heard about his war trauma, suggests the state is clearing a backlog on a political clock, not weighing each case on its own. A punishment this final should come with more care, not more speed.
The open question: will Florida’s next governor keep signing death warrants at this pace, or will the record end with DeSantis?
Also on BeezLoop: Florida executed James Robertson, who killed his cellmate so he’d be sentenced to death, and Florida charged Raúl Castro over the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown.
Sources: Associated Press, via PBS NewsHour · KTLA · CBS 12 News (video)
