TALLAHASSEE — Continuing to increase the pace of executions in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for a man convicted of rape and murder of a woman in downtown Orlando.
The warrant was signed for Thomas Gudinas, 51. He is scheduled to be executed on June 24th, and could be his seventh inmate with a fatal injection this year. Five men have been executed, and inmate Anthony Wainwright is scheduled to die on June 10th.
Gudinas was convicted of the murder of Michelle McGrath, who was out on an entertainment night in downtown Orlando in May 1994. McGrath was seen alive at about 2:45am in the courtyard of a nightclub and was believed to have been attacked while driving in the car park.
McGrath’s body was found in an alley around 7:30am and “was savagely raped and beaten by the accused with dull tools,” then circuit judge Belvin Perry Jr. wrote on the Florida Supreme Court website on Friday in a ruling order published with a warrant of death and other materials.
“The evidence clearly establishes that (the victim) did not fulfill a prompt, compassionate, painless death,” the verdict said. “The defendant that night showed the disposition of being violently destructive or violently destructive without restraint. (The victim) was beaten and taken to the alley where she spent her last few minutes on Earth.
Gudinas was sentenced to death in June 1995 after the trial was moved to Collier County.
Gudinas’ death warrant and other documents were posted on the Supreme Court website on Friday without comment from DeSantis, as was the case with the other death warrants he signed this year.
However, after killing one prisoner in 2024 and one prisoner in 2023, the state is clearly increasing the pace of executions. The death penalty was resurrected in 1976 after the U.S. Supreme Court decision was suspended, and the most executed in Florida was eight.
The state executed Glen Rogers on May 15th this year. Jeffrey Hutchinson on May 1st. Michael Tansy on April 8th. Edward James on March 20th. James Ford on February 13th.
DeSantis also signed a death warrant for Wainwright, who was convicted of luring a woman in the parking lot of Lake City’s Windixie supermarket in 1994 and luring her into raping and murdering her in the countryside of Hamilton County. Wainwright’s lawyers went to Florida Supreme Court to stop the June 10th execution.
Jim Sanders, Florida news service
