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Florida Executes 77-Year-Old Inmate, Approaching Annual Record
Confirmed
In Short: This execution marks the eighth inmate over the age of 70 to be executed in Florida this year.
William Reaves, 77, was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on Tuesday evening.
Reaves was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the 1986 shooting death of Indian River County sheriff's deputy Richard Raczkoski.
The state's execution pace has drawn renewed attention over the summer, with multiple inmates in their 70s and an 80-year-old scheduled for execution.
Reaves' attorneys argued that jurors who recommended the death penalty were unaware that Reaves was rated 100% disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs due to post-traumatic stress disorder linked to his service in the Vietnam War.
The execution of Reaves, who spent nearly three decades on death row, has fueled debate over whether elderly and frail inmates should still be executed.
Florida has carried out 18 of the 32 executions conducted in the United States this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The state set a record with 19 executions in 2025 and could tie that mark if another scheduled execution proceeds next month.
More than 100 military veterans appealed to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to halt the execution, citing Reaves' service-related disabilities.
Reaves' attorneys also challenged Florida's lethal injection protocol, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
About 30 seconds after the injection began, Reaves took several big breaths and then stopped moving.
The execution of Reaves highlights the increasing median age of executed inmates in the United States, which has steadily increased in recent decades.
What's confirmed
- On Sept. 23, 1986, Raczkoski responded to a 911 call that Reaves had made from a payphone at a Vero Beach convenience store, according to court records.
- Reaves was also the eighth Florida prisoner age 70 or older executed this year, a statistic that has drawn attention to the aging population on death row, both in Florida and nationally.
- "Would we all be so lucky to be 77 years old and to die so peacefully," Flowers said at a press conference.
- More than 100 military veterans appealed to DeSantis in a letter on Monday to halt the execution, pointing to those factors.
What's still developing
- "That’s not justice in any way, in my opinion."