William Reaves is put to death in Florida's 18th execution of 2026

Supreme Court rejected the final appeal without comment

Florida carried out its 18th execution of 2026 on Tuesday when William Reaves, 77, was put to death by lethal injection at a state prison near Starke. The death-chamber curtain went up promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time, and Reaves was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. The Guardian described the proceeding as occurring under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s aggressive use of the death penalty in his final term.

Reaves was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when he was asked if he had any last statement. He said, “No, I do not.” The injection began immediately after Reaves’ final statement. About 30 seconds later, Reaves took several big breaths and stopped moving. After a few minutes, the team warden shook Reaves’ shoulders and yelled his name, but there was no response. A medic was called into the chamber a short time later to check for a heartbeat or any other signs of life, and Reaves was pronounced dead about a minute later.

The Guardian said Reaves was the eighth Florida prisoner over 70 put to death this year, highlighting the nation’s aging death-row population as Florida continued to far outpace the rest of the country in total executions.

Reaves was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 shooting death of Indian River County deputy Richard Raczkowski. Court records said Raczkowski responded to a 911 call at a Vero Beach convenience store in September 1986. Reaves later acknowledged placing the call from a payphone outside the store.

Officials said a gun fell from Reaves’ shorts while he and Raczkowski spoke. The two struggled over the weapon, and Reaves eventually regained control of it. Investigators said Raczkowski was trying to run away when Reaves shot him four times. The deputy later died from his wounds.

Reaves was convicted and sentenced to death about a year after the shooting. The Florida Supreme Court overturned that conviction because of a conflict of interest involving the prosecutor and ordered a new trial. Reaves was convicted again and sentenced to death in 1992, and subsequent appeals were unsuccessful.

On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Reaves’ final appeal without comment. The Florida Supreme Court had rejected Reaves’ appeals to spare his life the previous week.

Reaves’ attorneys also challenged Florida’s method of execution. Every Florida execution uses a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. The Florida Supreme Court has previously upheld the lethal-injection protocol against similar challenges. It differs from the single-drug injection used in states such as Tennessee, where death-row inmate Christa Pike was rushed to a hospital last month after surviving two lethal doses of pentobarbital.

Defense attorneys argued that the jurors who recommended Reaves’ death penalty were never told that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs rated Reaves, an Army veteran, as 100% disabled by post-traumatic stress disorder caused by his service in the Vietnam War. More than 100 veterans sent DeSantis a letter on Monday urging him to stop the execution.

The United States carried out 47 executions in 2025, with Florida leading all states. So far in 2026, Florida has carried out more than half of the 32 executions nationwide. In July, Florida executed two prisoners on the same day, becoming the first state in nearly a decade to do so.

Last year, Florida set a state record with 19 executions in a single year. Another execution next month, as scheduled, would tie that record. DeSantis, who leaves office in January after two terms, said his goal was to deliver justice to victims’ families who had waited decades for death sentences to be carried out.

Jesse Guardado, 64, is next scheduled to die by injection in Florida on November 5. Guardado was convicted of robbing and killing a woman in order to buy drugs in 2004.

One week earlier, Florida had carried out its 17th execution of 2026, executing James Robertson. Reaves’ death raised the state’s total to 18.