Florida executed a 77-year-old death row inmate on Tuesday, marking the state's 18th execution of 2026 and adding to what has become an unusually large number of elderly prisoners put to death as the state closes in on its annual execution record.
William Reaves was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He had been convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 shooting death of Richard Raczkoski, an Indian River County sheriff's deputy.
"Would we all be so lucky to be 77 years old and to die so peacefully? That's not justice in any way, in my opinion," Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said in a press briefing following the execution.
...
The execution was Florida's 18th of the year under Governor Ron DeSantis, who has overseen an accelerated pace of death warrants during his final term. Florida carried out a state-record 19 executions in 2025 and could tie that mark if another scheduled execution proceeds next month.
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.
Data compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center show that Reaves was sentenced to death 34 years before his execution. Several other Florida inmates executed this year also spent nearly three decades or more on death row before being put to death.
Florida's execution pace has also made it a major outlier nationally. The state has carried out 18 of the 32 executions conducted in the United States this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Why Florida's Death Row Inmates Are Getting Older
The issue received renewed attention over the summer when Florida scheduled executions for multiple inmates in their 70s and an 80-year-old. The Associated Press reported that the cases fueled debate over whether elderly and frail inmates should still be executed after spending decades awaiting the outcome of appeals.
Supporters of capital punishment argue that lengthy appeals are necessary to ensure constitutional protections and avoid wrongful executions, but can also delay justice for victims' families. Opponents contend that carrying out executions after inmates have reached old age raises humanitarian concerns and calls into question the purpose of the punishment.
Death Penalty Information Center research has found that death rows have aged significantly over time as appeals have grown lengthier. The organization previously reported that the median age of executed inmates in the United States has steadily increased in recent decades.
Reaves' Final Appeals
Reaves' attorneys unsuccessfully challenged Florida's lethal injection protocol and argued that jurors who sentenced him to death were not informed that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had determined he was 100 percent disabled due to service-related post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his military service in Vietnam.
More than 100 military veterans also appealed to DeSantis to halt the execution. The governor did not intervene, and both the U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court declined to halt the execution.
According to court records, Raczkoski responded to a 911 call placed by Reaves at a Vero Beach convenience store on September 23, 1986. Authorities said a gun fell from Reaves' clothing during the encounter, leading to a struggle. Investigators said the deputy was attempting to flee when Reaves shot him four times. Raczkoski later died from his injuries.
After witnessing Tuesday's execution, Marc Raczkoski, the deputy's brother, told reporters his brother had finally received justice. Flowers described the execution as closure rather than justice.
Florida is scheduled to execute another inmate, Jesse Guardado, on November 5. If that execution proceeds, the state will match the record 19 executions it carried out last year.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Steven Frank and Edward T. Cummins