The 15th Execution of 2025
Jeffrey Hutchinson an Army combat veteran whose Gulf War experience triggered
severe mental problems was executed May 1, 2025 in Florida for the 1998
shotgun slayings of his girlfriend and her three young children, reported The Associated Press.
Hutchinson, 62, was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m.
following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was the
fourth person executed this year in the state under death warrants signed by
Gov. Ron DeSantis, with a fifth
execution set for May 15.
Hutchinson had no last statement but appeared to be mumbling
to himself as the procedure started just before 8 p.m. His legs shook
sporadically, and he seemed to have body spasms for several minutes and then
was still. The process took a little more than 15 minutes.
The execution was carried out soon after the U.S. Supreme
Court rejected a final appeal without comment.
Hutchinson had long claimed that he was innocent and that
two unknown assailants perpetrated the killings under a U.S. government
conspiracy aimed at silencing his activism on claims including Gulf War
illnesses involving veterans. Hutchinson served eight years in the Army, part
of it as an elite Ranger.
Court records, however, showed that on the night of the
killings in Crestview, Hutchinson argued with his girlfriend, 32-year-old Renee
Flaherty, then packed his clothes and guns into a truck. Hutchinson went to a
bar and drank some beer, telling staff there that Flaherty was angry with him
before leaving abruptly.
A short time later, a male caller told a 911 operator, “I
just shot my family” from the house Hutchinson and Flaherty shared with the
three children: 9-year-old Geoffrey, 7-year-old Amanda, and 4-year-old Logan.
All were killed with a 12-gauge shotgun that was found on a kitchen counter.
Hutchinson was located by police in the garage with a phone still connected to
the 911 center and gunshot residue on his hands.
Darran Johnson, the brother of Renee Flaherty, said after
the execution that justice was done but the family’s pain will never end.
“Not a day goes by that we don’t think about the loved ones
that were taken from us,” Johnson said.
At his 2001 trial, Hutchinson’s defense was based on his
claim that two unknown men came to the house and killed Flaherty and the
children after he struggled with them. A jury found him guilty of four counts
of first-degree murder, and he received life in prison for Flaherty’s killing
and three death sentences for the children.
Hutchinson filed numerous unsuccessful appeals, many focused
on mental health problems linked to his Army service. In late April his lawyers
sought to delay his execution by claiming he was insane and therefore could not
be put to death.
Bradford County Circuit Judge James Colaw rejected that
argument in an April 27 order.
“This Court finds that Mr. Hutchinson’s purported delusion
is demonstrably false. Jeffrey Hutchinson does not lack the mental capacity to
understand the reason for the pending execution,” the judge wrote.
In their court filings, Hutchinson’s lawyers said he
suffered from Gulf War Illness — a series of health problems
stemming from the 1990-1991 war in Iraq — as well as post-traumatic stress
disorder and paranoia related to his claim that he was targeted by government
surveillance.
Florida’s lethal injection protocol uses a sedative, a
paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of
Corrections.
So far this year, 15
people have been put to death in the U.S. including Hutchinson.
A fifth Florida execution is scheduled May 15 for Glen
Rogers, who was convicted of killing a woman at a motel in 1997. Rogers also
was convicted of another woman’s murder in California and is believed by
investigators to have killed others around the country.
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