Man executed for raping, killing Florida woman outside a bar
A man convicted of raping and killing a woman near a central Florida bar was executed Tuesday evening.
Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, following decades on death row for the 1994 killing of Michelle McGrath. His execution proceeded as scheduled after last-day appeals were denied.
Gudinas became the seventh person executed in Florida this year, with an eighth execution scheduled for next month. The state executed six people in 2023, compared to only one the year before.
So far, 23 people have been executed in the U.S. in 2025. Scheduled executions are on pace to make this the busiest year for capital punishment since 2015. Florida leads the nation in executions this year, followed by Texas and South Carolina with four each. Alabama has carried out three, while Oklahoma has executed two. Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, and Tennessee have each executed one person. Mississippi is scheduled to carry out its first execution since 2022 on Wednesday.
Gudinas' lawyers had argued that he should be spared due to what they described as lifelong mental illness, but the Florida Supreme Court rejected that claim last week, ruling that protections for intellectually disabled individuals do not extend to those with other mental or psychological conditions.
McGrath was last seen leaving Barbarella's, a downtown Orlando nightclub, shortly before 3 a.m. on May 24, 1994. Her body was found several hours later in an alley near a nearby school, showing signs of severe trauma and sexual assault.
Witnesses placed Gudinas at the scene, and another woman testified that he had chased and threatened her earlier that same night. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995.
His attorneys also filed a federal appeal arguing that Florida's system of allowing the governor sole discretion to issue death warrants violates due process and results in an arbitrary system. The U.S. Supreme Court had not ruled on the issue before the execution took place.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
30 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is expected to be released from jail only to be taken into immigration custody
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kilmar Abrego Garcia is expected to be released from jail in Tennessee on Wednesday, only to be taken into immigration custody. The Salvadoran national whose mistaken deportation became a flashpoint in the fight over President Donald Trump's immigration policies has been in jail since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7, facing two counts of human smuggling .
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is expected to be released from jail only to be taken into immigration custody
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia is expected to be released from jail in Tennessee on Wednesday, only to be taken into immigration custody. The Salvadoran national whose mistaken deportation became a flashpoint in the fight over President Donald Trump's immigration policies has been in jail since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7, facing two counts of human smuggling. On Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that Abrego Garcia does not have to remain in jail ahead of that trial. On Wednesday afternoon, she will set his conditions of release and allow him to go, according to her order. However, both his defense attorneys and prosecutors have said they expect him to be taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as soon as he is released on the criminal charges. In addition, federal prosecutors are appealing Holmes' release order. Among other things, they expressed concern in a motion filed on Sunday that Abrego Garcia could be deported before he faces trial. Holmes has said previously that she won't step between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. It is up to them to decide whether they want to deport Abrego Garcia or prosecute him. Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty on June 13 to smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify his mistaken deportation in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Those charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. At his detention hearing, Homeland Security Special Agent Peter Joseph testified that he did not begin investigating Abrego Garcia until April of this year. Holmes said in her Sunday ruling that federal prosecutors failed to show that Abrego Garcia was a flight risk or a danger to the community. He has lived for more than a decade in Maryland, where he and his American wife are raising three children. However, Holmes referred to her own ruling as 'little more than an academic exercise,' noting that ICE plans to detain him. It is less clear what will happen after that. Although he can't be deported to El Salvador — where an immigration judge found he faces a credible threat from gangs — he is still deportable to a third country as long as that country agrees to not send him to El Salvador.
Associated Press
42 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is expected to be released from jail only to be taken into immigration custody
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia is expected to be released from jail in Tennessee on Wednesday, only to be taken into immigration custody. The Salvadoran national whose mistaken deportation became a flashpoint in the fight over President Donald Trump's immigration policies has been in jail since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7, facing two counts of human smuggling. On Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that Abrego Garcia does not have to remain in jail ahead of that trial. On Wednesday afternoon, she will set his conditions of release and allow him to go, according to her order. However, both his defense attorneys and prosecutors have said they expect him to be taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as soon as he is released on the criminal charges. In addition, federal prosecutors are appealing Holmes' release order. Among other things, they expressed concern in a motion filed on Sunday that Abrego Garcia could be deported before he faces trial. Holmes has said previously that she won't step between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. It is up to them to decide whether they want to deport Abrego Garcia or prosecute him. Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty on June 13 to smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify his mistaken deportation in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Those charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. At his detention hearing, Homeland Security Special Agent Peter Joseph testified that he did not begin investigating Abrego Garcia until April of this year. Holmes said in her Sunday ruling that federal prosecutors failed to show that Abrego Garcia was a flight risk or a danger to the community. He has lived for more than a decade in Maryland, where he and his American wife are raising three children. However, Holmes referred to her own ruling as 'little more than an academic exercise,' noting that ICE plans to detain him. It is less clear what will happen after that. Although he can't be deported to El Salvador — where an immigration judge found he faces a credible threat from gangs — he is still deportable to a third country as long as that country agrees to not send him to El Salvador.
