Latest news with #JeffreyHutchinson
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Yahoo
Okaloosa man's execution delayed 2 hours by late appeals
RAIFORD, Fla. (WMBB) – An Okaloosa County man was put to death at the Florida State Prison, but not as scheduled. Over 26 years after he murdered his girlfriend and her three children, Jeffrey Hutchinson took his last breath. He was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison on Thursday evening. But Hutchinson's scheduled death was delayed by two hours while the United States Supreme Court considered several last-minute appeals. After the last was rejected, prison officials carried out the execution at 8 p.m. Eastern time. He was pronounced dead at 8:14 p.m. Several of the victim's family members witnessed Hutchinson's sentence being carried out. 'Not a day goes by that we don't think about the loved ones that were taken from us. This terrible act has devastated our family and their friends. My mother suffered from night terrors until the day that she passed away due to the crime Jeffrey Hutchison committed. The evidence in this case was overwhelming and conclusive of his guilt. It is our family's belief that justice was served today, although it doesn't end our pain,' Renee Flaherty's brother, Darran Johnson, said. Okaloosa man convicted of quadruple murder set for execution Hutchinson did not have any last words, only confessing to the murders one time when he called 911 right after he shot and killed his girlfriend and her three young children. He was mumbling the lord's prayer to himself before the lethal injection began. He remained compliant on his final day. 'Inmate Hutchinson woke up at 4:30 a.m. he was provided his last meal and remained compliant. His last meal consisted of salmon, mahi mahi, asparagus, a baked potato, and iced tea,' Department of Corrections Communications Director Ted Veerman said. Thursday morning, he was visited by a friend, his sister, and an in-law. There were 15 witnesses and four media representatives who witnessed the execution. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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First Post
02-05-2025
- First Post
US Gulf War veteran convicted of killing his girlfriend & her 3 children executed in Florida
Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, was put to death for the murders of Renee Flaherty, 32, and her children – Geoffrey, 9, Amanda, 7, and Logan, 4 read more This undated booking photo obtained from the Florida Department of Corrections shows death row inmate Jeffrey Hutchinson. AFP A Gulf War veteran convicted of killing his girlfriend and her three young children was executed by lethal injection in the southern US state of Florida on Thursday. Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, was put to death for the murders of Renee Flaherty, 32, and her children – Geoffrey, 9, Amanda, 7, and Logan, 4. Hutchinson's lawyers claimed he suffered from mental illness as a result of his experiences during the 1990-1991 Gulf War, but appeals to halt his execution were rejected. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He was executed at 8:14 pm local time Thursday (0014 GMT Friday), the Florida Department of Corrections said in a statement. According to court documents, Hutchinson argued with Flaherty on the evening of September 11, 1998, packed his clothes and guns into his truck, and went to a bar. He then returned home and fatally shot Flaherty and her children with a 12-gauge shotgun. Following the murders, Hutchinson called 911 and said, 'I just shot my family.' When sheriff's deputies arrived, they found Hutchinson dazed on the floor of the garage with blood on his clothes and gunshot residue on his hands. The phone was still connected to the 911 dispatcher. Hutchinson claimed at trial that the murders were carried out by two masked and armed intruders who shot Flaherty and the children and then fled. There have been 15 executions in the United States this year: 11 by lethal injection; two by firing squad; and two using nitrogen gas. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others – California, Oregon and Pennsylvania – have moratoriums in place. President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and, on his first day in office, called for an expansion of its use 'for the vilest crimes.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
USA Today
02-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Gulf War vet Jeff Hutchinson executed for family's murder; veterans say combat broke him
Gulf War vet Jeff Hutchinson executed for family's murder; veterans say combat broke him Florida executed Hutchinson for the quadruple murder of his girlfriend and her three children despite a letter from 129 veterans to the governor arguing that Hutchinson's mind was a casualty of war. Show Caption Hide Caption Gulf War veteran to be executed for killing girlfriend, 3 children Jeffrey Hutchinson, a Gulf War veteran, is set to be executed in Florida for the 1998 murders of his girlfriend and her three young children. unbranded - Newsworthy Florida has executed Gulf War veteran Jeffrey Hutchinson for the shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her three children despite a letter from 129 veterans arguing that Hutchinson's mind was a casualty of war. The 62-year-old former U.S. Army Ranger was convicted for the 1998 murder of 32-year-old Renee Flaherty, and her three children: 9-year-old Geoffrey, 7-year-old Amanda, and 4-year-old Logan. The execution took place shortly after 8 p.m. ET on Thursday at the Florida State Prison in Railford using the state's three-drug protocol involving etomidate, rocuronium bromide and potassium acetate. It marked the fourth execution in Florida this year and the 15th in the nation. While Hutchinson himself has maintained that the murders were committed by home invaders, his defense team pointed to brain damage and trauma suffered by the former U.S. Army Ranger during his service in the Gulf War as reason to stop the execution. Maria DeLiberato, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives for the Death Penalty and liaison for Hutchinson's legal team, previously told USA TODAY that experts called Hutchinson's statements "a delusional belief based on his significant and severe mental illness." Meanwhile 129 veterans representing every branch of the military wrote to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, calling Hutchinson "one of us" and urging the governor to stop the execution. Here's what you need to know about the execution, including what the veterans had to say. What was Jeffrey Hutchinson convicted of? On the night of Sept. 11, 1998, Hutchinson fought with Flaherty, after which he packed some of his clothes and guns into his truck, and went to a bar, according to court records. The bartender testified that Hutchinson told him that Flaherty was angry with him, while other witnesses testified that he drove recklessly when he left, according to court documents. Hutchinson then returned to the Crestview home, "busted down" the front door and shot Flaherty, Amanda and Logan in the head in the master bedroom, a forensic pathologist testified − according to court documents. The pathologist testified that Hutchinson shot Geoffrey last in both the chest and the head while the child "was able to see the bodies of his mother, sister, and brother," according to court records. "The terror suffered in that moment is incomprehensible to this court," Hutchinson's trial judge said, according to the Associated Press. Hutchinson called the police and told a dispatcher: "I just shot my family." Police arrived to find him spattered with blood and lying in a daze on the garage floor, still holding the phone, according to court documents. Who were Renee Flaherty and her children? Renee Flaherty did her best to provide for her three children. Even though there wasn't always "much on the shelves," the rural mail carrier and single eastern Washington mom worked hard to put food on the table and loved her children dearly, her brother, Wesley Elmore previously told USA TODAY. "Her kids were a priority. She made sure that her kids were fed and took care of," Elmore said. The last time Elmore saw his sister, just before Thanksgiving in 1997, he felt the family was in "good hands" with Hutchinson as they prepared to move to Florida. "I was giving Renee and the kids a hug and everything, goodbyes," Elmore told USA TODAY. "I remember shaking Jeff's hand and I said, 'Take care of my sister and her kids,' And he says, 'Wes, I promise I will.'" Months later, the 32-year-old Flaherty and her children would be found dead in their home, and Hutchinson was spattered with blood and lying in a daze on the garage floor, according to court documents. Veterans argue for Hutchinson to be spared In their April 30 letter to DeSantis, the veterans arguing for Hutchinson to be spared said that he "served our nation with honor from 1986 to 1994 as both a Paratrooper and an Army Ranger, roles that demand elite training, unshakable discipline, and extraordinary sacrifice." "He fought in some of the most dangerous missions during the Gulf War, operating behind enemy lines in the volatile Four Corners region where Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq meet," they continued. "He was exposed to repeated concussive blasts and deadly chemicals, including sarin nerve gas released during coalition bombings, leading to permanent brain damage and Gulf War Illness, a condition that was not fully recognized when he returned home." When Hutchinson got back home, "instead of receiving care, Jeff was met with silence." They added: "The science was not there. The VA was not there. His government was not there." They said they weren't asking DeSantis to excuse Hutchinson's crime but to "recognize the undeniable truth: Jeff came home injured by war. His mind was a casualty, just like any limb lost in combat." "To execute him now is not justice," they continued. "It is a failure of responsibility. It is the final abandonment of someone our country broke and then left behind." DeSantis' office did not immediately respond to a request about the veterans' comments. Trial judge rejected arguments about war service At the time of Hutchinson's trial, psychiatrist William Baumzweiger found that Hutchinson's form of mental illness could result in unconscious fits of rage, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Baumzweiger concluded that possible exposure to chemical or biological weapons caused Hutchinson to suffer from a "diminished mental state" at the time of the murders. Hutchinson's trial judge rejected that, instead agreeing with two prosecution psychologists and saying that no correlation between Hutchinson's diagnosis and the murders had been established, reported the Lakeland Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. In sentencing Hutchinson to death, Florida Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron found that 9-year-old Geoffrey's death was particularly heinous because he was alive and wounded in the chest when he was killed with a head shot, the Associated Press reported at the time. "The terror suffered in that moment is incomprehensible to this court," Barron said. "The defendant walked over to that 9-year-old boy and without pity, and without conscience, aimed the shotgun one final time." In the Florida Supreme Court's decision rejecting Hutchinson's arguments this week, the judges said that "there is no credible evidence that in his current mental state Mr. Hutchinson believes himself unable to die or that he is being executed for any reason other than the murders he was convicted of by a jury of his peers." The lone dissenting justice, Jorge Labarga, wrote that the case had a "procedural path unlike any in recent history" and was in favor of a stay. Contributing: Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY
Toronto Sun
01-05-2025
- Toronto Sun
Army veteran convicted of killing girlfriend, 3 children set to be executed in Florida
Published May 01, 2025 • 3 minute read This image provided by the Florida Department of Corrections shows Jeffrey Hutchinson. (Florida Department of Corrections via AP) AP STARKE, Fla. (AP) — An Army combat veteran whose Gulf War experience triggered severe mental problems is scheduled to be executed Thursday in Florida for the shotgun killings of his girlfriend and her three young children in 1998. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Barring a last-minute reprieve, Jeffrey Hutchinson is set to receive a lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. The execution, if carried out, will be the fourth in Florida this year under death warrants signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, with a fifth execution planned for May 15. Hutchinson, 62, has long claimed he is innocent and that two unknown assailants perpetrated the killings as part of a U.S. government conspiracy aimed at silencing him over his activism on claims of Gulf War illnesses and other issues affecting veterans. Hutchinson served eight years in the Army, part of it as an elite Ranger. Court records, however, show that on the night of the murders in Crestview, Florida, Hutchinson had 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. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 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. At his 2001 trial, Hutchinson based his defense on a claim that two unknown men came to the house, killing Flaherty and the children after he struggled with them. A jury found Hutchinson guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life in prison for Flaherty's killing and three death sentences for the children. Since then, Hutchinson has undertaken numerous unsuccessful appeals, many focused on mental health problems linked to his Army service. In late April, his lawyers sought to delay his execution date by claiming Hutchinson is insane and therefore cannot be put to death. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Bradford County Circuit Judge James Colaw rejected that argument. 'This Court finds that Jeffrey Hutchinson does not have any current mental illness,' Colaw said in his 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.' In their court filings, Hutchinson's lawyers said he suffers 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. One of his lawyers, Chelsea Shirley, said Hutchinson has 'a decades-long delusion that he is being executed to silence his efforts to expose government secrets. Two experts have concluded that he is not competent for execution. Based on these facts, we believe the court was wrong to find Mr. Hutchinson competent to be executed, but we are not surprised.' 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, 14 people have been executed in the U.S., including three in Florida, with Hutchinson to become the fourth. A fifth Florida execution is scheduled May 15 for Glen Rogers, who was convicted of killing a woman at a motel in 1997. Rogers was also convicted of another woman's murder in California and is believed by investigators to have killed others around the country. Sunshine Girls Columnists Travel USA Sunshine Girls Ontario
USA Today
30-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Florida Supreme Court denies appeal for Jeffrey Hutchinson, convicted of quadruple murder
Florida Supreme Court denies appeal for Jeffrey Hutchinson, convicted of quadruple murder Show Caption Hide Caption Florida death penalty: What to know Capital felony convictions are eligible for the death penalty in Florida. Here's what to know about capital punishment in the Sunshine State. Florida Supreme Court denied Jeffrey Hutchinson's appeal, upholding his death sentence for the 1998 murders of his girlfriend and her three children. Hutchinson's execution is scheduled for May 1, 2025, despite claims of Gulf War Illness impacting his mental state. This will be Florida's fourth execution of 2025, following a pause in 2020-2022. The Florida Supreme Court on Monday, April 21, unanimously denied Jeffrey G. Hutchinson's latest appeal, according to an order posted on the state court's website. Pending any other moves in state or federal courts by his attorneys, the war veteran convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her three young children in Crestview nearly three decades ago is scheduled to be put to death at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant on March 31. Hutchinson's attorneys argued he had brain damage and cognitive impairment from injuries suffered during the Gulf War, according to Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida, and that the newly discovered diagnosis of Gulf War Illness would have meant his acquittal on first-degree murder charges or life in prison rather than the death penalty. However, when the state Supreme Court upheld an April 4 ruling against Huchinson from Okaloosa County Circuit Judge Lacey Powell Clark, the court said facts "that he was exposed to sarin gas and numerous explosions while serving in the Middle East as well as his various post-war symptoms" were well-known during or before his trial. 'As for the diagnoses or conditions on which Hutchinson relies, we acknowledge that the scientific understanding of Gulf War Illness has evolved over time,' the opinion said. 'However, the illness was a well-known diagnosable condition at the time of Hutchinson's trial. Indeed, even at that time, experts recognized that the illness encompassed mental-health and cognitive effects.' If the execution goes as planned, Hutchinson will be the fourth execution in Florida this year. A fifth Florida execution, for convicted murderer and serial killer Glen E. Rogers, is scheduled for Thursday, May 15, 2025 The previous executions were James Ford on Feb. 13, Edward James on March 20 and Michael Tanzi on April 8. Florida did not execute any inmates in 2020, 2021 and 2022 but put to death six men in 2023 and one man, Loran K. Cole, in 2024. Here's what to know. Who is Jeffrey Hutchinson? Jeffrey Glenn Hutchinson, now 62, was convicted and sentenced to death for the quadruple murder in 1998 of his girlfriend Renee Flaherty, 32, and her three children, Geoffrey, 9, Amanda, 7, and Logan, 4. A former mechanic and security guard before joining the Army and becoming a paratrooper and Army Ranger, Hutchinson was raised in Florida but was living with Flaherty in Spokane, Washington, before they moved to the Sunshine State. Flaherty was estranged from her husband, who was stationed in Alaska, and Hutchinson was twice-divorced. How were Renee Flaherty and her children killed? According to court records, Hutchinson and Flaherty had been fighting on Sept. 11, 1998, before he packed some clothes and firearms into his truck and went to a nearby bar. As he drank, he told the bartender (an acquaintance) that he was "pissed off." Prosecutors said Hutchinson came back to the house with a Mossberg 12-gauge pistol-grip shotgun and shot and killed the occupants within an hour of leaving the bar. He shot each of the victims once in the head, they said, with the oldest child also shot in the chest. Hutchinson called the police and told a dispatcher, "I just shot my family." Police arrived to find him spattered with blood and lying in a daze on the garage floor, still holding the phone. At times, Hutchinson claimed the murders were carried out by two masked men, that he was heavily intoxicated at the time so it couldn't be first-degree murder, and that he had diminished responsibility due to mental disorders from his service. Hutchinson was diagnosed as suffering from Gulf War Syndrome, but the trial judge ruled him competent to stand trial. He was found guilty and given three death sentences for the children's murders and a life sentence for Flaherty. Multiple appeals over the years have been rejected or dismissed by the Florida Supreme Court, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. When is Jeffrey Hutchinson scheduled to be executed? Hutchinson's execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at Florida State Prison in Raiford. How many death row inmates has Florida executed? From 1924 until May 1964, the state of Florida has executed 196 people. There were no executions from May 1964 until May 1976. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, but it was reinstated in 1976. Florida has carried out 107 executions since then. When is the next execution in Florida? Glen Rogers, known as "The Casanova Killer" or "The Cross Country Killer," is scheduled to be executed on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Rogers was convicted and sentenced to death in 1997 for the stabbing murder of Tina Marie Cribbs near Tampa two years previously. In 1999, Rogers was tried in California for raping and strangling Sandra Gallagher and was sentenced to death again. The two women were part of the four Rogers was believed to have killed, all red-haired and in their 30s, as he was driving across the country in 1995. At one point, Rogers claimed he'd killed nearly 70 people, although he later said he was kidding. He also claimed to have been paid by O.J. Simpson to kill Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in 1994, as explained in the documentary "My Brother the Serial Killer." The News Service of Florida contributed to this story.
