A death row inmate received a lethal injection more than three decades after raping and killing a former homecoming queen.
Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, used his last words to repent for slaying Michelle McGrath, and made a reference to Jesus while strapped to a gurney at the Florida State Prison near Starke. He did not meet with a spiritual adviser.
Although Gudinas’ words were inaudible to those in the viewing room,according to Governor Ron DeSantis’ spokesman Bryan Griffin the inmate repented and made a reference to Jesus.
As the drugs entered his system through an IV in his left arm, Gudinas’ eyes rolled back and he had some chest convulsions. His face began to lose its color, then he was motionless.
Gudinas, whose last meal was pizza, fries, and soda, was pronounced dead at 6.13pm on Tuesday.
Gudinas only had one visitor, who was his mother.
McGrath was at Barbarella’s bar just before 3am on May 24, 1994, before she vanished.
Gudinas was at the same bar with some friends the night before. An employee at a nearby school discovered McGrath’s body in an alley hours after she disappeared and claimed to see Gudinas fleeing the area moments before.
McGrath’s body had signs of sexual assault and severe trauma.
She had been out with a friend and was attacked while walking to her car. McGrath was known to hand out blankets to the homeless and people in need, and even provide them with food.
Gudinas was convicted of killing McGrath and sentenced to death in 1995.
At the time of Gudinas’ guilty verdict, McGrath’s father, Douglas McGrath, said ‘it seems like a tragic waste of his life and my daughter’s life’.
‘We are deprived of my daughter… forever,’ he said at the time.
Gudinas’ attorneys argued that he was too mentally ill for capital punishment under the US Constitution. His defence team filed appeals with the state and US Supreme Court, both which were rejected.
Gudinas was the seventh inmate to be executed in Florida so far this year, and the 24th in the US.
Florida has put more people to death this year than any other state.
‘Our staff are doing a fantastic job keeping up with the pace of these executions,’ stated Department of Corrections spokesman Ted Veerman on Tuesday.
‘And we are going through with these in a professional manner.’
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