TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for 77-year-old William Reaves Jr., the man convicted of murdering Indian River County Sheriff's Deputy Richard Raczkoski in 1986.
The execution is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6 p.m.
The Crime
Reaves was convicted of murdereing Raczkoski on Sept. 23, 1986, after a confrontation at a convenience store.
Deputy Raczkoski had responded to a 911 call at the store when he encountered Reaves. During a conversation between the two, a gun fell from Reaves's shorts. Deputy Raczkoski placed his knee on the weapon. Reaves then pushed the deputy away, grabbed the gun and pointed it at Deputy Raczkoski's face.
As Deputy Raczkoski attempted to draw his own weapon, Reaves said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." The deputy backed away, turned, and ran. Reaves fired seven rounds, striking Deputy Raczkoski four times.
Conviction and Sentencing
Reaves was tried in the 19th Judicial Circuit in Indian River County. On direct appeal, the Florida Supreme Court reversed the initial conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. On remand, Reaves was again convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death on March 6, 1992, in Vero Beach.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence on April 7, 1994. The United States Supreme Court denied Reaves's petition for a writ of certiorari on Nov. 7, 1994.
Decades of Appeals
Reaves pursued numerous postconviction challenges in both state and federal courts over the following decades.
In 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted Reaves's federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus. However, on Sept. 28, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit overturned that ruling and ordered that the petition be denied.
Additional postconviction motions and petitions were subsequently denied, and those denials were affirmed on appeal. Executive clemency was also considered and denied.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, in his letter recommending the warrant, wrote that "the record is legally sufficient to support the issuance of a death warrant," and confirmed that "there are no stays of execution issued by any court of competent jurisdiction in this cause."
What Comes Next
The execution is scheduled to take place at Florida State Prison in Raiford. If carried out as scheduled, it will come 40 years after the murder of Deputy Raczkoski.
