William Reaves, a 77-year-old Vietnam veteran who has spent 38 years on Florida's death row, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6 p.m. for the 1986 fatal shooting of Indian River County Sheriff's Cpl. Richard "Raz" Raczkoski, according to reports. The execution, set to take place at Florida State Prison in Raiford, comes after the Florida Supreme Court on Oct. 14 rejected Reaves' final bid to stop the sentence.
The 1986 Murder
The crime dates to about 3 a.m. on Sept. 23, 1986, outside a Zippy Mart store on State Road 60 west of Vero Beach, Florida. Reaves, then 37, had spent the night smoking cocaine and walked to the convenience store to call a cab. When the call did not connect, he dialed 911 but hung up before it went through, according to court filings and trial testimony.
Raczkoski, 29, was dispatched to the store. As the two spoke, a .38-caliber pistol slipped from Reaves' waistband onto the ground. When Reaves moved to grab the weapon, the men struggled. Reaves pushed Raczkoski's knee and grabbed his throat, seized the gun, and refused to give it up. As Raczkoski retreated, Reaves fired seven times, striking the deputy once in the arm and three times in the back.
Raczkoski died at a hospital later that morning. He was the first Indian River County officer killed in the line of duty. Reaves later told police, "I panicked, I panicked ... all I remember is I started shooting," and claimed the tussle had triggered a post-traumatic stress episode tied to his military service.
Fleeing to Georgia
After the shooting, Reaves fled to the home of a friend, Eugene Hinton, and told him, "I think I shot a officer just now," court records show. He then went to a hotel in Melbourne and, the next morning, took a bus to Albany, Georgia, where he was apprehended.
Reaves told investigators he killed Raczkoski to avoid being sent back to prison for possessing a firearm, which would have violated his parole. He had been out of prison for only five months, having served less than two years of a five-year sentence for selling cocaine and violating probation on robbery charges.
At the 1987 trial, Hinton testified that Raczkoski had begged Reaves not to shoot him. Reaves' reply, Hinton told jurors, was: "It's either me or you."
Two Trials, Same Verdict
A jury convicted Reaves of first-degree murder in 1987 and recommended death unanimously, 12-0. The trial had been moved to Sarasota County because of extensive publicity. But the Florida Supreme Court reversed the conviction after learning that prosecutor Bruce Colton — then a former public defender — had represented Reaves on a 1973 armed robbery charge. Colton said he never met Reaves at the time; the case had been assigned to an intern attorney, but Colton's name appeared on the court documents as attorney of record.
A new team of prosecutors secured a conviction at a second trial in 1992, held in Marion County. That jury recommended death by a 10-to-2 vote, and a judge imposed the sentence.
Retired Judge David Morgan, who helped prosecute Reaves in 1987, called Gov. Ron DeSantis' decision to sign the death warrant "justice delayed, but I don't believe it's justice denied." Morgan, who has witnessed two state executions as a prosecutor, said he hopes the Raczkoski family gets closure. Former prosecutor Colton, meanwhile, said he will not attend the execution. "I continue to believe in the death penalty," he said, "but I'd get no feeling of satisfaction from seeing Reaves die."
The PTSD Argument
Reaves' attorneys have long argued that the jury never heard critical evidence about his combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder. In a recent op-ed in Slate, one of Reaves' former attorneys, Chance Meyer, wrote that mental health experts concluded Reaves was in the grip of a flashback on the night of the crime — that he felt himself again in a firefight in Vietnam and "could not — not did not, but could not — govern his impulses."
A federal district court agreed the evidence was critical and ordered a new sentencing hearing, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed on procedural grounds, barring consideration of evidence not presented in state court.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Reaves would be at least the 235th military veteran executed in the modern era of capital punishment, and the 14th veteran executed under Gov. DeSantis.
Last-Ditch Appeals Rejected
Reaves' legal team spent more than 26 years pursuing post-conviction appeals in state and federal courts, which concluded in 2018. DeSantis denied his request for clemency in 2023 and signed the death warrant on Sept. 18.
His attorneys' final challenge attacked Florida's clemency process and its lethal injection protocol. On Oct. 14, the Florida Supreme Court upheld a circuit judge's Oct. 2 ruling rejecting those claims. "Reaves has not demonstrated any basis for reversing the circuit court," the justices wrote, adding that they were also denying his habeas petition. "No motion for rehearing will be considered," the Oct. 14 order stated.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Leslie T. Campbell had called the claims "legally insufficient, procedurally barred, and meritless," writing in an Oct. 7 filing that they were "insubstantial and unworthy of a stay of execution."
What This Means
The case highlights the unusually high pace of executions in Florida under DeSantis. The governor oversaw 19 executions in 2025 — more than any other Florida governor in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 — and Florida has accounted for more than half of all executions in the United States so far this year, according to reports. DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has said his goal is to bring long-awaited justice to victims' families who have waited decades for death sentences to be carried out. Jesse Guardado, 64, is already scheduled to die on Nov. 5.
For the Indian River County Sheriff's Office, the execution carries particular weight. Raczkoski was the agency's only officer slain on duty for decades, until Sgt. Terri Sweeting-Mashkow was killed during an eviction last November. Sheriff Eric Flowers said he plans to witness Reaves' death, calling it "his duty as sheriff," and said the execution helps the agency heal from both losses.
What Happens Next
Reaves will be moved from Union Correctional Institution to a death watch cell at nearby Florida State Prison, a maximum-security complex also known as "The Rock." On the day of the execution, condemned inmates are moved to a holding cell near the death chamber, where they are allowed final visits and a last meal — locally purchased food that cannot exceed $40, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Witnesses from the victims' families, the news media, the state, and the condemned prisoner's attorneys are escorted into viewing rooms shortly before the scheduled time. After prison officials read the death warrant and check for any last-minute court orders, the lethal-injection sequence begins: a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart. A doctor then pronounces death, and officials release the time of death and any last words the condemned chooses to give.
Sheriff Flowers, the agency's cold case coordinator Ed Glaser, and members of the Raczkoski family — including the slain deputy's brother Marc — are expected to be present. For Reaves' supporters, the only remaining hope is clemency from the governor — a request DeSantis has already denied once.
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