Convicted murderer Thomas Lee Gudinas is set to be executed today for the brutal 1994 slaying of Michelle McGrath in Orlando. This follows a decisive ruling issued on June 17 by the Florida Supreme Court, which affirmed the lower court’s denial of postconviction relief and rejected Gudinas’s motion for a stay of execution.
Gudinas, 50, was convicted of murdering and sexually assaulting 27-year-old Michelle McGrath after she left a downtown Orlando nightclub. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for Gudinas on May 23. McGrath was last seen alive about 2:45 a.m. in the courtyard of a nightclub and was believed to have been attacked as she went to her car in a parking lot, according to a 1995 sentencing order.
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Her body was found around 7:30 a.m. in an alley, having been “savagely raped and severely beaten by the defendant with a blunt instrument,” then-Circuit Judge Belvin Perry Jr. wrote in the sentencing order.
Gudinas’s appeal, his third successive motion for postconviction relief, had raised claims related to his mental health, the constitutionality of Florida’s “conformity clause” regarding cruel and unusual punishment, and the application of procedural bars to his case. He also sought public records from the Executive Office of the Governor.
The unanimous decision by the high court rejected all of Gudinas’s arguments. The Court found his claims of newly discovered evidence regarding “brain impairment” to be untimely and procedurally barred, noting that evidence of his mental state and potential brain issues had been presented and debated in previous proceedings spanning decades. The opinion emphasized that Gudinas’s alleged “life-long” impairments were known for “at least twenty-five or thirty years, if not longer.”
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Furthermore, the Court reiterated its stance that the protections against execution for the intellectually disabled (Atkins v. Virginia) and juvenile offenders (Roper v. Simmons) do not extend to individuals with other mental illnesses or those over the age of eighteen at the time of their crime. Gudinas was twenty years old when he committed the murder. The Court firmly stated that its interpretation of Florida’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment is bound by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence, acting as both “the floor and the ceiling” for such protections in Florida.
Gudinas’s challenge to Florida’s “conformity clause,” arguing it violated his due process and Eighth Amendment rights, was also dismissed as procedurally barred and without merit. The Court affirmed that states are not required to expand federal constitutional protections.
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Finally, the demand for public records from the Executive Office of the Governor was denied. The Court found the requested records related to the clemency process to be confidential and exempt from disclosure under Florida statutes and the Rules of Executive Clemency. It also deemed the requests overly broad, unduly burdensome, and not reasonably calculated to lead to a colorable claim for relief, given prior rulings affirming the Governor’s absolute discretion in clemency and death warrant selection.
As the execution looms today, Gudinas’ attorneys are making a final plea for a stay, asserting that the state needs to establish clearer criteria for who is subject to capital punishment.
Gudinas would be the seventh inmate executed this year in Florida. This follows the execution of Anthony Wainwright last Tuesday evening for a 1994 murder in Lake City.
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