The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed the death sentence of Anthony Floyd Wainwright and denied his motion for a stay of execution. Wainwright, who was convicted of a 1994 murder, robbery, kidnapping, and sexual battery, is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
The Court rejected Wainwright’s amended eighth successive motion for postconviction relief, concluding that his claims were either procedurally barred, lacked merit, or failed to meet the criteria for newly discovered evidence.
Wainwright was sentenced to death for the brutal 1994 murder of Carmen Gayheart, a young mother of two, whom he and co-perpetrator Richard Hamilton accosted at gunpoint in a Winn-Dixie parking lot.
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After stealing her car, they raped, strangled, and shot Carmen Gayheart twice in the back of the head. Wainwright and Hamilton were apprehended the following day in Mississippi after a shootout with police.
A jury unanimously recommended death, and the trial court found six aggravating circumstances, including that the murder was committed during a robbery, kidnapping, and sexual battery, and was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, and cold, calculated, and premeditated.
Since his convictions and sentences became final in 1998, Wainwright has launched numerous unsuccessful challenges in both state and federal courts, including seven prior successive postconviction motions.
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In his latest appeal, Wainwright presented three main arguments:
Sixth Amendment Claim (Erlinger v. United States): Wainwright argued that his death sentence was unconstitutional because a judge, rather than a jury, made findings necessary to impose death, specifically regarding the “prior violent felony” aggravator. The Court found this claim procedurally barred, noting it had been raised and rejected previously. Furthermore, the Court determined that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Erlinger v. United States does not apply retroactively to cases that became final before the 2002 Ring v. Arizona decision, which addressed similar jury-finding requirements.
Newly Discovered Evidence (Father’s Toxin Exposure): Wainwright claimed new evidence showed his neurobehavioral deficits were linked to his father’s exposure to toxins during the Vietnam War. The Court rejected this, stating the information was not “newly discovered” as it was based on pre-existing studies, some dating back to 1996.
The Court also ruled that even if new, this evidence would not likely lead to a lesser sentence, given that Wainwright’s intellectual and psychological issues were already known and weighed against the six serious aggravating circumstances.
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Brady Violation (Jailhouse Informant): Wainwright alleged a Brady violation, claiming the State failed to disclose that a jailhouse informant, Robert Allen Murphy, expected a benefit for his testimony. The Court found Wainwright failed to exercise due diligence, as information about Murphy’s pending sentence modification and subsequent probation was publicly available decades ago.
Additionally, the Court concluded there was insufficient evidence that the State suppressed information or that Murphy’s testimony was material enough to undermine confidence in the verdict, given other significant evidence against Wainwright.
“Summary denial of a successive postconviction motion is appropriate if the motion, files, and records in the case conclusively show that the movant is entitled to no relief,” the Court stated, citing precedent.
With all claims denied, the Florida Supreme Court concluded that there were no substantial grounds upon which relief might be granted, thus denying the motion for a stay of execution.
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