Last night, Florida State Prison witnessed the execution of Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, ending a legal battle that spanned over three decades following the 1994 murder of Michelle McGrath. According to a report by WFTV, Gudinas was administered a lethal injection and pronounced dead, marking him as the seventh person executed in the state this year.
Details provided by FOX 35 Orlando shed light on Gudinas' final moments; he gave an inaudible final statement and experienced brief movement before becoming motionless, after having a last meal of pepperoni pizza, French fries, and soda. His execution followed the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting his last appeal, one which his lawyers fought fervently, citing "unbridled discretion" in the governor’s decision to move forward with the execution.
Gudinas' crime took place in May 1994, when he viciously attacked McGrath after she left a nightclub in Orlando. Investigators found that he had followed her before raping and brutally killing her. In the face of his heinous acts, Gudinas was convicted, and his legal defense continued to delay the execution, recently arguing that he was suffering from severe mental illness, a claim that the Florida Supreme Court ultimately rejected.
