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Florida plans 18th execution of 2026 for killing of Indian River County deputy
William Reaves, 77, is scheduled to be executed Tuesday at Florida State Prison for the 1986 killing of Deputy Richard Raczkowski. His attorneys have challenged the state’s execution method and argued jurors were not told about his service-related PTSD; a final appeal was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
STARKE, Fla. — Florida is scheduled to execute William Reaves on Tuesday evening for the 1986 killing of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski, in what would be the state’s 18th execution this year.
Reaves, 77, is set to receive a three-drug lethal injection beginning at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. His final appeals were still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, after the Florida Supreme Court rejected his latest appeals last week.
The case stems from a September 1986 incident at a Vero Beach convenience store. Court records say Raczkowski responded to a 911 call that Reaves later acknowledged making from a payphone outside the store. During their conversation, a gun fell from Reaves’ clothing. The two struggled over it, and Reaves regained control of the weapon. Investigators said Raczkowski tried to flee before Reaves shot him four times. The deputy later died.
Reaves was first convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1987. The Florida Supreme Court overturned that conviction because of a conflict of interest involving the prosecutor and ordered a new trial. A second conviction and death sentence followed in 1992; later appeals were unsuccessful.
Reaves’ attorneys challenged Florida’s lethal-injection procedure, which uses a sedative, a paralytic and a drug intended to stop the heart. The state’s high court has previously upheld the protocol in similar cases.
The defense also argued that jurors who recommended death were not told the Department of Veterans Affairs had rated Reaves as fully disabled by post-traumatic stress disorder linked to his service in the Vietnam War. More than 100 veterans urged Gov. Ron DeSantis in a letter Monday to halt the execution.
Florida’s pace of executions has renewed attention to the age of people on death row: Reaves would be the eighth Florida prisoner over 70 executed this year. The state carried out a record 19 executions in 2025, and another execution is scheduled for Nov. 5. If both pending executions proceed, Florida would match that annual record.
Florida has carried out more than half of the 31 executions reported nationwide so far this year. DeSantis, who is due to leave office in January, has said his goal is to deliver justice to victims’ families who have waited decades for death sentences to be carried out.