Overview

• Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on June 24, more than three decades after his 1995 conviction for raping and killing 27-year-old Michelle McGrath outside an Orlando nightclub.
• The Florida Supreme Court rejected his appeals over lifelong mental illness last week, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block the execution on the day it was scheduled.
• Defense attorneys argued that Gudinas’s mental health conditions and the governor’s unfettered discretion to issue death warrants violated due process, but both state and federal courts dismissed those claims.
• Gudinas was the seventh person put to death in Florida this year, part of the 24 executions nationwide in 2025—the highest annual total since 2015.
• Officials said there were no procedural irregularities during the execution and noted that Gudinas made an inaudible final statement that a spokesperson said included repentance and a reference to Jesus.