Attorneys for Thomas Gudinas on Thursday appealed to the Florida Supreme Court after an Orange County circuit judge refused to halt his scheduled June 24 execution in the 1994 rape and murder of an Orlando woman.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 23 signed a death warrant for Gudinas. He could be the seventh inmate put to death by lethal injection this year. Five men have been executed and Anthony Wainwright is scheduled to die Tuesday.
After the death warrant was signed, Gudinas’ attorneys raised a series of arguments in circuit court to try to prevent the execution. Among the arguments was that Gudinas has mental illness that should be re-evaluated and could lead to him being shielded from the death penalty.
But Circuit Judge John Jordan issued an 18-page decision that rejected the arguments