Florida executes 77-year-old William Reaves for 1986 killing of deputy, 18th execution this year

Florida executed William Reaves, 77, by three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on Tuesday, the state's 18th execution this year. He was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. Reaves was convicted of first-degree murder for the September 1986 shooting of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski. About 30 seconds after the injection began, he took several deep breaths and stopped moving; a warden shook him and shouted his name without response, and a medic confirmed death about a minute later. Reaves was the eighth Florida prisoner over 70 executed this year. Florida set a record of 19 executions last year and would tie it if another execution scheduled for November goes ahead. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has said he wants to bring justice to victims' families who waited decades.

Newsweek, the alternative outlet, leads with the elderly-inmate pattern and the approaching record. It quotes Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers, who said Reaves's peaceful death was not justice, and cites Death Penalty Information Center data on his 34 years since sentencing. Left-leaning CBS News and The Guardian stress DeSantis's aggressive use of the death penalty and the aging death-row population. The Guardian adds that fellow veterans had urged a halt to the execution of Reaves, a Vietnam veteran, and gives his last words. Fox News, on the right, leads with the killing of a deputy and the execution's sequence, noting the 'accelerated pace' under DeSantis.