A veteran of the Army fighting, whose Gulf War experience has caused serious mental problems, executed a shotgun kill of his 1998 girlfriend and three children in Florida Thursday night.
Jeffrey Hutchinson62, pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m. after a fatal injection at Florida prison near Stark. He is the fourth person to be executed in Florida this year and will perform his fifth execution on May 15.
Hutchinson has no final statement, but since the surgery started before 8 p.m., his legs occasionally trembled, he seemed to have a body cramp for a few minutes, and then still was. This process took more than 15 minutes.
The enforcement took place shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the final appeal without commenting.
Hutchinson, long claimed to be innocent, two unknown attackers committed killings under the conspiracy of the U.S. government, aimed at silence of his activism, including Gulf War diseases involving veterans. Hutchinson served in the military for eight years, part of which was an elite ranger.
However, court records show Hutchinson argued with his girlfriend, Renee Flaherty, 32, on a killing night in Crestview, Florida, before packing the clothes and guns into trucks. Hutchinson went to the bar for some beer and told staff member Flaherty was angry with him before he suddenly left.
Shortly after, a male called to tell the 911 operator that “I just shot my family” Hutchinson and Flaherty shared with three children: Jeffrey, 9, Amanda, 7, and Logan, 4. All of this was killed by a 12-port shotgun found on the kitchen counter. Hutchinson was placed in the garage by police, his cell phone was still connected to the 911 center and was shot wound on his hand.
At the 2001 trial, Hutchinson's defense was based on his claim that two unknown people came to the house and killed Flaherty and the children after struggling with them. A jury found Hutchinson guilty of four counts of first-degree murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment for Flaherty's killing and three death sentences for his children.
Hutchinson filed many failed appeals, many focusing on mental health issues related to his Army services. In late April, his lawyer tried to delay execution by claiming Hutchinson was insane and therefore could not be executed.
Bradford County Circuit Judge James Colaw rejected the argument in an April 27 order.
The judge wrote: “The court held that Mr. Hutchinson’s delusion was clearly wrong.
Hutchinson's lawyer said in court documents that he suffered from the Gulf War disease, a series of health problems caused by the Iraq War of 1990-1991, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoid and paranoid, related to his claims that he was targeted by government surveillance.
According to the state Department of Corrections, Florida's deadly injection regimen uses sedatives, paralysis and a drug that blocks the heart.
So far this year, 15 people have been executed in the United States, including Hutchinson. Glen Rogers is scheduled for the fifth execution in Florida on May 15, and Glen Rogers was convicted of killing a woman in a motel in 1997. Rogers was also convicted of murder for another woman in California and was believed by investigators to kill others across the country.