The Florida Supreme Court has affirmed the summary denial of William Reaves’ successive postconviction motion, denied his habeas petition, and declined to stay his execution. Reaves was sentenced to death for the 1986 killing of Deputy Richard Raczkoski in Vero Beach.
Governor DeSantis signed a death warrant on September 18, 2026. Reaves then raised a challenge to the clemency process, a challenge to Florida’s three-drug lethal-injection protocol, and a newly discovered evidence claim. The circuit court summarily denied all three after a Huff hearing, and Reaves appealed the clemency and method-of-execution rulings.
On clemency, the Court said its cases emphasize “the unlimited discretion vested solely in the executive branch,” that a capital defendant has no entitlement to clemency records, and that its precedent does not recognize a constitutional right to effective clemency counsel. The method-of-execution claim was untimely under Rule 3.851(d), because the facts Reaves relied on “were known or knowable to Reaves many years before he raised the current claim,” and it failed on the merits under the Court’s precedent upholding the protocol.
The Court said Reaves’ habeas claim sought cumulative review “unencumbered by any procedural bars” and was foreclosed by precedent. It ordered that no motion for rehearing will be considered and that the mandate issue immediately. Justice Labarga concurred in the result.
Download the full opinion (PDF)
Citation: Reaves v. State and Reaves v. Secretary, Department of Corrections, Nos. SC2026-1512 and SC2026-1519 (Fla. Oct. 14, 2026) (per curiam; Labarga, J., concurring in result).
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