Help Stop the Execution of Jeffrey Hutchinson in Florida

Jeffrey Hutchinson is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed in Florida tomorrow, May 1, 2025, despite a long­stand­ing men­tal ill­ness and his attorney’s claim that he is men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent. Hutchinson, age 62, was sentenced to death after a jury in Florida convicted him of murdering his girlfriend Renee Flaherty and her three children in September 1998.

Hutchinson has suf­fered from a delu­sion­al dis­or­der for decades, with a per­sis­tent delu­sion that his exe­cu­tion is meant to silence his expo­sure of gov­ern­ment secrets, includ­ing the iden­ti­ty of the actu­al per­pe­tra­tors in his case. Experts who eval­u­at­ed him in ear­ly April 2025 deter­mined he lacks a ratio­nal under­stand­ing of Florida’s plan to exe­cute him, ren­der­ing him incom­pe­tent for exe­cu­tion.

Despite this find­ing, experts for the state tes­ti­fied that they did not agree with defense expert con­clu­sions and Judge James M. Colaw ulti­mate­ly found Hutchinson ​“sane and com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed” after more than ten hours of expert testimony.

Following the issuance of Judge Colaw’s opin­ion, coun­sel for Jeffrey Hutchinson said, “…we believe the court was wrong to find Mr. Hutchinson com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed, but we are not sur­prised. These pro­ceed­ings have been a far cry from a full and fair hear­ing as required by due process. We will con­tin­ue to lit­i­gate the issues and seek a stay of Mr. Hutchinson’s execution.”

Hutchinson’s mil­i­tary ser­vice spanned over a decade in the U.S. Army, dur­ing which his Gulf War deploy­ment exposed him to sarin gas and mul­ti­ple blast injuries, result­ing in Gulf War Illness (GWI) with per­ma­nent neu­ro­log­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal dam­age. After return­ing from deploy­ment, his para­noia inten­si­fied into a belief that gov­ern­ment agents were tar­get­ing him for his clas­si­fied knowl­edge. Hutchinson’s para­noia severe­ly impact­ed his civil­ian life and per­son­al rela­tion­ships. For near­ly 30 years, he has main­tained his inno­cence, insist­ing oth­ers com­mit­ted his crimes to sup­press his advo­ca­cy for Gulf War vet­er­ans suf­fer­ing from GWI. Hutchinson believes that with his sched­uled exe­cu­tion date, the gov­ern­ment will exe­cute an inno­cent per­son to hide longstanding coverups.

Board-cer­ti­fied psy­chol­o­gist Dr. Barry Crown tes­ti­fied about his two eval­u­a­tions of Hutchinson over the past six months. Dr. Crown iden­ti­fied symp­toms of PTSD and organ­ic brain dam­age that impair Hutchinson’s rea­son­ing, judg­ment, crit­i­cal think­ing, and mem­o­ry. Dr. Crown also tes­ti­fied that Hutchinson suf­fers from Delusional Disorder and that while Hutchinson under­stands he is going to be exe­cut­ed, he lacks a ratio­nal under­stand­ing of why the state is doing so.



“Having rep­re­sent­ed Mr. Hutchinson for a decade and based upon the recent reports find­ing him to be incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed, it is appro­pri­ate to request a stay of exe­cu­tion on his behalf…Executing an incom­pe­tent and severe­ly men­tal­ly wound­ed com­bat vet­er­an vio­lates the U.S. Constitution," said Sean T. Gunn, attorney representing Hutchinson.

We call on our supporters and advocates to take action and send a message to the Florida Board of Executive Clemency and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to halt the execution of a US Veteran who suffered known mental health trauma resulting from his service to the country. 

You can use the petition through the Action Network to voice your opposition to this cruel and unjust punishment ---->>> Stop the Execution of Jeffrey Hutchinson in Florida