Man executed for raping, killing Florida woman outside bar

A man convicted of raping and killing a woman near a central Florida bar was executed Tuesday evening.

Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, following decades on death row for the 1994 killing of Michelle McGrath. His execution proceeded as scheduled after last-day appeals were denied.

Gudinas became the seventh person executed in Florida this year, with an eighth execution scheduled for next month. The state executed six people in 2023, compared to only one the year before.

So far, 23 people have been executed in the U.S. in 2025. Scheduled executions are on pace to make this the busiest year for capital punishment since 2015. Florida leads the nation in executions this year, followed by Texas and South Carolina with four each. Alabama has carried out three, while Oklahoma has executed two. Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, and Tennessee have each executed one person. Mississippi is scheduled to carry out its first execution since 2022 on Wednesday.

Gudinas’ lawyers had argued that he should be spared due to what they described as lifelong mental illness, but the Florida Supreme Court rejected that claim last week, ruling that protections for intellectually disabled individuals do not extend to those with other mental or psychological conditions.

McGrath was last seen leaving Barbarella’s, a downtown Orlando nightclub, shortly before 3 a.m. on May 24, 1994. Her body was found several hours later in an alley near a nearby school, showing signs of severe trauma and sexual assault.

Witnesses placed Gudinas at the scene, and another woman testified that he had chased and threatened her earlier that same night. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995.

His attorneys also filed a federal appeal arguing that Florida’s system of allowing the governor sole discretion to issue death warrants violates due process and results in an arbitrary system. The U.S. Supreme Court had not ruled on the issue before the execution took place.