TALLAHASSEE, Florida — A man convicted of raping and killing a woman near a central Florida bar has been set for execution in Florida, according to a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday, the seventh this year.
Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on June 24 at Florida State Prison near the city of Starke.
Gudinas was convicted of Michelle McGrath’s murder in 1995 and condemned to death.
McGrath was last seen in May 1994, about closing time, at a bar named Barbarella’s. Her body was discovered in an alley next to a neighboring school the next morning, with signs of extreme trauma and sexual assault.
Gudinas had gone to the same bar with pals the night before, but they all later claimed that they had departed without him. A school employee who discovered McGrath’s death later identified Gudinas as a man who had fled the scene just before the body was located. Another woman identified Gudinas as the individual who chased her to her car the night before and threatened to assault her.
This year, five other executions have taken place in Florida, with a sixth set for June 10. All were carried out via lethal injection.