BREAKING: Gov. DeSantis signs death warrant for Jeffrey Hutchinson
This evening, Gov. DeSantis signed the fourth death warrant for the year setting Jeffrey Hutchinson’s execution for May 1 at 6:00 p.m.
This evening, Gov. DeSantis signed the fourth death warrant for the year setting Jeffrey Hutchinson’s execution for May 1 at 6:00 p.m.—a 31-day warrant period.
Scheduling Order
The Florida Supreme Court issued a Scheduling Order for warrant-related litigation that outlines the following schedule:
April 11 at 4:00 p.m.: circuit court proceedings must be completed
April 14 at 11:00 a.m.: notice of appeal and writ petition due to Florida Supreme Court
April 15 at 3:00 p.m.: initial brief due
April 17 at 3:00 p.m.: answer brief due
April 21 at 9:00 a.m.: reply brief due
The full Scheduling Order is available on the Court’s docket here.
Background of Hutchinson’s Case
Jeffrey Hutchinson was sentenced to death for killing his girlfriend, Renee Flaherty, and her three young children—Logan, Amanda, and Geoffrey—in September 1998.
The facts of the crimes are as follows:
On the evening of the murders, Hutchinson and Renee argued. Hutchinson packed some of his clothes and guns into his truck, left, and went to a bar. Renee then called her friend, Francis Pruitt (Pruitt), in Washington and told her that she thought Hutchinson had left for good. The bartender testified that Hutchinson arrived around 8 p.m. Hutchinson told the bartender, “Renee is pissed off at me,” drank one and a half glasses of beer and then left the bar muttering to himself. Other witnesses testified that Hutchinson drove recklessly after he left the bar.
Approximately forty minutes after Hutchinson left the bar, there was a 911 call from Hutchinson's home. The caller stated, “I just shot my family.” Two of Hutchinson's close friends identified the caller's voice as Hutchinson's. Hutchinson said to the 911 operator, “There were some guys here.” He told the operator that he did not know how many people were there, how many had been hurt, or how they had been injured. Deputies arrived at Hutchinson's home within ten minutes of the 911 call and found Hutchinson on the ground in the garage with the cordless phone nearby. The phone call was still connected to the 911 operator. Deputies found Renee's body on the bed in the master bedroom, Amanda's body on the floor near the bed in the master bedroom, and Logan's body at the foot of the bed in the master bedroom. Each had been shot once in the head with a shotgun. Deputies found Geoffrey's body on the floor in the living room between the couch and the coffee table. He had been shot once in the chest and once in the head. The murder weapon, a Mossberg 12–gauge pistol-grip shotgun that belonged to Hutchinson, was found on the kitchen counter. Hutchinson had gunshot residue on his hands. He also had Geoffrey's body tissue on his leg.1
Trial
At trial in Okaloosa County in 2001, Hutchinson’s defense “was that two men came into the house, he struggled with them, and they shot Renee and the children and fled. . . . Hutchinson also presented the defense of intoxication, and he argued that this was a crime of passion, not first-degree murder.” Ultimately, “[t]he jury found Hutchinson guilty of four counts of first-degree murder.”
Hutchinson waived a penalty-phase jury and was given three sentences of death—one for each child. In mitigation, the trial court considered that Hutchinson was “a decorated military veteran of the Gulf War” as mitigation and assigned it “significant weight.” The trial court also considered that Hutchinson “was a United States Army solider and received a General Discharge under Honorable Conditions after eight years of service” and assigned it “slight weight.” The Sentencing Order also states that Hutchinson was diagnosed with, among other things, Gulf War Illness.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentences on direct appeal, and his sentences of death became final in 2004.2
Postconviction
In October 2005, Hutchinson filed his initial postconviction motion. After a Huff hearing, the trial court summarily denied two of his seven claims.
A second amended postconviction motion was filed after Hutchinson's original postconviction counsel withdrew and the trial court appointed new postconviction counsel. The second motion raised four claims and contained an assertion of actual innocence. Subsequently, the trial court entered an order summarily denying the actual innocence claim and one of the other four claims raised in the second amended postconviction motion. After an evidentiary hearing was held on the other claims, the trial court issued an order denying all of Hutchinson's postconviction claims.
On appeal, Hutchinson raised three claims:
(1) trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance during the guilt phase by failing to present evidence that Hutchinson's voice was not on the 911 audio tape; (2) trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance during the guilt phase by failing to introduce into evidence the nylon stocking found at the crime scene; and (3) the trial court erred in summarily denying Hutchinson's claims of actual innocence and conflict of interest.
In July 2009, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Hutchinson's claims.
On July 24, 2009, Hutchinson filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus. The district court dismissed the petition as untimely. In April 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision.3
In 2018, the Florida Supreme Court denied Hutchinson’s claim for Hurst relief because he waived a penalty-phase jury.4
Hutchinson filed a second successive motion for postconviction relief as follows:
Hutchinson has now filed his second successive postconviction motion asserting four claims for relief. All four claims involve witnesses, Joel and Deanna Adams, who testified at trial that they recognized Hutchinson's voice to be that of the 911 caller.
Prior to Hutchinson's trial, Mr. and Ms. Adams testified before a federal grand jury regarding their possible involvement in two bank robberies unrelated to the murders. Relying on this FBI investigation, Hutchinson's defense counsel sought to impeach both witnesses at trial on the theory that each was biased toward the prosecution in hopes of obtaining favorable treatment from the State in relation to the unrelated robberies. Partially accepting defense counsel's argument, the trial court allowed counsel to cover this topic when cross-examining Ms. Adams.
More than ten years after Hutchinson's murder convictions became final, he submitted a request to the FBI regarding its investigation into the bank robberies. In his second successive postconviction motion, he claimed that the records received from the FBI constituted newly discovered evidence under Jones v. State, 709 So. 2d 512 (Fla. 1998). He further claimed that the State committed a Brady violation by not disclosing those records to the defense. In addition, he asserted that the State violated Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972), and that a new trial was warranted based on cumulative error.5
The circuit court summarily denied the motion. In June 2022, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial.
Clemency
The death warrant states that Hutchinson has been denied clemency:
Hutchinson was just denied clemency in December 2024.
Other TFDP Coverage of Hutchinson’s Case
Hutchinson’s case was just discussed in Part III of the TFDP series, Veterans on Florida’s Death Row.
Hutchinson v. State, 17 So. 3d 696 (Fla. 2009).
Hutchinson v. State, 882 So. 2d 943 (Fla. 2004).
Hutchinson v. Florida, 677 F.3d 1097 (11th Cir. 2012).
Hutchinson v. State, 243 So. 3d 880 (Fla. 2018).
Hutchinson v. State, 343 So. 3d 50 (Fla. 2022) (footnote omitted).