June 24 (UPI) -- Thomas Gudinas was executed Tuesday in Florida for the 1994 rape and murder of a woman outside an Orlando bar. His execution came hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal from his attorneys, who argued he was too mentally ill to be put to death.
Gudinas, 51, was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. EDT, at Florida state prison near Starke. Gudinas made a final statement, which was inaudible, but a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis said he repented and made a reference to Jesus.
Gudinas becomes the 24th inmate executed in the United States this year and the seventh in Florida, the most of any state.
Ted Veerman, communications director of the Florida Department of Corrections told reporters prior to the execution that Gudinas awake at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday and was provided his last meal. His final visitor of the day was his mother, Veerman said.
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