Convict executed in Florida

A man sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend and her three young children was executed Thursday in Florida , in the southeastern United States. Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, a former soldier who served in the 1990-1991 Gulf War, was sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of his girlfriend, Renee Flaherty, 32, and her three children, Geoffrey, 9, Amanda, 7, and Logan, 4. He was executed by lethal injection at 8:14 p.m. local time (00:14 GMT Friday), the Florida Department of Corrections announced. His lawyers claimed he suffered from mental illness as a result of his war experiences but tried unsuccessfully to obtain a stay of execution.

Fifteen executions have taken place in the country since the beginning of the year: eleven by lethal injection, two by nitrogen inhalation, a controversial method used for the first time in the world by Alabama (southeast) in 2024, and two by firing squad in South Carolina, last used in the United States in 2010. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 American states. Six others (Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) observe a moratorium on executions by decision of the governor.