Jeffrey Hutchinson was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for four murders
According to court documents Jeffrey Hutchinson would get into an argument with his girlfriend at a bar. When they would get home Jeffrey would murder her and her three children: Renee Flaherty and her three children, Geoffrey, Amanda and Logan
Jeffrey Hutchinson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
- Jeffrey Hutchinson execution is scheduled for May 1 2025
- Jeffrey Hutchinson was executed on May 1 2025
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Jeffrey Hutchinson Now
DC Number: 124849
Name: HUTCHINSON, JEFFREY G
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE
Birth Date: 11/06/1962
Initial Receipt Date: 02/07/2001
Current Facility: UNION C.I.
Current Custody: MAXIMUM
Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE
Jeffrey Hutchinson Case
The death sentence for a man convicted of killing his girlfriend and her three children was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court Thursday.
Jeffery Hutchinson, 56, killed his girlfriend, Renee Flaherty and her three children, Geoffrey, Amanda and Logan in Okaloosa County in 1998.
Hutchinson’s attorneys hoped that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that required juries to unanimously approve the death penalty would be enough to get a new sentencing phase in his case. They also say his previous attorneys were ineffective because they waived his right to a penalty phase with a jury.
But in their ruling, the Florida Supreme Court wrote that strategy decisions by defendants and their attorneys don’t necessarily constitute ineffective counsel. They added that just waiving the right to the penalty phase is not enough to constitute grounds for appeal, otherwise, it would encourage every defendant to waive the penalty phase at trial.
https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/death-sentence-upheld-for-okaloosa-murderer/
Jeffrey Hutchinson Execution
Florida has executed Gulf War veteran Jeffrey Hutchinson for the shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her three children despite a letter from 129 veterans arguing that Hutchinson’s mind was a casualty of war.
The 62-year-old former U.S. Army Ranger was convicted for the 1998 murder of 32-year-old Renee Flaherty, and her three children: 9-year-old Geoffrey, 7-year-old Amanda, and 4-year-old Logan.
The execution took place shortly after 8 p.m. ET on Thursday at the Florida State Prison in Railford using the state’s three-drug protocol involving etomidate, rocuronium bromide and potassium acetate. He was declared dead at 8:14 p.m. ET, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
It marked the fourth execution in Florida this year and the 15th in the nation.
Hutchinson had no final statement, according to the Associated Press, and appeared to mumble to himself as the procedure began.
While Hutchinson himself maintained that the murders were committed by home invaders, his defense team pointed to brain damage and trauma suffered by the former U.S. Army Ranger during his service in the Gulf War as reason to stop the execution.
Maria DeLiberato, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives for the Death Penalty and liaison for Hutchinson’s legal team, previously told USA TODAY that experts called Hutchinson’s statements “a delusional belief based on his significant and severe mental illness.”
“Executing a man who was physically and psychologically shattered by war − a man who never got the treatment or understanding he needed and deserved − is not justice,” the group said in a statement following the execution.
Meanwhile 129 veterans representing every branch of the military wrote to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, calling Hutchinson “one of us” and urging the governor to stop the execution.
Here’s what you need to know about the execution, including what the veterans had to say.
What was Jeffrey Hutchinson convicted of?
On the night of Sept. 11, 1998, Hutchinson fought with Flaherty, after which he packed some of his clothes and guns into his truck, and went to a bar, according to court records.
The bartender testified that Hutchinson told him that Flaherty was angry with him, while other witnesses testified that he drove recklessly when he left, according to court documents.
Hutchinson then returned to the Crestview home, “busted down” the front door and shot Flaherty, Amanda and Logan in the head in the master bedroom, a forensic pathologist testified − according to court documents.
The pathologist testified that Hutchinson shot Geoffrey last in both the chest and the head while the child “was able to see the bodies of his mother, sister, and brother,” according to court records.
“The terror suffered in that moment is incomprehensible to this court,” Hutchinson’s trial judge said, according to the Associated Press.
Hutchinson called the police and told a dispatcher: “I just shot my family.” Police arrived to find him spattered with blood and lying in a daze on the garage floor, still holding the phone, according to court documents.
Who were Renee Flaherty and her children?
Renee Flaherty did her best to provide for her three children.
Even though there wasn’t always “much on the shelves,” the rural mail carrier and single eastern Washington mom worked hard to put food on the table and loved her children dearly, her brother, Wesley Elmore previously told USA TODAY.
“Her kids were a priority. She made sure that her kids were fed and took care of,” Elmore said.
The last time Elmore saw his sister, just before Thanksgiving in 1997, he felt the family was in “good hands” with Hutchinson as they prepared to move to Florida.
“I was giving Renee and the kids a hug and everything, goodbyes,” Elmore told USA TODAY. “I remember shaking Jeff’s hand and I said, ‘Take care of my sister and her kids,’ And he says, ‘Wes, I promise I will.'”
Months later, the 32-year-old Flaherty and her children would be found dead in their home, and Hutchinson was spattered with blood and lying in a daze on the garage floor, according to court documents.