Florida Executes Thomas Gudinas — For Killing Former Beauty Queen | He Wrote to Trump for a Pardon

On June 24th, 2025, Thomas Lee Gutherines was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, Florida. He was 51 years old at the time of his death. He had spent over three decades on death row for a crime so brutal and calculated that the presiding judge remarked, “The evidence quite clearly establishes that the victim did not meet a swift, merciful, and painless death.”

The tragedy began on the night of May 23rd, 1994, in downtown Orlando, Florida. It was a Tuesday night that initially mirrored any other, filled with the sounds of music and the atmosphere of a popular local nightclub called Barbarella’s. Two separate groups of people entered that establishment, unaware of each other’s existence, yet their destinies would soon collide in a way that would end one life and irrevocably alter another.

Michelle McGrath, a 27-year-old woman, was out enjoying the evening with her friends. Michelle was widely remembered by those who knew her as a bright, vibrant individual with her entire future ahead of her. A 1984 graduate of Park Ridge High School, she had once been crowned her class homecoming queen. Her presence was light and full of promise, contrasting sharply with the darkness that would soon envelop her.

The second group included 20-year-old Thomas Lee Gutherines, who had arrived at the club with three of his roommates. They had spent the earlier part of the evening consuming beer and smoking marijuana at their apartment, and they continued to use substances during the car ride to the venue. Gutherines was not even legally old enough to enter the club, so he gained access by using his cousin’s identification card at the door.

As the night progressed, Gutherines and his companions repeatedly stepped outside to smoke marijuana in the parking lot. By approximately 1:00 a.m., one of his roommates, Todd Gates, had lost track of him entirely. When the nightclub finally closed at 3:00 a.m. and the group prepared to depart, Gutherines was nowhere to be found. His friends, assuming he would find his own way home, eventually left without him.

The hours between 1:00 a.m. and the discovery of the crime represent the darkest chapter of this narrative. Around 2:00 a.m., a woman named Rochelle Smith left the bar shortly before her fiancé. While walking through the parking lot, she felt an immediate sense of unease. Realizing she had walked to the wrong section of the lot, she encountered a man crouched behind a vehicle, watching her. That man was Thomas Gutherines.

Gutherines attempted to break into her car and sexually assault her. Rochelle fought back, screaming in terror, and through sheer force of will, she managed to escape. She survived the encounter, but Michelle McGrath was not destined to be so fortunate. Michelle was last seen alive at approximately 2:45 a.m. in the courtyard of Barbarella’s, walking toward her car alone in the dim light of the parking lot.

At some point during those early morning hours, Gutherines followed Michelle. The subsequent medical examination would later detail a scene of profound cruelty. Michelle was sexually assaulted and then struck with what the medical examiner described as a “stomping type” blow from a boot directly to her head. The cause of death was a massive brain hemorrhage, a blunt force injury so severe and deliberate that it left no ambiguity regarding the attacker’s intent.

Her body was discovered at 7:30 a.m., lying in an alley adjacent to the Pace School. She was found in a state of undress, a harrowing sight for the school employee who stumbled upon her. For any witness to such a discovery on an ordinary Tuesday school day, the image would be seared into their memory forever. The investigation began immediately, propelled by the proximity of the witnesses and the swift actions of law enforcement.

The case gained momentum rapidly due to the people closest to the perpetrator. The school employee who found the body reported seeing a man fleeing the area just moments before, and she later identified that man as Gutherines. Concurrently, a police officer on bicycle patrol, Officer Cesari, spotted a man driving a red Geo Metro away from the same parking lot where Michelle had left her vehicle.

The officer followed the car, and the license plates revealed it was registered to Michelle McGrath. Gutherines had stolen her vehicle and driven it to his apartment, located less than half a mile away, where it was recovered that evening. Forensic teams moved quickly, finding Gutherines’ right palm print on the gate of the alley where the body had been discarded and his thumbprints on a car loan payment book found inside the stolen vehicle.

Serologists confirmed the presence of DNA evidence on Michelle’s body, providing an undeniable link between the victim and her assailant. However, the most damning evidence came from Gutherines himself upon returning home. When his roommates arrived at their apartment the next morning, they found Gutherines already there, wearing boxer shorts soaked in fresh blood.

He attempted to deflect their concern, claiming he had been in a fight with several men who had attacked him. His roommates did not believe him. Later that day, one of the roommates, Fred Harris, asked Gutherines directly about Michelle McGrath. According to testimony provided at trial, Gutherines smiled and claimed that he had slept with her after she was already dead.

Another roommate, Dwayne Harris, testified that he overheard Gutherines admitting, “I killed her. Then I had sex with her.” These chilling confessions formed the bedrock of the prosecution’s case. On July 15th, 1994, less than two months after the murder, an Orange County Grand Jury indicted Gutherines on charges of first-degree murder, two counts of sexual battery, attempted sexual battery of Rochelle Smith, and attempted burglary with assault.

The trial commenced on May 1st, 1995. Due to the intense local media coverage in Orange County, the venue was moved to Naples, Florida, to ensure a fair trial. The courtroom became a stage for forensic experts, eyewitnesses, and the roommates who had lived with the defendant, all of whom recounted the grisly statements he had made the morning after the murder.

The defense team attempted to build their strategy around Gutherines’ history of severe mental illness, which they claimed dated back to his childhood. Experts testified that he suffered from emotional disorders, attention deficit disorder, impulsivity, and deep-seated sexual confusion. A clinical neuropsychologist from Harvard Medical School testified that by the age of 13, Gutherines was already a “seriously and emotionally disturbed young man.”

The defense argued that a combination of chronic drug and alcohol abuse and underlying psychological damage had effectively impaired his ability to control his impulses on the night of the murder. The prosecution, however, countered these claims with the cold, hard reality of the forensic evidence: the fingerprints, the DNA, the stolen car, the blood-soaked clothing, and the voluntary confessions made to people he trusted.

The jury deliberated before returning a unanimous guilty verdict on every single count. During the penalty phase, they recommended the death sentence by a vote of 10 to 2. Judge Belvin Perry Jr., who would later gain national notoriety for presiding over the Casey Anthony trial, accepted the jury’s recommendation and imposed the sentence of death.

In his sentencing order, Judge Perry noted that Michelle McGrath had been savagely raped and beaten with a blunt instrument, reaffirming that the evidence established the victim did not meet a “swift, merciful, and painless death.” Gutherines was also sentenced to an additional 30 years for the attempted burglary and sexual battery of Rochelle Smith. He was then transferred to death row at Florida State Prison.

At the sentencing hearing, Michelle’s father, Douglas McGrath, addressed the court. His words were quiet, measured, and carried the weight of a parent’s worst nightmare. “It seems like a tragic waste of his life and my daughter’s life,” he stated. “We are deprived of my daughter forever.” Following the sentencing, the long, grueling process of legal appeals began.

For 30 years, Thomas Gutherines remained on death row. His legal team filed appeal after appeal and motion after motion in a persistent effort to overturn his conviction or commute his sentence. In 1997, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed both the convictions and the death sentence. Between 2000 and 2001, claims regarding ineffective assistance of counsel were raised, reviewed, and ultimately denied by the courts.

Federal habeas corpus petitions were also filed and denied. In 2003 and 2004, Gutherines attempted to challenge the constitutionality of Florida’s death sentencing procedures, citing the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ring v. Arizona. These challenges were rejected each time as the courts found the original conviction to be sound and supported by overwhelming evidence.

The argument regarding his mental health, however, persisted. In the final months leading up to his execution, his attorneys presented a new 2025 neuropsychological evaluation, asserting that he suffered from severe, lifelong mental illness. They argued that his execution would be unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, citing precedents like Atkins v. Virginia and Roper v. Simmons as evidence that protections for the mentally disabled should apply to his case.

Florida prosecutors countered that Gutherines’ mental health had been thoroughly examined during his trial and that a new expert opinion was insufficient to reopen such a settled case. The Florida Supreme Court ultimately agreed, ruling that existing legal protections for intellectually disabled individuals do not automatically extend to all forms of mental illness or brain damage.

A separate appeal, which challenged the governor’s authority over execution warrants, was also dismissed. On the morning of June 24th, 2025, the legal team made one final emergency appeal to the United States Supreme Court, requesting a stay of execution. That afternoon, the Supreme Court denied the request without providing an explanation, which is customary in such high-level procedural decisions.

There were no avenues left. During his time on death row, Gutherines had engaged in increasingly erratic behavior, at one point writing a rambling letter to President Trump requesting a pardon. In the letter, he alluded to a “secret system” he believed was responsible for his conviction—a plea that was never acted upon.

On the day of his execution, Gutherines woke early at the Florida State Prison. He received one visitor: his mother. He chose not to meet with a spiritual advisor and remained silent for the duration of the day. At 6:00 p.m., the heavy curtain of the execution chamber was drawn back, revealing Gutherines already strapped to the gurney with an intravenous line secured in his left arm.

The chamber was silent. A small group of witnesses, including members of the press and corrections officials, watched through the viewing glass. The warden contacted the governor’s office, a mandatory procedural step to confirm that no last-minute stay had been granted. Receiving confirmation that the process was to proceed, the warden turned to the inmate and asked if he wished to make a final statement.

Gutherines spoke, though his words were inaudible to those watching from behind the glass. Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for Governor DeSantis, later confirmed that Gutherines had repented and made a reference to Jesus. That was the extent of his final words. The lethal drugs were administered shortly thereafter. His eyes began to roll back as he experienced slight chest convulsions, and over the course of several minutes, the color faded from his face.

At 6:13 p.m., Thomas Lee Gutherines was officially pronounced dead. The prison warden made the announcement, the curtain was drawn, and the witnesses were escorted from the facility. The chapter that began on the night of May 24th, 1994, had finally reached its conclusion.

Before his death, Gutherines had requested a final meal: pepperoni pizza, french fries, and a soda. It was a remarkably ordinary choice, the type of meal millions of people might order on any given Tuesday. Gutherines became the seventh person executed in Florida in 2025, establishing the state as the most active in the country for capital punishment that year, surpassing even Texas and South Carolina.

Ted Veerman, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections, addressed the increased pace of executions following the event. “Our staff are doing a fantastic job keeping up with the pace of these executions,” he stated, “and we’re going through with these in a professional manner.” The year 2025 had become the most active year for capital punishment in the United States since 2015.

Michelle McGrath was only 27 years old when her life was stolen. She had gone out for a night of normalcy with her friends and never returned. The pain of her loss remained a permanent void for her family, echoing the sentiment her father shared in that courtroom over three decades ago—that they had been deprived of their daughter forever.

This case forces us to confront uncomfortable questions without easy answers. Thomas Gutherines possessed a documented history of severe childhood abuse, mental illness, and psychological trauma. He was failed by the institutions and systems meant to protect vulnerable children. By the time he walked into Barbarella’s at the age of 20, experts would argue that he was already a profoundly damaged individual.

Yet, none of that history changes the reality of his actions toward Michelle McGrath. None of it mitigates the terror he inflicted upon Rochelle Smith. None of it restores the 27 years of life taken from a woman who was loved by many. The courts spent 30 years reviewing these arguments before concluding that justice required the ultimate penalty.

The enduring question raised by this story is not simply about Gutherines, but about the societal structures we inhabit. At what point does a broken system, one that fails a child so thoroughly, share the moral responsibility for the person that child eventually becomes? And if we assign that responsibility, does it fundamentally alter our definition of justice?

These are the reflections left behind in the wake of such a tragedy. They serve as a somber reminder of the complexities of human nature and the weight of the legal systems designed to hold individuals accountable. Michelle McGrath deserved a long, full life, and her memory remains a testament to the tragedy of a night gone wrong. Rest in peace, Michelle McGrath.