Overview
- Willacy, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday after a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison in Raiford, marking Florida’s fifth execution of 2026.
- His final bid for a reprieve failed when the U.S. Supreme Court declined a stay hours before the execution after Florida’s high court rejected his appeal for records on execution procedures last week.
- Prosecutors said he attacked neighbor Marlys Sather during a 1990 burglary, beating and binding her, trying to strangle her with a cord, then setting her on fire, with an autopsy finding she died of smoke inhalation.
- A jury convicted him in 1991 and, after a resentencing ordered in 1994, a new jury recommended death in 1995, with evidence including his fingerprints on a fan, the victim’s belongings in his possession, and blood on his clothes consistent with her type.
- Florida carried out a record 19 executions in 2025 and has another set for April 30, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor has questioned the state’s use of possibly expired drugs, dosing errors, and poor recordkeeping.