War 'broke' Army veteran before quadruple murder of mom, 3 kids, defense says
Attorneys for a U.S. Army veteran set to be executed in Florida for the 1998 killing of his girlfriend and her three children are blaming his actions on brain damage during the Gulf War.
Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, was convicted of the murders of his girlfriend, 32-year-old Renee Flaherty, and her three children: 9-year-old Geoffrey, 7-year-old Amanda, and 4-year-old Logan.
Hutchinson is set to be executed by lethal injection just after 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 1, which will make him the 15th person executed in the U.S. this year and the fourth in Florida.
Maria DeLiberato, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives for the Death Penalty and liaison for Hutchinson's legal team, told Paste BN that there are significant questions around Hutchinson's competency to be executed.
"There should be a pause to have a full and fair and complete hearing to determine the significance of his long-standing mental illness and brain damage and how that impacted him back then, at the time of trial, his sentencing, and how it impacts his ability to proceed with this execution," DeLiberato said.
During Hutchinson's sentencing, Florida Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron found that the veteran's Gulf War service didn't correlate to the murders, and said that Geoffrey's death was particularly heinous because he was alive and wounded in the chest when he was killed with a head shot, the Associated Press reported at the time.
"The terror suffered in that moment is incomprehensible to this court," Barron said. "The defendant walked over to that 9-year-old boy and without pity, and without conscience, aimed the shotgun one final time."
Jeffrey Hutchinson convicted of killing 4
On the night of Sept. 11, 1998, Hutchinson fought with his girlfriend, Renee 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 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.
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.
Hutchinson was convicted of all four murders and sentenced to death.
Jeffrey Hutchinson diagnosed with Gulf War Syndrome
Hutchinson was formerly a mechanic and security guard before joining the Army and becoming a paratrooper and Army Ranger.
He was raised in Florida but was living with Flaherty in Spokane, Washington, before they moved back to the state. Flaherty was estranged from her husband, who was stationed in Alaska, and Hutchinson was twice-divorced.
Hutchinson was diagnosed as suffering from Gulf War Syndrome, but the trial judge ruled him competent to stand trial.
Psychiatrist William Baumzweiger found that Hutchinson's form of mental illness could result in unconscious fits of rage, the Tampa Bay Times reported at the time of the trial. Baumzweiger concluded that possible exposure to chemical or biological weapons caused Hutchinson to suffer from a "diminished mental state" at the time of the murders.
The judge rejected that, instead agreeing with two prosecution psychologists and giving minimal weight to the Gulf War illness diagnosis because no correlation between that and the murders had been established, reported the Lakeland Ledger, part of the Paste BN Network.
Hutchinson has always denied guilt
Hutchinson has maintained that the murders were committed during a struggle with two home invaders.
"I did not kill Renee and the kids and I believe I was framed," Hutchinson said during sentencing, according to the Ledger.
DeLiberato, who did not challenge Hutchinson's guilt, said that his belief in his innocence points towards his incompetence to be executed.
"The experts have called that a delusional belief based on his significant and severe mental illness and brain damage," DeLiberato said.
Hutchinson's legal team appealed for a stay of the execution, arguing that "newly discovered evidence related to his brain damage and mental health ... would have resulted in an acquittal of first-degree murder and/or a life sentence."
On April 21, the Florida Supreme Court upheld a county circuit court ruling against Hutchinson. The court found that his exposure to "sarin gas and numerous explosions while serving in the Middle East as well as his various post-war symptoms were well-known during or before his trial."
The defense also pointed to the unusual move from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of signing a death warrant while an inmate's appeal was still pending.
"The rush to execution when there are significant and long-standing mental health concerns from a person who honorably served our country was broken in the war and not given the treatment that he needed when he came back ... is not justice," DeLiberato said.
Paste BN reached out to Desantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier for comment and have not received a response.
So far, Hutchinson's appeals have been unsuccessful, and only the U.S. Supreme Court or DeSantis could stop it.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this story