BRADFORD COUNTY, Fla. – Attorneys for an inmate on Florida’s death row hope to convince a judge that he should not be put to death next month because he is not mentally sound.
Jeffrey Glenn Hutchinson, a Gulf War Army veteran convicted of the 1998 shotgun slayings of his girlfriend and her three children in Crestview, was scheduled for a competency hearing at 9 a.m. Friday.
Hutchinson, 62, is set to die by lethal injection on May 1 at Florida State Prison near Starke. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Hutchinson’s death warrant earlier this month.
Hutchinson was diagnosed with Gulf War Illness from his eight years of military service. His attorneys argue that he has brain damage and cognitive impairment from injuries suffered during his service.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine’s website, Gulf War Illness, otherwise known as Gulf War Syndrome, refers to “unexplained illnesses occurring in veterans of the 1991 Gulf War.” Some of the symptoms include fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, cognitive problems, skin rashes and diarrhea.
Court documents reveal a long-standing belief Hutchinson frequently -- and consistently -- shared with others that the government was after him and had set him up for the killings in an effort to silence him.
The crime
On the night of Sept. 11, 1998, in the panhandle town of Crestview, Hutchinson had an argument with his girlfriend, Renee Flaherty, and left to go to a bar, court records show.
A bartender recalled that Hutchinson made remarks about their argument, drank some beer and then left abruptly.
About 40 minutes later, investigators said, there was a call to 911 from Hutchinson’s home in which someone later identified as him said, “I just shot my family.”
Police arrived to find Flaherty, 32, and her three young children — Geoffrey, 9; Amanda, 7; and Logan, 4 — dead from shotgun wounds.
Hutchinson was found sitting in the garage with a phone in his hand, still connected to the 911 operator, the court records show.
The murder weapon, a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun, was found on a kitchen counter, and police say Hutchinson had gunshot residue on his hands.
The Florida Supreme Court in 2022 rejected Hutchinson’s appeals, which claimed new evidence had surfaced that could exonerate him. After his sentencing, Hutchinson said in court that he didn’t kill anyone.
“I did not kill Renee and the kids and I believe I was framed,” he said.
Previous executions in 2025
If the execution goes as planned, Hutchinson will be the fourth person executed in the state of Florida this year.
On March 20, 63-year-old Edward James was executed for killing an 8-year-old girl and her grandmother in 1993.
James Dennis Ford, 64, was put to death Feb. 13 for the 1997 slayings of a married couple while out on a fishing trip.
A third inmate, 48-year-old Michael Tanzi, died by lethal injection on April 8 for the kidnapping and murder of a woman in the Florida Keys in 2000.