Florida Plans to Execute a Vietnam Veteran Tonight for Killing a Deputy. Remember Both Men, and Pray.

The facts come first below. My reflection follows in the section marked as opinion.

Florida plans to execute William Reaves at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Florida State Prison in Starke. Reaves is a 77-year-old Vietnam combat veteran. He was condemned for the 1986 murder of Indian River County sheriff's deputy Richard Raczkoski. One hundred military veterans have asked Gov. Ron DeSantis to spare his life. The deputy's loved ones and the state say justice is long overdue.

The crime

The Florida Supreme Court laid out the facts in an Oct. 14 opinion. Early one morning in September 1986, Raczkoski was sent to a Vero Beach convenience store after Reaves called 911 from the store's pay phone. While they talked, a gun fell from Reaves's shorts. The two men struggled over it, and Reaves got it back. The deputy told him to hand it over. When Raczkoski turned and began to move away, Reaves shot him in the back four times, emptying the gun. The deputy died later that morning.

Reaves fled to a friend's home, admitted shooting an officer, and was arrested in Georgia. There he confessed, saying he was on cocaine and afraid. His first conviction was overturned in 1991 because the prosecutor had a conflict of interest. At a retrial he was again convicted of first-degree premeditated murder, and the jury recommended death by a 10-2 vote. Raczkoski was 29, and family and friends knew him as "Raz," Vero News reported. He left behind family that included a son not yet born.

The plea for mercy

The veterans' letter was made public Monday by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. It says the jury never heard evidence of Reaves's combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder or how it affected him that night. "Mr. Reaves served when his country called, and volunteered to go farther than his country had asked," the letter reads. "Florida should not make that failure final by executing him now."

According to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, which opposes all executions, Reaves asked to be sent to Vietnam. He arrived in November 1969 at age 20 and served as an infantry machine gunner. He earned the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Air Medal. The group says the Department of Veterans Affairs later rated him 100 percent disabled by service-related PTSD. It also says a federal judge ordered a new sentencing in 2015, a ruling an appeals court reversed in 2017.

The Florida Supreme Court rejected his latest appeals and refused a stay. His lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay on Oct. 17, and Florida filed its opposition Monday, according to the docket.

Opinion: Justice, mercy, and a deputy's name

Christians do not all agree about the death penalty, but Scripture does not leave us guessing about its legitimacy. After the flood God told Noah, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." Paul wrote that the ruler "beareth not the sword in vain." Richard Raczkoski was a 29-year-old man made in God's image. He was shot in the back while walking away. His life was worth exactly as much as anyone's, and the 40 years his family has waited count too.

Yet Florida's governor also holds the power of clemency, as the death penalty opponents backing Reaves point out, and mercy is not weakness. "Mercy rejoiceth against judgment," James wrote. The veterans' question is a fair one: whether a jury that never heard the full story of a man's war wounds gave a full verdict. The courts have repeatedly said the law was followed. Whether mercy should go further is now for one man to decide, and he should weigh it soberly, as a veteran himself.

Whatever happens at 6 p.m., there are three things Christians can do. Pray for the Raczkoski family, who have waited four decades. Pray for the officers who still answer calls like that one in the early morning hours. And pray for William Reaves. The thief on the cross asked, "Lord, remember me," and he was heard. No sentence on earth puts a man beyond the reach of that grace.

Dock Line wrote about another murder case that turned on justice for the helpless in Kenyan Cult Leader Paul Mackenzie Convicted of 191 Murders.