Florida inmate Anthony Wainwright has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to halt his scheduled execution Tuesday, with an attorney arguing that his exposure to Agent Orange before birth caused long-lasting cognitive and behavioral problems that need to be considered.
Attorney Terri Backhus on Thursday filed what could be a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court as Wainwright faces execution in the 1994 murder of a woman who was kidnapped from the parking lot of a Lake City supermarket.
The appeal focuses heavily on Wainwright being exposed to Agent Orange as he was conceived about six months after his father returned from serving in the Vietnam War and being exposed to the herbicide. It said little research had been done at the time Wainwright received his death sentence about transmission of Agent Orange to children and that, if considered, the issue could be a “mitigating” factor that would prevent the execution.
“Here, Mr. Wainwright’s circumstances exemplify the appropriateness of a recognition that the ultimate penalty — that reserved for only the most culpable offenders — would be disproportionate, excessive and cruel as applied to his individual circumstances. … Although Mr. Wainwright did not serve in the Vietnam War, and was not even a viable life at that point, he was catastrophically and immutably cognitively damaged from it,” Backhus wrote. “Unlike veterans, who make knowing sacrifices for our country in the face of grave risks, Mr. Wainwright had no such choice.”
The appeal came after the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a May 20 decision by Hamilton County Circuit Judge Melissa Olin rejecting arguments aimed at halting the execution. That included arguments related to Agent Orange exposure, with the Florida Supreme Court saying such evidence, if allowed, would not result in Wainwright receiving a life sentence instead of a death sentence.
“First, while Wainwright says he was unaware of the cause of his cognitive and neurobehavioral impairments, his intellectual, behavioral and psychological issues have been an issue throughout the postconviction proceedings,” the Florida Supreme Court opinion said, referring to earlier appeals after Wainwright was convicted in the murder. “Thus, it is unlikely that one additional cause to explain this set of behaviors would result in a life sentence.”
But the appeal Thursday said that if the jury and circuit judge in Wainwright’s trial had been “fully aware of the pervasive neurocognitive damage that took place before he even drew his first breath,” he might not have received a death sentence.
The argument is based, at least in part, on the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
“Ultimately, it would have helped his jury understand why, despite his role in the offenses for which he stood convicted, his moral culpability was diminished and he was deserving of mercy,” Backhus wrote. “The state courts’ failure to address the constitutional dimensions of Mr. Wainwright’s claim conflicts with this (U.S. Supreme) Court’s longstanding case law regarding the need for proportional sentencing and individualized culpability assessments, and it necessitates this court’s review.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 9 signed a death warrant for Wainwright, touching off legal attempts to prevent the execution. In addition to the U.S. Supreme Court appeal, U.S. District Judge Wendy Berger on Friday rejected a separate case that related to legal counsel for Wainwright.
Wainwright, 54, and co-defendant Richard Hamilton were found guilty of killing 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart, who was kidnapped as she loaded groceries into her Ford Bronco in a Winn-Dixie supermarket parking lot. The men had escaped from a North Carolina prison days before the murder.
Hamilton forced her into the Bronco at gunpoint and drove away, with Wainwright following in a Cadillac that the men had stolen in North Carolina, according to court documents. They subsequently ditched the Cadillac and headed north on Interstate 75 before pulling off into a wooded area in Hamilton County, where Gayheart was raped and killed.
If the execution is carried out, Wainwright would be the sixth inmate put to death by lethal injection this year in Florida.
DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Thomas Gudinas, 51, who is scheduled to be executed June 24 in the 1994 rape and murder of a woman of Michelle McGrath, who had been out for a night of entertainment in downtown Orlando.
On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court denied Gudinas’ appeal to halt the lethal injection.
Gudinas’ attorneys raised a series of arguments in Orange County circuit court to try to prevent the execution. Among them was that Gudinas has mental illness that should be reevaluated and could lead to him being shielded from the death penalty.
But Circuit Judge John Jordan issued an 18-page decision that rejected the arguments.
The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops this week called for halting Wainwright’s execution and released a letter it sent to DeSantis asking that he commute the sentence to life in prison.
“Life-long incarceration without the possibility of parole is a severe yet more humane punishment that ensures societal safety, allows the guilty the possibility of redemption, and offers finality to court processes and the possibility of earlier closure for victims of crime and their families,” Michael Sheedy, executive director of the conference, wrote in the letter.
