Hutchinson does not have the ability to rationally understand why the government is seeking to execute him, nor the causal relationship between the crime and punishment to be imposed.
BRADFORD COUNTY, FL — Attorneys for Jeffrey Hutchinson, a 62-year-old Gulf War veteran scheduled for execution on May 1, have filed an emergency motion in Bradford County Circuit Court seeking a stay, arguing that Hutchinson is mentally incompetent to be executed.
The late Thursday filing argues that Hutchinson suffers from a complex set of mental health conditions, including a long-standing delusional disorder rooted in his service during the Gulf War. The defense says Hutchinson lacks a rational understanding of why the state plans to execute him—a requirement under the Eighth Amendment as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court.
According to the motion, Hutchinson served over a decade in the U.S. Army, including frontline deployment during the Gulf War, where he was exposed to sarin gas and repeated blast injuries. Medical records show he developed Gulf War Illness (GWI), PTSD, and suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). After his return, family members and others observed a significant decline in his mental health, including paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations.
He was convicted in 2001 of the 1998 murders of his girlfriend and her three children and sentenced to death. Since his arrest, Hutchinson has maintained that he was framed as part of a government conspiracy to silence him because of his efforts to expose government wrongdoing during the Gulf War. The motion states that this belief has remained consistent for over two decades and is central to his inability to understand the reason for his execution.
On April 10, 2025, Dr. Bhushan Agharkar, a board-certified forensic psychiatrist, conducted a face-to-face evaluation of Hutchinson lasting over three and a half hours. In his report, Agharkar concluded that Hutchinson “does not have the ability to rationally understand why the government is seeking to execute him, nor the causal relationship between the crime and punishment to be imposed.” He attributed Hutchinson’s condition to a combination of Gulf War-related neurological damage, PTSD, multiple TBIs, and a fixed delusional belief system .
Agharkar noted that Hutchinson experiences hallucinations, remains fixated on conspiracies involving FBI agents and biological weapons, and believes he is being executed not for the crime, but to silence him. He concluded that Hutchinson is not malingering and cited the consistency and longevity of Hutchinson’s delusions, as well as corroboration from collateral sources.
On April 11, 2025, neuropsychologist Dr. Barry Crown conducted a second evaluation. Crown diagnosed Hutchinson with neurocognitive impairments consistent with diffuse brain injury and Gulf War Syndrome, and a delusional disorder characterized by persistent false beliefs involving a conspiracy to execute him. Crown stated that Hutchinson “does not understand the nature and effects of the death penalty and reason he is to be executed” and is therefore not competent to be executed .
Despite these findings, the State of Florida has moved forward with execution plans. On April 17, Governor Ron DeSantis issued Executive Order No. 25-83 appointing a three-member psychiatric commission to assess Hutchinson’s competency. The commission evaluated Hutchinson together in a 90-minute session on April 21 and concluded the next day that he has the capacity to understand the nature and effect of the death penalty and the reason it is to be imposed on him. The Governor lifted a temporary stay of execution on April 23.
Defense attorneys argue that the commission’s evaluation was inadequate and applied an incorrect legal standard. The motion notes that Florida’s current approach—asking whether a person knows why the state claims it is executing them, rather than whether they rationally understand it—has been explicitly rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Mr. Hutchinson’s insanity places him outside of the class of individuals eligible to be executed,” the motion states, citing Panetti v. Quarterman and Madison v. Alabama, both of which emphasized the need for a “rational understanding” of the reason for execution .
The filing traces Hutchinson’s delusional beliefs back to the years following his military service. Multiple witnesses, including family members, attorneys, and mental health professionals, have documented his belief that the government was surveilling him, tampering with his medical care, and ultimately conspiring to execute him. His paranoia has extended to attorneys, judges, and others involved in his case, whom he has accused of participating in a coverup. These delusions, the motion argues, were present at the time of the crime and have remained consistent through post-conviction proceedings.
The motion asks the court to stay the execution and conduct a full evidentiary hearing pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.812. It also requests the appointment of three disinterested mental health experts not chosen by the Governor to conduct new evaluations.
A hearing is scheduled for Friday, April 25, at 9:00 a.m. in Bradford County Circuit Court before Judge James M. Colaw. If the court declines to intervene, Hutchinson’s execution will proceed on May 1 at 6:00 p.m. at Florida State Prison.
The case raises constitutional questions about the execution of severely mentally ill individuals and the adequacy of Florida’s procedures for determining competency. According to the defense, the state’s reliance on a brief commission evaluation and its narrow definition of competency could result in the unconstitutional execution of a man who lacks a rational grasp on reality.
