William Reaves, 77, was sentenced to death after being convicted of first-degree murder for the 1986 shooting of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski (Florida Dept of Corrections )
William Reaves, 77, was sentenced to death after being convicted of first-degree murder for the 1986 shooting of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski (Florida Dept of Corrections )

Florida has put a 77-year-old man to death, 40 years after he was convicted of first-degree murder.

It marks the state's 18th execution of the year under Republic Governor Ron DeSantis' aggressive use of the death penalty in his final term.

William Reaves was pronounced dead at 6.12pm on Tuesday following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke.