Willacy was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of his neighbor, Marlys Sather. According to the court's opinion, he bound, strangled, and bludgeoned Sather with such force that it dislodged a portion of her skull before dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire. Governor DeSantis signed Willacy's death warrant on March 13, 2026, setting the execution date for April 21, 2026.
The court denied Willacy's petition seeking public records from the Florida Department of Corrections, the Executive Office of the Governor, the Office of the Attorney General, and the State Attorney. Willacy sought detailed information about Florida's lethal injection protocol and interagency communications regarding his records request and death warrant.
The court characterized Willacy's sweeping records demands as an attempt to discover if possible claims exist, rather than records to support a colorable claim for postconviction relief. The court stated that Rule 3.852 is not intended for use by defendants as "nothing more than an eleventh hour attempt to delay the execution rather than a focused investigation into some legitimate area of inquiry."
The court dismissed constitutional challenges to the records denials, noting it had repeatedly rejected arguments that denials of requests under Rule 3.852 for public records regarding Florida's administration of its lethal injection protocol or speculative interagency communications violate the right of access to courts, due process, or equal protection.
Justice Tanenbaum issued a partial dissent, arguing the court lacked jurisdiction to review Willacy's public records appeal in the absence of a pending postconviction motion. Tanenbaum contended that an active death warrant does not give the court extraordinary appellate review powers under the Florida Constitution.
The court's ruling effectively exhausted Willacy's state court options, with his execution scheduled to proceed as planned.