DC#   379799
DOB:   02/27/74

Ninth Judicial Circuit, Orange County Case # 94-7132
Venue changed to Collier County (Case# 95-850)
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable Belvin Perry, Jr.
Attorney, Trial: Michael Irwin & Robert LeBlanc – Private
Attorney, Direct Appeal: Christopher Quarles – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Collateral Appeals:  Eric Pinkard & David Gemmer – CCRC-M

Date of Offense: 05/24/94         

Date of Sentence: 06/16/95

Circumstances of Offense:

Thomas Gudinas and three of his roommates arrived at an Orlando bar, Barbarella’s, between approximately 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. on 05/23/94. 

Prior to arriving at the bar, the group drank beer and smoked marijuana at their apartment and in the car on the way to the bar.  While drinking throughout the night, the group periodically returned to the car to smoke marijuana. 

When the bar closed at 3:00 a.m., Gudinas could not be located.  One of Gudinas’ roommates testified that he last saw Gudinas at approximately 1:00 a.m. 

Rachelle Smith and her fiancé arrived at Barbarella’s between 11:00 and 11:30 p.m. on 05/23/94.  When they left the bar at approximately 2:00 a.m., Smith went to the wrong parking lot, where she saw a man later identified as Gudinas, watching her while crouched behind another car. 

Realizing she was in the wrong parking lot, Smith walked to the correct parking lot and found her car.  Smith sensed she was being followed, so she immediately entered the car and locked the doors. 

The same man who was watching Smith earlier tried to open her passenger door, then tried to smash the driver’s side window, screaming “I want to f___ you.”  Smith blew her car horn and the man left.  Smith later identified Gudinas in a police photo lineup as the man who tried to attack her.

Michelle McGrath was last seen at Barbarella’s at approximately 2:45 a.m.  She left her car in the same parking lot where Smith initially saw Gudinas.  McGrath’s body was discovered on 05/24/94 in an alley next to Pace School by an employee of the school. 

Her time of death was estimated to have been between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m.  McGrath’s body was naked, except for a bra which was pushed up above her breasts.  Her body had several blunt force traumas to the head and evidence of sexual assault. 

The body also had trauma to the cervix and rectum, which was determined to have resulted from the insertion of foreign objects into her body.  Semen was found inside McGrath’s vagina and on her thigh. 

Prior to finding McGrath’s body in the alley beside Pace School, Jane Brand, an employee of the Pace School, came upon a man inside the gates of the school.  After being told to leave the school grounds, the man jumped the fence and ended up in the alley.  Brand looked in the alley and found McGrath’s body.  Brand later identified the man as Gudinas.

All of Gudinas’ roommates testified that he was not at their apartment when they returned from Barbarella’s.  They also testified that Gudinas was later seen with blood on his underwear and scratches on his knuckles.  Gudinas attributed his wounds to a fight with two black men who tried to rob him.  Two roommates further testified that when asked if McGrath was a “good f___,” Gudinas replied, “I killed her then I f___ed her.”

Additional Information:

As a juvenile, Gudinas had several felony convictions in the State of Massachusetts in the early 1990’s: Burglary of an Automobile, Assault, Theft, Assault With Intent to Rape, Indecent Assault and Battery, Assault and Battery. 

Trial Summary: