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Florida double execution
Florida executed former police officer James Aren Duckett, 68, by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on Tuesday, pronouncing him dead at 1:19 p.m. after a three-drug injection, hours before the state killed 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone at 6:13 p.m. following a three-drug injection.
“Hours earlier, the state executed a former police officer convicted of the killing of a young girl.”
The executions came as Florida carried out the first double execution in nearly a decade, with AP describing the lethal injections just hours apart as the first nearly back-to-back executions since Arkansas put two men to death three hours apart in 2017.
Duckett was convicted of raping and drowning 11-year-old Teresa McAbee while he was working as a police officer in central Florida in 1987, and Occhicone was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986.
Afterward, the girl’s family members said they had suffered for decades, with Dorthy Tula telling reporters, “I waited nearly 40 years to have him dead,” and Tracy Mcfall-Buskirk saying, “This man took advantage of his badge.”
Last-minute appeals denied
Both men saw last-ditch appeals to the US supreme court denied on Tuesday after the Florida supreme court declined to intervene last week, and AP said Duckett’s execution came nearly five hours before Occhicone’s 6 p.m. scheduled execution time.
Occhicone, asked if he wishes to make a statement, said he thanked all of his Christian brothers for visiting him over the years and apologized to his own family and the victims’ family, including the line, “I know it don’t mean much, but I’m sorry.”
In Florida, the pace of executions drew criticism from death penalty opponents, and Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty urged DeSantis to halt both executions, calling two in one day an “unprecedented escalation” of Florida’s use of the death penalty.
The AP report also quoted the group’s executive director, Grace Hanna, saying, “Florida continues to expand the use of capital punishment, despite mounting evidence that it is not what Floridians want.”
Death chamber pace and fallout
Florida’s death chamber has become the nation’s busiest at the end of Ron DeSantis’s final term, with The Guardian saying Florida has executed 30 people since the beginning of 2025 while the rest of the US states combined have carried out 35 executions over the same time frame.
“Florida now has executed 30 people since the beginning of 2025 while the rest of the US states combined have carried out 35”
AP reported that since 2025 began, Florida has carried out nearly half the state executions across the country, and it said the state executed 12 times to date in 2026—more than all other states combined.
DeSantis has not said why he scheduled two executions six hours apart, and AP noted that the governor decided earlier this month to carry out both executions on the same day.
The Guardian also reported that Duckett declined to make a final statement, responding “no sir” when asked, while Occhicone’s last words included an apology to the victims’ family and his own family, as Tallahassee Democrat quoted: “I’m sorry for the hurt I’ve caused my family.”
