Florida | Double-murderer set for execution, sparking intense legal battle over age, declining health

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for the Pasco County execution of Dominick Occhicone, scheduled for July 28. Defense attorneys argue the 80-year-old double-murderer is too old and frail to be executed under the 8th Amendment.

HOLIDAY, Fla. - Dominick Occhicone is scheduled to face execution on July 28 for the 1986 cold-blooded murders of his ex-girlfriend's parents in Pasco County, sparking an intense legal battle over his advanced age and failing health.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Dominick Occhicone, who has spent nearly 40 years on death row, according to state records. The man is about to turn 81 and was convicted of killing Raymond and Martha Artzner at their home in Holiday.

The warrant comes shortly after the state executed 74-year-old Dusty Ray Spencer last week. If the scheduled July 14 execution of 74-year-old Dennis Sochor proceeds, he will surpass Spencer as the oldest inmate executed in Florida since 1976.

Court records show that Occhicone went to the Pasco County home of Raymond and Martha Artzner on June 10, 1986. His former girlfriend was living at the home with her child at the time.

Occhicone cut the phone lines, shot Raymond Artzner outside, and then broke into the home. His former girlfriend ran away with her child, but Occhicone shot Martha Artzner four times, resulting in a death sentence.

"He turned and looked at me and pointed the gun at my father and shot him," Anita Gerrety, Occhicone's ex-girlfriend, said. "Just sheer panic, you know. I mean, I knew I was next."

A judge recently denied appeals to vacate the death sentence to let him die in prison. The court stated there is no precedent allowing it to create a bar to execution based on advanced age.

Defense lawyers say Occhicone suffers from heart and kidney disease and cannot shower or move on his own. They argue the execution violates the 8th Amendment's ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty quickly petitioned for a stay of execution. The group stated that five jurors voted to spare his life and that he acted under extreme emotional disturbance.

"We have age-related bars on execution," Grace Hanna, the executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said. "For example, we no longer execute people who are under 18 at the time of the crime. There's really no reason that that wouldn't also apply to the elderly."

Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco strongly supported carrying out the statutory sentence.

"He wasn't too old or too frail when he murdered two people, and he killed [them] in cold blood," Nocco said. "If the issue is he's too old, then maybe the issue is it took too long to execute him."

Occhicone would be the 10th execution in Florida this year, coming a month after the state executed a 74-year-old man. Only three other states have conducted executions this year, with Texas trailing closest at four.

The state spends about $22,000 per year to house a prisoner, bringing Occhicone's 39-year stay to at least $850,000. Death row inmates are likely more expensive because of the continuous legal process.

"I think that part of this execution spree, whether intentionally or not, part of the goal is to wear people down," Hanna said.

The sentence is set to be carried out on July 28, just a month shy of Occhicone's 81st birthday.

"This is what's in law, this is what is in statute, and he's just following through what the people in Florida had voted for, what they asked for," Nocco said.

Source: FOX 13, Staff, July 10, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

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