Former Florida cop to be executed on same day as 80-year-old Pasco man

In an unprecedented move in the modern history of capital punishment, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday cleared the way for 2 executions to occur on the same day.

DeSantis reset the execution of James Duckett, whose execution earlier this year was stayed amid efforts to secure DNA testing and analysis of evidence in his case.

Duckett’s execution was reset for July 28. That is the same day previously set for the execution of Dominick Occhicone.

Court records indicate that Duckett’s execution is scheduled for noon. Occhicone’s is set to follow at 6 p.m.

Duckett, 68, a former small-town police officer, has long maintained his innocence in the 1987 murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.

The girl vanished one night after walking to a convenience store near her home in the town of Mascotte, west of Orlando. Court records state that Duckett was seen questioning her and a teenage boy about being out after curfew. She was last seen in his patrol car. She was found the next morning, raped and drowned in a nearby lake.

Duckett had long sought DNA testing that he argued could prove his innocence. But the science was not advanced enough until recent years.

He asked for new DNA testing after DeSantis signed his death warrant this spring. In the interim, the Florida Supreme Court issued a stay of his March 31 execution.

The test results came back inconclusive. Thereafter, the high court lifted the stay.

It is unclear what avenues of appeal Duckett may still have. A hearing in his case is set for Wednesday.

Word of his new execution date came as prison officials Tuesday night executed Dennis Sochor, who became the 10th prisoner put to death this year.

DeSantis has attracted national attention in the last 2 years for his aggressive pursuit of capital punishment. Since February 2025, the governor has ordered more than 30 men to die.

Throughout his nearly 8 years as governor, DeSantis has ordered 38 executions, more than any of his predecessors. He has given no indication the pace will slow.

Death warrants have continued despite controversies, including concerns about the advanced age of some of the men being put to death.

Occhicone, who was condemned 39 years ago in Pasco County for the murders of his former fiancee’s parents, is 80 years old. His lawyers have argued that his age and ailing health would make his execution unconstitutionally cruel.

A judge rejected those arguments last week. His case is now before the Florida Supreme Court for review.

Never in the history of Florida’s modern death penalty has the state carried out 2 executions on the same day. There have, however, been times when the state conducted 2 executions on back-to-back days.

In February 2000, during the term of Gov. Jeb Bush, the state executed Terry Sims and Anthony Bryan on consecutive days. They were the first executions to be carried out by lethal injection, rather than the electric chair.

The state previously carried out electric chair executions on consecutive days in 1995 and 1998.

Source: msn.com, Staff, July 15, 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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