Florida Executes Former Police Officer and Schedules Second Execution in Rare Double-Execution Day
Florida executed 68-year-old former police officer James Duckett via lethal injection at 1:19 p.m. on Tuesday at Florida State Prison in north-central Florida, following the Supreme Court’s decision to decline a stay of his sentence. Duckett had been convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in 1987 after placing her in his police cruiser, though he had consistently maintained his innocence. Later the same day, 80-year-old Dominick Occhicone Jr., convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986, was scheduled to be put to death at 6 p.m. via injection. The consecutive executions mark a rare instance of a state carrying out two executions in a single day, a practice Florida has not undertaken since 1964, when it used the electric chair.
National Context and Rare Double-Execution History
The events mark the 11th and potential 12th executions in Florida this year during Gov. Ron DeSantis’s second term, with the state accounting for more than half of all U.S. executions in 2025 and at least one more scheduled. Nationally, the Death Penalty Information Center notes that states have executed multiple people on the same day 11 times since capital punishment was reinstated by a Supreme Court ruling in 1976, with the most recent occurrence taking place in Arkansas in 2017. In 2014, Oklahoma attempted a similar double execution, but postponed the second killing after the first inmate’s execution was botched, causing him to writhe in pain before dying of a heart attack. The Trump administration has encouraged states to more aggressively pursue the death penalty, helping drive a near-doubling of annual U.S. executions from 2024 to 2025, even as annual totals remain below their 1999 peak.
Legal Defenses and Last-Minute Supreme Court Denials
State officials proceeded with Tuesday’s executions after the Supreme Court denied last-minute requests from both men without offering any reasoning, public dissents, or separate writings. The rapid succession of capital punishments prompted swift pushback from anti-death penalty organizations. Advocacy groups, including Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, issued a statement arguing that conducting two executions in one day creates an unnecessary, rushed proposition that increases the likelihood of mishandling and shows disregard for the solemn final days of the condemned.
Family Reactions and Broader Execution Trends
While opponents raised concerns regarding the compressed timeline and potential procedural risks, victims’ families expressed support for the legal outcomes. Dorothy Tula, the mother of Teresa McAbee, released a statement through prosecutors expressing gratitude that the execution had finally taken place to secure justice for her daughter. Meanwhile, Dominick Occhicone Jr. stands to become only the second octogenarian put to death in the United States over the last 50 years, culminating a day of historic legal actions at the state prison.
