Overview
- The state executed James Aren Duckett and Dominick Anthony Occhicone on Tuesday after separate procedures at the Florida State Prison near Starke, with Duckett declared dead in the early afternoon and Occhicone declared dead roughly five hours later.
- The U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court rejected final appeals and a federal judge refused to block the back‑to‑back schedule, clearing the way for the executions to move forward.
- Duckett, a 68‑year‑old former police officer convicted in the 1987 rape and killing of an 11‑year‑old, had his case paused in March for DNA review but an independent expert later called the results inconclusive.
- Occhicone, age 80, was executed after his lawyers argued his advanced age and serious medical conditions would make the punishment cruel, and they noted the original jury vote was 7–5; he became the oldest person executed in modern Florida records.
- The double execution follows a recent surge in Florida capital punishment under Governor Ron DeSantis, uses the state's three‑drug lethal injection protocol, and drew strong reactions from victims' families and death‑penalty opponents who had warned the schedule increased the risk of error.