Double Execution Shocks Florida

Corrections officers escort an inmate in a jail hallway — Photo: Rebekah Zemansky / Shutterstock

Florida put two men to death hours apart on the same day, the first time the state has done that since 1964.

Story Snapshot

James Duckett, 68, a former police officer, was executed at midday for the 1987 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
Dominick Occhicone, 80, was executed that evening for killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to step in for either man after their last appeals were turned down.
Florida has not explained why these two men, out of everyone on death row, were picked for the same day.
Critics point to unresolved DNA testing in Duckett’s case and Occhicone’s age as reasons for concern.

Two Men Die Hours Apart Under One Governor’s Order

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed death warrants sending Duckett to die at noon and Occhicone to die at 6 p.m. on the same Tuesday. Both executions used lethal injection, a method that involves a sedative, a paralyzing drug, and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state’s corrections department. It was the first double execution in the state in more than 60 years.

Duckett was convicted in 1987 of raping and killing 11-year-old Teresa McAbee. Occhicone was convicted in 1986 of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents. Both crimes are decades old, and both men exhausted years of appeals before the state moved forward. Family members of McAbee said they felt relief that justice had finally arrived.

Courts Rejected Final Appeals From Both Men

The Florida Supreme Court denied stay requests for both men the week before the executions, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene in Duckett’s final appeal. Duckett’s lawyers argued that executing two people the same day raised the risk of a botched procedure. The nation’s highest court did not find that argument strong enough to stop the process.

Occhicone’s lawyers made a different argument. They said executing an 80-year-old man with health problems could count as cruel and unusual punishment. Reporting confirms his age and health were raised in court filings, but it does not show any judge agreeing that the argument should block the execution.

Unanswered Questions Fuel Public Unease

Florida officials have not said why these two cases, among dozens on death row, ended up scheduled for the same day. One outlet reported plainly that “the criteria for selecting which inmates are executed remain unclear”. That silence matters, because it leaves room for people to wonder if politics, not just the law, shaped the timing.

DNA Testing Left Questions Open in Duckett’s Case

Duckett always said he was innocent. A court allowed new DNA testing earlier this year, but the results came back inconclusive, and a sample used in the case was later destroyed. That leaves a gap that even the courts’ rejection of his appeals does not fully close. Supporters of the execution note his conviction had stood since 1987 and survived nearly four decades of review.

During an evening appearance before the Florida Sheriffs Association @GovRonDeSantis notes that today he presided over 2 executions held in the same day. Said "I don't take joy in that" but said there is a responsibility to make sure "justice is served" for families …

— Gary Fineout (@fineout) July 28, 2026

Governor DeSantis has defended the state’s fast pace of executions, saying “justice delayed is justice denied,” and pointing to Florida’s high number of executions already carried out this year. The Death Penalty Information Center counts only 11 same-day double executions nationwide since 1976, making Florida’s move rare enough to draw attention from advocates on both sides of the death penalty debate.

Whatever a person believes about capital punishment, this case shows how little the public sees of the government’s own decision-making. The convictions were old, the appeals were denied, and the executions went forward under state law. Yet no one in Tallahassee has explained the choice to schedule two deaths in one day, or why these two men were picked over anyone else.