Florida carries out first double execution in decades
A former police officer convicted of the on-duty rape and murder of a young girl was put to death Tuesday, the first of two lethal injections planned for a single day in Florida, hours before an 80-year-old man became the second-oldest inmate executed in modern U.S. history.
Tuesday marked the first time since two convicted murderers were executed on a single day — in Arkansas in 2017 — that a state has planned virtually back-to-back executions. It also comes 18 months after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis began stepping up executions at a pace unseen in Florida since the U.S. death penalty was reinstated in 1976, making his the busiest death chamber in the nation.
James Aren Duckett, 68, was pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. The 11th inmate executed by the state this year, Duckett was convicted of raping and drowning an 11-year-old girl while working as a police officer in a small central Florida city in 1987.
Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, became the oldest prisoner executed in Florida’s modern history. He was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke following a three-drug injection. Occhicone was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986.
LiveNOW’s Shawna Khalafi has more.
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