Florida schedules first double execution in over 60 years

The state of Florida is scheduled to execute two death row inmates on the same day for the first time in over six decades, following the lifting of a stay of execution for a former police officer convicted of the 1987 murder of an 11-year-old girl.

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant on Tuesday, July 14, scheduling the execution of James Aren Duckett, 68, for 12:00 p.m. on July 28 at Florida State Prison near Starke. Duckett, a former law enforcement officer, was convicted of raping and drowning Teresa McAbee in a central Florida municipality, as per the Associated Press.

The execution of a second inmate, 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone, remains scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on the same day. Occhicone was sentenced to death for the 1986 murders of his former girlfriend's parents.

If both executions proceed, they will mark the 11th and 12th judicial executions carried out by the state of Florida this year. Final appeals for both death row inmates are expected to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court before the sentences can be legally executed.

The dual lethal injections represent the first time Florida has slated two executions on a single day since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the capital punishment framework nationwide in 1976, following a temporary moratorium enacted in 1972. According to historical Florida Department of Corrections records, the state last executed multiple inmates on the same day on May 12, 1964, when Emmett C. Blake and Sie Dawson were executed for murder. While state records indicate multiple executions on a single day were more common prior to the mid-20th century, the practice has not been utilised in Florida for 62 years.

The scheduled executions follow a period of heightened capital punishment activity under Governor DeSantis, who oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025. This surpassed the previous modern state record of eight executions set in 2014, marking the highest single-year execution total under any Florida governor since the 1976 reinstatement.

By Tamilla Hasanova