James Aren Duckett, a 68-year-old former police officer, was pronounced dead on Tuesday afternoon following a three-drug injection at a Florida state prison. He was convicted of the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee while on duty.
Duckett's execution is the first of two lethal injections planned for Florida on Tuesday. Later in the evening, 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone was scheduled to be executed, making him the oldest prisoner executed in Florida's modern history. Occhicone was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents in 1986.
This marks the first time in nearly a decade that any US state has carried out two executions in a single day, with Arkansas having done so in 2017. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has overseen a significant increase in executions, making the state's death chamber the nation's busiest during his final term.
Since the beginning of 2025, Florida has carried out 30 executions, while all other US states combined have carried out 35 over the same period. Both men had their final appeals denied by the US Supreme Court on Tuesday.