Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sets Duckett's execution, scheduled same day as another inmate's

Martin E. Comas, Orlando Sentinel on Jul 15, 2026

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In an unconventional move, Gov. Ron DeSantis has scheduled the execution of death row inmate James Duckett — a former Mascotte police officer who, claiming innocence, pushed for DNA tests this year — on the same day he’s set the execution of another convicted killer.

If both executions are carried out on July 28, it would be the first time in Florida’s modern history that two executions take place on the same day.

Duckett was convicted of raping and killing 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in Lake County in 1988 but has always claimed he is innocent.

DeSantis originally signed Duckett’s death warrant on Feb. 27. But the Florida Supreme Court stayed the execution on March 26 to allow for DNA testing and analysis of those tests requested by his attorneys.

Those tests on semen and hair samples taken from the girl’s underwear did not show with “a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, that James Duckett either is or is not a contributor to the evidentiary DNA mixture,” said Dr. David Mittleman, of Othram Inc. a private lab that conducted the tests, in his report to the court.

The Florida Supreme Court then lifted its stay on Duckett’s execution on July 8, allowing DeSantis to re-issue a death warrant.

Duckett’s attorneys then asked for an evidentiary hearing to understand that DNA analysis, but a circuit court judge in Lake — who is overseeing the case — denied the request.

A day later, Duckett’s attorneys filed another request for a hearing, claiming “the state’s destruction of the critical slide containing viable DNA evidence violated Mr. Duckett’s rights to due process.” A status hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. today before Circuit Court Judge Brian Welke in Tavares.

In a letter to Florida’s prison in Raiford, DeSantis has ordered that Duckett’s execution take place between noon, July 28, and noon, Aug. 4.

Randall Polk — warden of the state prison in Raiford, where Duckett is being held — notified DeSantis that he has set the execution for noon, July 28.

That’s six hours before the execution scheduled for Dominick Occhione, who was sentenced to death in 1987 for the murders of his former girlfriend’s parents in Pasco County.

Occhione is 80 years old. His attorneys and death penalty opponents argue that executing Occhione at his age and deteriorating health would violate the Constitution for cruel and unusual punishment.

In the Duckett case, Teresa told her mom that she needed to buy more pencils to complete her fifth-grade math homework the night of May 11, 1987 and walked to a nearby convenience store on State Road 50 in Mascotte.

Duckett, who was on patrol for the small Lake County town, was seen parking his patrol car and then talking to the girl outside the convenience store about a curfew, after she walked out with a boy.

A witness testified that the girl got into the patrol car with Duckett, but others have said they saw her walk back to her home, less than a mile away. Her body was found the next morning floating near the shore of a small nearby lake. She had been raped and drowned.

On Tuesday, Florida put to death one of its oldest prisoners, 74-year-old Dennis Sochor, for the rape and murder of Patricia Gifford on Jan. 1, 1982, soon after he met her at a New Year’s Eve party.

It was Florida’s 10th execution this year.

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