Florida put two convicted murderers to death Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court turned away their last-minute appeals, carrying out the state’s first double execution since 1964.
The justices denied separate requests to halt the two scheduled executions.
James Duckett, 68, a former police officer, had been set to die at noon Tuesday, but his execution was postponed while officials awaited the Supreme Court’s rulings on the stay requests.
Duckett was executed by lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m., the Florida Department of Corrections said.
James Duckett was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m. on Tuesday. (Florida Department of Corrections)
Duckett had been convicted in the 1987 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
In a separate case, the Supreme Court also refused to stop the execution of Dominick Occhicone, 80, who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986.
Occhicone was also executed by lethal injection, with the Florida Department of Corrections saying the sentence was carried out at 6:13 p.m. local time.
Occhicone became the oldest inmate executed in Florida.
Dominick Occhicone was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. on Tuesday. (Florida Department of Corrections)
Occhicone’s execution marked the first time Florida executed two inmates in one day since 1964. It was just the second double execution in the U.S. this century and the first since Arkansas executed two inmates in 2017.
Florida executed 19 inmates in 2025, according to a INC News review of Florida Department of Corrections data. The 12 people the state has executed so far this year are more than double the next closest state, with Texas having executed four inmates this year, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Clouds hover over the entrance of the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., Aug. 3, 2023. (AP)
Speaking Tuesday at the Florida Sheriffs Association Summer Conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis said his administration is on pace to carry out more executions than any other in Florida history.
“I think we’ll probably end up having done more than any administration in the history of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.
The governor stressed he does not view the number as a point of pride.
“I’m not, like, taking pride in that because it’s a weighty thing, but to me, as we move through those and bring justice, that makes a big difference for a lot of people out there who suffered really, really serious tragedies,” he said.
