LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Plans to execute a former Mascotte police officer for the death of a girl in 1987 will remain on hold after the Florida Supreme Court denied the state’s request to allow the execution to proceed.
Last week, the high court issued a rare stay of execution for James Duckett because the court was still waiting for the results of new DNA testing.
Duckett was convicted of killing 11-year-old Teresa McAbee, according to a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The DNA test results came back inconclusive, so Florida’s attorney general filed a motion to lift the stay of execution.
[WATCH: DNA testing in James Duckett murder case inconclusive, Florida asks stay to be lifted]
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier says that since the test is complete and inconclusive, it does not exonerate Duckett, and therefore, the stay of execution should be lifted.
However, six of the seven Florida Supreme Court justices disagreed, though they did not explain why.
“The circuit court continues to have concurrent jurisdiction to rule on motions related to DNA testing and successive claims filed by the petitioner and nothing in this Court’s prior scheduling order precludes these filings,” wrote Chief Justice Carlos Muniz.
The order called for a status report on all pending issues for Thursday, April 2 by 5 p.m.
Duckett’s execution date was supposed to be March 31. This means the execution is on hold until at least Thursday.
Justice Adam Tanenbaum, who was just appointed to the bench by DeSantis in January, dissented the high court’s ruling.
“The court is unnecessarily (and without authority) injecting further delay at the behest of the defendant,” Tanenbaum wrote.
“Any continued proceedings in the trial court — though I do not see what else there is to do — could have no bearing on our appellate jurisdiction in this case.”
Breaking News Alerts
More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.