Friends,
This was a devastating week for the rule of law in Florida, and I know many of us are carrying deep frustration, sadness, and anger. Below, I’ll reflect on the two executions Florida carried out Tuesday and share information about the two death warrants now pending — including a new warrant for Harold Lucas signed just this afternoon.
But first, I want to invite you to a special event this Monday — one that I hope will offer some perspective, renewed resolve, and perhaps even a measure of hope for the brighter future we are working to build.
We’re in this together.
Onward,
Grace Hanna
FADP Executive Director
50 Years of Florida’s Death Penalty: Monday at 6 p.m. ET
It has been 50 years since Florida reinstated its death penalty following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Gregg v. Georgia and Proffitt v. Florida. This Monday, we’re bringing together three of the people who were there living, litigating, and documenting the return of capital punishment in the Sunshine State. Joining us are:
Michael Radelet, Ph.D.: Internationally recognized death penalty scholar who spent decades immersed in the Florida capital defense community.
David Kendall, Esq.: Constitutional lawyer who represented John Spenkelink, the first person executed in Florida post-Gregg.
Susan Cary, Esq.: Florida death penalty lawyer and advocate who also served on the Spenkelink team, as well as many other teams throughout her career.
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Florida’s Death Penalty at 50: A Conversation with Those Who Lived, Litigated, and Documented the Birth of the Modern Death Penalty
Monday, August 3
6 p.m. EDT
Zoom
By looking to the past, I hope we can all find a bit of hope for the state of the death penalty 50 years from now. Please join us.
William Silvia: August 18 at 6 p.m.
William Silvia is scheduled for execution in a little less than three weeks. Yesterday, the circuit court in Seminole County denied his appeals, meaning his case will now go to the Florida Supreme Court. Will’s case is unique in that he initially waived his right to appeal his conviction and sentence. After the Hurst decision, in which more than 150 people on Florida’s death row were granted resentencings, he filed a motion to have his appeals reinstated so that he could potentially be resentenced to life in prison. The lower court granted this motion, but the Florida Supreme Court reversed that decision and ruled that he was not allowed to “un-waive” his appeals — even though the law had changed.
Sign and Share Will’s Petition
Harold Lucas: September 1 at 6 p.m.
This afternoon, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Harold Gene Lucas, who was previously sentenced to death for the 1976 murder of Jill Piper. His execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. on September 1. Please sign and share his petition, and repost our Facebook and Instagram posts. Bringing the public’s attention to this killing spree is one of the most important things you can do.
Will and Harold are represented by the same team of attorneys — the same team that represented Dominick Occhicone, who was executed on Tuesday. They are now working under extraordinary pressure to defend two clients facing imminent execution, even as they grieve the loss of a third.
Sign and Share Harold’s Petition
And Finally: Some Thoughts on Tuesday
On Tuesday, Florida did something it had never done in the modern era of the death penalty: it executed two people in a single day. At noon, in broad daylight, the state executed James “Jim” Duckett despite unresolved questions about his innocence and its own destruction of the most critical biological evidence in his case. Six hours later, as the sun began to set, it executed 80-year-old Dominick Occhicone, whose jury had recommended death by the narrowest possible margin, 7–5. It was an unprecedented day of state violence — deliberately planned, relentlessly pursued, and devastating to witness.
In the statements we released after their deaths, we tried to tell the truth about what Florida had done while honoring all the lives bound together by these cases. We remembered Teresa McAbee, Martha Artzner and Raymond Artzner as people whose lives were larger than the circumstances of their deaths. We named the grave possibility that Florida executed an innocent man. We wrote about alcoholism, aging, mercy and the collateral damage of capital punishment. And we rejected the idea that either execution could heal old wounds or make our communities safer. I know I always say this, but please take a few minutes to read them.
Credit: Susan Cary
I am profoundly grateful to everyone who refused to look away: the people who stood vigil outside Florida State Prison through two executions, including Bishop William Wack of the Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee and Herman Lindsey, Florida’s 23rd death row exoneree; the church that offered attendees a safe place to gather between the vigils and the parishioners there who made it a meaningful space for us all; Abe Bonowitz of Death Penalty Action and SueZann Bosler of Journey of Hope … From Violence to Healing for spreading the word at the Lake and Pasco County courthouses; the FADP team who worked night and day, including Bridget, who was quite literally taking the bar exam on Tuesday; those who gathered across Florida in prayer and protest; and the volunteers who made calls, wrote letters and op-eds, shared their stories, rang bells, held signs, brought food and water, and supported one another through an unbearable day.
Thank you, too, to the attorneys, spiritual advisers, faith leaders, journalists and advocates who worked under extraordinary pressure to defend life, truth and the rule of law. It is an honor to be in this work with all of you.
Florida’s killing spree is meant to leave us feeling powerless. Yet on Tuesday, people across this state answered violence with presence and isolation with solidarity. We could not stop what happened inside those walls. But we made certain it did not happen in silence — and we will carry that witness into the work ahead.
And yes, as those who have been to a vigil in Starke before likely assumed, that beautiful sky turned dark as we were leaving, and a torrential downpour started just over the prison. So it goes.
— Grace