RAIFORD, Fla. \u2014 Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for James Duckett, a former Central Florida police officer convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl more than 30 years ago. <\/p>\n
Duckett\u2019s execution is scheduled for March 31.<\/p>\n
Duckett was found guilty of the 1987 murder of Teresa McAbbee. <\/p>\n
The signing of the warrant follows decades of legal proceedings after Duckett received a death sentence in 1988.<\/p>\n
Duckett was an officer with the Mascotte Police Department in Lake County when he encountered McAbbee in 1987. <\/p>\n
According to investigators, he picked the child up from a convenience store. <\/p>\n
Her body was later discovered less than a mile from that location.<\/p>\n
Medical evidence presented during the case showed the girl had been sexually battered, strangled and drowned. <\/p>\n
Duckett was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death in 1988. <\/p>\n
He has remained on death row for more than 30 years following the murder.<\/p>\n
Duckett has until March 13 to file a legal appeal against the execution order.<\/p>\n
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