{"id":352215,"date":"2026-07-25T14:51:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/352215\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T14:51:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:51:45","slug":"florida-bishops-petition-governor-to-stay-two-executions-set-for-same-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/352215\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida bishops petition governor to stay two executions set for same day"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a letter signed by the Executive Director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Bishops urge the state\u2019s governor Ron DeSantis to stay the executions of two men, stressing that their crimes \u201care gravely evil\u201d, yet \u201cit is possible both to uphold justice and to exercise mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Kielce Gussie<\/p>\n

On July 21, the Executive Director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, Michael B. Sheedy, sent a letter<\/a> to the Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, urging him to \u201cstay the executions\u201d of two men, James Duckett and Dominick Occhicone, Jr, and \u201ccommute their sentences.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two men were convicted of different murders: Duckett of eleven-year-old Teresa McAbee in 1987, and Occhicone of Raymond and Martha Artzner, murdered in 1986. Both are scheduled to be executed on July 28.<\/p>\n

Sheedy stressed the crimes of which these men are convicted \u201care gravely evil\u201d and these losses are \u201cprofound sorrows which their loved ones will carry to the end of their days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Executive Director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops is petitioning the governor for a stay in their executions. The Bishops are asking that their sentences be commuted to life in prison without parole.<\/p>\n

The depths to which people can sink <\/p>\n

Reflecting on Pope Saint John Paul II\u2019s encyclical letter, Evangelium Vitae<\/a>, Sheedy pointed out that the Pope was not unaware of the \u201cthe darkness and depravity to which human beings can sink\u201d\u2014having lived through both the Nazi and Soviet regimes. With this personal understanding of how good and evil play a part in everyday life, the Polish Pope urged everyone to respond to \u201cthe hostility of the powers of evil\u201d in the way God has shown us.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II contemplated the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible. Cain killing his brother was a terrible sin: \u201cthe taking of innocent human life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheedy noted that God did not \u201clet Cain off the hook.\u201d Instead, God gave him a severe punishment, but did not demand Cain be put to death. Reflecting on that story, the Polish Pope wrote, \u201cNot even a murderer loses his personal dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this reason, the bishops of Florida urge Governor DeSantis to not move forward with the executions of Occhicone and Duckett. \u201cTo punish with lifelong imprisonment is not to minimize the heinousness of these men\u2019s crimes,\u201d Sheedy explained. Rather, he said, it acknowledges that God is the author of life and the taking of life should be reserved to Him alone, \u201cexcept where it is otherwise impossible to maintain the common good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Sheedy highlighted how \u201cespecially callous\u201d it would be to require state officers to execute two men on the same day.<\/p>\n

The Bishops stress to Governor DeSantis that upholding justice and exercising mercy are not mutually exclusive. \u201cWe can entrust the final judgment of every individual to God.\u201d The letter also expressed the Bishops\u2019 prayers for the repose of the souls of Teresa McAbee and of Raymond and Martha Artzner and for the consolation of their families.<\/p>\n

Concluding the letter, the Executive Director shared the Bishop\u2019s prayers extend also to Governor DeSantis to consider their request, ending with a scripture passage for reflection:
\u201cDo I find pleasure in the death of the wicked\u2014oracle of the Lord GOD? Do I not rejoice when they turn from their evil way and live?\u201d (Ezekiel 18:23).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a letter signed by the Executive Director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Bishops urge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[128151,408,28,30,29,4571],"class_list":["post-352215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-bishops","tag-death-penalty","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}