Florida carried out a rare double execution Tuesday, putting two men to death \u2014 just under six hours apart \u2014 for the first time in 62 years as the state continued its historic pace of executions under Gov. Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n
James Duckett, a former Mascotte police officer, was executed for the 1987 murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Duckett was executed at 1:19 p.m. He did not give a final statement.<\/p>\n
Dominick Occhicone was executed for the 1986 murder of 62-year-old Martha Artzner. He had also received a life sentence for the murder of her husband, 66-year-old Raymond Artzner.<\/p>\n
Occhicone was executed at 6:13 p.m. He apologized to his family and the victims\u2019 family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it don\u2019t mean much, but I\u2019m sorry,\u201d he said. \u201cI never meant to do what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The executions marked the 39th and 40th carried out under DeSantis and the 11th and 12th in Florida this year.<\/p>\n
Duckett\u2019s crime<\/p>\n
During the early hours of May 12, 1987, McAbee\u2019s body was found floating in a lake near south Mascotte, Florida. She had been sexually assaulted, and a pubic hair similar<\/a> to Duckett\u2019s was recovered, according to a state witness.<\/p>\n McAbee\u2019s mother had reported her missing shortly before midnight.<\/p>\n Duckett was the only officer on duty that night and the following morning. McAbee\u2019s fingerprints and palm prints were found on his patrol car. Duckett testified he spoke with McAbee at a Circle K near where her body was discovered but said he never saw her again after telling her to go home.<\/p>\n Witnesses at the Circle K gave contradictory statements. A passerby claimed to have observed a \u201csmall person\u201d inside Duckett\u2019s patrol car. Meanwhile, a Circle K store clerk said she hadn\u2019t seen anyone but Duckett in the car.<\/p>\n Tire impressions where her body was discovered were similar to that of Duckett\u2019s patrol vehicle. Court documents remarked they were unusual<\/a> for that area. Only eight tires of that tread design were known to have been sold nearby. They had been recently installed on two Mascotte patrol cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prosecutors argued Duckett raped, strangled and drowned McAbee, and a jury convicted him of the crime. It also found the crime to be especially \u201cheinous, atrocious, or cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n McAbee\u2019s mother, Dorothy Tula, spoke at a press conference after the execution.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting 40 years to have him dead,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \n Enjoy what you’re reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n Shirley Lancaster, McAbee\u2019s aunt, also spoke.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe she would\u2019ve been a doctor,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe she would\u2019ve been the next president. We never got the chance to find that out because this bastard took her away from us.\u201d<\/p>\n Duckett\u2019s punishment<\/p>\n Duckett, who has maintained his innocence, was recommended the death penalty in an 8-4 vote. DeSantis first signed his death warrant in February, but the execution was stayed until further DNA testing was done. The test was inconclusive and resulted in the genetic information being destroyed.<\/p>\n Duckett filed a lawsuit challenging how the state handled the DNA testing he alleged could have exonerated him. He also filed another lawsuit arguing the execution method, lethal injection, is cruel and unusual because chemotherapy for cancer has left him with severely compromised veins.<\/p>\n Duckett’s appeals before the Florida Supreme Court were denied Tuesday.<\/p>\n Occhicone\u2019s crime<\/p>\n