Florida executes ex-police officer convicted of murder, first of 2 lethal injections set for single day
Summary
Florida executed James Aren Duckett, a former police officer convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in 1987, marking the first of two planned executions in one day. An 80-year-old man was scheduled for a second execution later that day, making Florida the U.S. state with the most executions this year.Key Facts
- James Aren Duckett, 68, was executed by lethal injection for a 1987 crime involving rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl while on duty as a police officer.
- Duckett was the 11th person Florida executed in 2025 and the first of two executions planned for the same day.
- The second execution scheduled for the day was for Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986.
- Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has increased executions at a record pace, with 19 carried out in 2025 alone.
- Florida has performed nearly half of all U.S. state executions during 2025.
- Both inmates’ last appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court were denied before the executions.
- Florida uses a three-drug lethal injection process involving a sedative, paralytic, and a drug to stop the heart.
- It has been nearly a decade since a U.S. state carried out two executions on the same day; the previous instances happened in Arkansas (2017) and Texas (2000).
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