Florida is set to execute two death row inmates today, marking the state’s first same-day double execution in over 60 years after the Florida Supreme Court cleared the final legal hurdles for both men.
Death Row Inmates
James Aren Duckett, 68, and Dominick A. Occhicone, 80, are both scheduled to die by lethal injection today at Florida State Prison. Duckett, a former Mascotte police officer convicted in the 1988 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee, is scheduled for execution at noon. The state’s high court rejected his final appeal and request for additional DNA testing, ruling that his motion for testing on clothing, swabs, and fingernail scrapings was procedurally barred.
Occhicone, who was sentenced to death for the 1986 murder of his former fiancée’s mother, Martha Artzner, in Pasco County, is scheduled to be executed at 6:00 p.m. The court rejected Occhicone’s arguments regarding his advanced age, failing physical health, reported shortages of execution drugs, and the psychological impact of frequent executions on prison staff.
Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.
