Florida carried out a rare double execution that had not happened in the state for decades. Less than five hours apart, two death row inmates were executed by lethal injection inside the same execution chamber at Florida State Prison near Starke. The revelation of their final meals and final moments has drawn nationwide attention.

James Duckett, 68, and Dominick Occhicone, 80, were both executed on Tuesday. Occhicone became the oldest prisoner executed in modern Florida history. The executions also marked the first time in nearly a decade that any US state carried out two executions in a single day.

According to the New York Post, the US Supreme Court denied both inmates’ final appeals before the executions moved forward. The back-to-back executions were the first carried out in Florida on the same day since 2014, making the event one of the state’s most significant uses of the death penalty in recent years. 

Duckett, a former police officer, was sentenced to death for the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee near Orlando. For his final meal, he requested eggs, grits, bacon, biscuits and chocolate milk. Occhicone, who murdered his former girlfriend’s parents in 1986, chose eggplant parmesan, salad, garlic bread and a Pepsi.

The Tampa Bay Times reported both men woke up in death watch cells at 4:45 a.m. Duckett declined to give a final statement. When asked if he had any last words, he replied, “No sir.” About four minutes after the lethal injection began, the prison warden called his name and received no response. Duckett was pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m.

Duckett’s attorney, Mary Elizabeth Wells, had argued he “consistently maintained his innocence” and criticized Florida’s handling of DNA evidence. Teresa McAbee’s family reacted differently after waiting nearly four decades for the execution. Her mother, Dorthy Tula, said, “I waited nearly 40 years to have him dead.” Her cousin, Tracy Mcfall-Buskirk, added, “This man took advantage of his badge.”

Investigators said witnesses saw McAbee enter Duckett’s patrol car before she disappeared. Her body was discovered in a nearby lake the following morning. DNA, hair evidence and matching fingerprints found in the patrol car linked Duckett to the crime.

Occhicone’s execution began at 6 p.m. Before the injection, he apologized by saying, “Sorry for all the hurt I caused.” He continued, “I know it don’t mean much, but I’m sorry,” he said, adding that he never meant to do what he did.

Occhicone had spent nearly 40 years awaiting execution for the murders of Raymond and Martha Artzner. Prosecutors said he returned with a handgun after his former girlfriend refused to speak with him. He cut the home’s phone lines before killing her parents. Although he admitted the shootings, his lawyers argued they were not premeditated. They also claimed executing him at nearly 81 amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment.”

The executions made Duckett the 11th and Occhicone the 12th inmates executed in Florida this year. Florida has now accounted for nearly half of all executions carried out in the United States since the start of 2025.

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