Governor Ron DeSantis signed execution orders on July 28, 2026, for two Florida death row inmates to be put to death hours apart—James Aren Duckett at noon and Dominick Anthony Occhicone at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. The dual executions mark the first time Florida has carried out two executions on the same day since May 12, 1964, when Emmett C. Blake and Sie Dawson were executed by electric chair.
Duckett, 68, a former Mascotte police officer, was convicted in 1988 of the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee. Occhicone, 80, was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents, Raymond and Martha, in Pasco County. Both men were scheduled to be executed by lethal injection unless a court granted a stay.
The double execution comes as DeSantis has accelerated Florida’s pace of capital punishment. In 2025, the state carried out 19 executions under DeSantis’s watch, more than double the previous state record of eight executions set in both 1984 and 2014. That figure made Florida responsible for nearly half of all executions in the United States that year, according to death penalty tracking organizations.
If both executions proceeded, Occhicone, at 80 years old, would become the oldest person ever executed in Florida’s modern era. The Florida Supreme Court denied both men’s appeals on July 24, 2026, clearing the legal path for the executions. However, both men filed additional legal challenges, including motions for stays with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Concerns have been raised about both cases. Advocates have questioned the strength of evidence in Duckett’s case, while Occhicone’s conviction was secured by a 7-5 jury vote—the slimmest possible margin under Florida law at the time. The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops urged DeSantis on July 21 to grant stays for both men.
Between 1924 and 1964, Florida carried out same-day executions on 32 separate occasions, but the practice ceased after the 1964 executions. The July 28 executions would be Florida’s third and fourth executions of 2026, continuing the state’s record-setting pace under DeSantis. The governor has signed death warrants for 10 of the men executed since January 2025, reflecting his administration’s aggressive approach to capital punishment.
Sources
- CNN — reporting on the scheduled double execution on July 26, 2026
- ABC News — confirmation of execution dates, times, and DeSantis’s 2025 record of 19 executions
- USA Today — details on the scheduled executions, the men’s crimes, and Florida’s execution history since 1964
- Death Penalty Information Center — details on the two men’s cases and legal challenges
- Florida Phoenix — reporting on DeSantis’s record of 29 executions in 19 months
- National Catholic Reporter — Florida bishops’ call for stays on July 21, 2026
- WCTV and Tallahassee Democrat — historical context on same-day executions between 1924 and 1964
