Two Florida inmates die in rare double execution after SCOTUS denies stays

Florida executed two convicted murderers Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected their final appeals, marking the state’s first double execution since 1964.

The court denied two separate requests for stays in the planned executions.

Former police officer James Duckett, 68, had been scheduled to die at noon on Tuesday, but the execution was delayed awaiting results of the stay requests before the Supreme Court.

Duckett was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m., according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

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Duckett was convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in 1987.

The Supreme Court also denied a separate stay for Dominick Occhicone, an 80-year-old who was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986.

The Florida Department of Corrections said Occhicone's execution, also by lethal injection, was carried out at 6:13 p.m. local time.

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Occhicone became the oldest inmate executed in Florida.

Occhicone's execution marked the first time Florida executed two inmates in one day since 1964. It was just the second double execution in the U.S. this century and the first since Arkansas executed two inmates in 2017.

Florida executed 19 inmates in 2025, according to a Fox News Digital review of Florida Department of Corrections data. The 12 people the state has executed so far this year are more than double the next closest state, with Texas having executed four inmates this year, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Speaking Tuesday at the Florida Sheriffs Association Summer Conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis said his administration is on pace to carry out more executions than any other in Florida history.

"I think we'll probably end up having done more than any administration in the history of the state of Florida," DeSantis said.

The governor stressed he does not view the number as a point of pride.

"I'm not, like, taking pride in that because it's a weighty thing, but to me, as we move through those and bring justice, that makes a big difference for a lot of people out there who suffered really, really serious tragedies," he said.