Florida is scheduled to carry out two executions on the same day, July 28, marking the first time the state has conducted a double execution in over six decades. This move by Governor Ron DeSantis brings two death row inmates, James Duckett and Dominick Anthony Occhicone Jr., to face execution on the same afternoon.
Duckett, a 68-year-old former police officer convicted of murdering an 11-year-old girl in 1987, was originally scheduled for execution in March. However, the Florida Supreme Court granted him a temporary reprieve pending the results of new DNA testing. The DNA results were inconclusive, and the reprieve expired on July 11. Governor DeSantis rescheduled Duckett's execution for 12 p.m. on July 28.
Six hours later, at 6 p.m. that same day, Dominick Anthony Occhicone Jr., 80, is scheduled to be executed. Occhicone was convicted of murdering the parents of his ex-fiancée in 1986. If both executions proceed as scheduled, Occhicone will become the oldest death row inmate executed in Florida and the second oldest in U.S. history.
The last time Florida executed two death row inmates on the same day was in 1964, according to an execution database from the Death Penalty Information Center.
Governor DeSantis has stated his intention to provide closure to victims' families, some of whom have waited over 40 years for justice. "Justice delayed is justice denied," DeSantis has said, emphasizing his commitment to carrying out death penalty sentences. He has also indicated a desire to fulfill the victims' families' wishes for retribution.
Under DeSantis's tenure, Florida has seen a significant increase in executions. Since January 2025, 64 inmates have been executed in the U.S., with Florida accounting for 29 of those, or 45% of all executions in states with the death penalty. This year alone, Florida has carried out 58% of all U.S. executions.
DeSantis has signed more death warrants than any previous Florida governor. In 2023, he signed legislation that expanded the death penalty to include child sex abuse cases. A separate law enacted in 2025 broadly expanded Florida's execution methods to include any method "not deemed unconstitutional," which critics argue could permit virtually any method of execution.
Critics, including the group Floridians For Alternatives to the Death Penalty, have accused DeSantis of using executions for political gain, particularly in light of his potential presidential ambitions. They assert that he is increasingly treating executions as routine instruments of political power.
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, criticized the governor's actions. "His rush to kill an elderly 80-year-old man and a man who may be innocent only proves the reckless disregard with which he is making these decisions," Maher stated, referring to Occhicone and Duckett, respectively. Maher also expressed concern that carrying out two executions in a single day could inflict trauma on prison staff.