Florida is preparing to execute two death row inmates on the same day for the first time in more than six decades, following the lifting of a stay for one of the condemned men. James Aren Duckett, 68, a former police officer, is scheduled to be executed at noon on July 28 at Florida State Prison near Starke. Duckett was convicted of raping and drowning an 11-year-old girl in 1987.

Later that same day, at 6 p.m., Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, is scheduled for execution. Occhicone was convicted in 1986 of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents.

This marks the first time Florida has planned dual executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty nationwide in 1976. If both executions proceed as scheduled, Duckett and Occhicone would be the 11th and 12th inmates put to death in Florida this year. Appeals in both cases are expected to proceed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for Duckett on Tuesday. DeSantis oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025, the highest number in a single year since the death penalty's reinstatement, surpassing the previous high of eight in 2014.

Duckett's execution had previously been scheduled for March 31, but the Florida Supreme Court issued a stay to allow for DNA testing of old evidence. Technological limitations at the time of the original trial had prevented this testing. The inconclusive DNA results neither exonerated Duckett nor definitively linked him to the crime, leading judges to allow the jury verdict to stand. The stay was lifted earlier this month.

Duckett's attorney, Mary Elizabeth Wells, criticized the state's handling of the DNA evidence, stating that the inconclusive results were a reason for the delay and asserted Duckett’s consistent claims of innocence. "The State’s duty is to ensure that justice is done, and not rush to kill in a case with such serious doubts over guilt," Wells said in a statement. "We are committed to seeking every avenue of relief for Mr. Duckett ahead of his scheduled July 28 execution so that the State of Florida does not execute an innocent man."

The governor's office declined to comment on specific cases but has previously stated that his administration aims to bring justice to victims’ families. "Some of these crimes were committed in the ’80s," DeSantis said in November 2025. "Justice delayed is justice denied. I felt I owed it to them to make sure this ran very smoothly. If I honestly thought someone was innocent, I would not pull the trigger."

Records indicate that Emmett C. Blake and Sie Dawson were executed on May 12, 1964, for murder. Multiple executions on a single day were more common in Florida's past. Occhicone is also poised to become the state's oldest inmate executed, surpassing Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, who was executed on June 25, and Dennis Sochor, who was executed on Tuesday and was slightly older than Spencer. Nationally, Occhicone would be the second oldest prisoner executed in modern U.S. history, after Alabama executed 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. in 2018.