Busiest US death chamber: Florida executes 2 men in a day, including an
octogenarian
[July 29, 2026]
By DAVID FISCHER
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — Florida on Tuesday became the first state in nearly
a decade to carry out two executions in a single day, the last an
80-year-old man who was the second-oldest inmate known to receive a
lethal injection in modern U.S. history.
Hours earlier, the state executed a former police officer convicted of
killing a young girl.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made Florida's death chamber the
nation’s busiest at the end of his final term, saying too many families
have waited too long to see justice. The lethal injections several hours
apart were the first nearly back-to-back executions since Arkansas put
two men to death three hours apart in 2017.
DeSantis, who has the authority under Florida law to set execution
dates, decided earlier this month to carry out both executions on the
same day.
Nationwide, the use of the death penalty had been declining for two
decades, but that number has ticked up behind the increased pace in
Florida.
Man, 80, apologizes for killing his ex-girlfriend's parents
Dominick Anthony Occhicone, the octogenarian, was pronounced dead at
6:13 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke after a three-drug
injection. His execution came nearly five hours after the former police
officer, James Aren Duckett, 68, received a lethal dose in the same
death chamber.
The chamber's curtain went up promptly at Occhicone's 6 p.m. scheduled
execution hour. He lay strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm, a
spiritual adviser near his feet.
Asked if he had any final words, Occhicone said he thanked all of his
Christian brothers for visiting him over the years. He also apologized
to the family of the victims and to his own family for what he had put
them through.
“Sorry for all the hurt I caused,” he said.
“I know it don’t mean much, but I’m sorry,” Occhicone added. “I never
meant to do what I did."
The injection began at 6:02 p.m. followed by several minutes of deep
breathing. When the breathing slowed, a warden shook him and yelled his
name without response.
Occhicone, who was convicted of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend’s
parents in June 1986, is the oldest known prisoner executed in Florida
since it began modern record-keeping a century ago.
Nationwide, an older inmate, 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr., received a
lethal injection in Alabama in 2018 for a wave of mail bombs in 1989
that killed a federal judge and wounded a Black civil rights attorney.
Afterward, the children of victims Raymond and Martha Artzner released a
statement saying their family had come to “the end of a long and painful
journey.”
“The years since June 10, 1986, have been filled with sleepless nights,
empty chairs at family gatherings, and those one-on-one conversations
that were lost,” it read in part. “Today does not erase that pain and it
does not undo the harm, but it does close a door and end a chapter in
our lives that has just lingered on far too long.”
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This combo from photos provided by Florida Department of Corrections
shows from left, James Aren Duckett and Dominick Anthony Occhicone.
(Florida Department of Corrections via AP)
A former police officer was executed in the afternoon
Earlier Tuesday afternoon, Duckett became the 11th Florida inmate
executed this year. He was convicted of raping and drowning
11-year-old Teresa McAbee while he was working as a police officer
in central Florida in 1987.
Duckett declined to make a final statement and showed no response
several minutes into the execution when the prison warden shook him
and shouted his name. He was pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m.
Afterward, the girl's relatives spoke of decades of suffering.
“I waited nearly 40 years to have him dead,” Dorthy Tula, the
victim's mother, said before breaking down.
“This man took advantage of his badge,” said Tracy Mcfall-Buskirk,
the girl's cousin.
Record execution numbers for governor’s final two years
Nationwide, a total of 19 executions including Tuesday's have been
carried out this year. Florida leads with 12 executions to date in
2026 — more than all other states combined.
DeSantis, who leaves office in January, oversaw a record 19
executions last year, more in a single year than any other Florida
governor since the U.S. reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.
Another execution in Florida is set for August.
Many on Florida's death row have been there decades
DeSantis hasn’t said why he scheduled two executions hours apart.
And he's rarely commented on the pace of executions, previously
noting some on death row had committed crimes as far back as the
1980s.
“Justice delayed is justice denied. I felt I owed it to them to make
sure this ran very smoothly," the governor said last year.
Florida Department of Corrections records show multiple executions
on a single day were more common in the past, the last being in
1964.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied last appeals from both men Tuesday.
All Florida executions are by injection of a sedative, a paralytic
and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of
Corrections.
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Associated Press reporter John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
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