On Tuesday, July 28th, 2026, Florida executed James Aren Duckett, a former police officer convicted of raping and drowning 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in 1987 while on duty. Duckett, 68, was pronounced dead early in the afternoon following a three-drug lethal injection at the Florida state prison near Starke. This marked the first of two lethal injections planned in Florida on the same day, a practice not seen in nearly ten years since Arkansas carried out back-to-back executions in 2017.

Duckett was the 11th inmate executed by Florida this year. The state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has made Florida's death chamber the nation’s busiest as his final term ends, citing the long wait for justice by victims' families. Since 2025, Florida has conducted nearly half of all state executions nationwide.

The use of the death penalty across the United States had been declining for two decades but has recently increased due to Florida's accelerated pace. About four minutes after the execution began, the prison warden confirmed Duckett was unresponsive.

Dorthy Tula, the mother of the victim, emotionally stated, “I waited nearly 40 years to have him dead.” Tracy Mcfall-Buskirk, the victim’s cousin, added, “This man took advantage of his badge.”

All executions in Florida are carried out by injection of a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

The second execution planned for the day involved an 80-year-old man, who would become the second-oldest inmate executed in modern US history.

Sources