Two death row inmates are scheduled to be put to death on the same day in Florida — the first double execution in the Sunshine State in over six decades.
Governor Ron DeSantis rescheduled the execution of former police officer and convicted child murderer James Duckett for 12 p.m. on July 28, exactly six hours before Dominick Anthony Occhicone Jr. is also set to be put to death, USA Today reported.
The 68-year-old former cop was set to be executed in March for murdering an 11-year-old girl in 1987, but he received a rare and temporary reprieve from the Florida Supreme Court, pending the results of new DNA testing.
However, the DNA testing was inconclusive and Duckett’s reprieve expired on July 11. His execution was rescheduled by DeSantis on July 14.
At 80-years-old, Occhicone, who was convicted of murdering the parents of his ex-fiancée in 1986, will be the oldest death row inmate executed in Florida and the second oldest in the US.
If the rare double executions go ahead, it will be the first time since 1964 that the Sunshine State will have executed two death row inmates on the same day, according to a Death Penalty Information Center execution database.
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