James Duckett
James Aren Duckett, 68, was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Raiford on July 28, 2026, pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m. His attorney Elizabeth Wells represented him for decades, and supporters said he had worked hard to become a police officer and had a wife and two young sons at the time of the case. His lawyers said he maintained his innocence and sought DNA testing of evidence in his case, and his attorneys' challenge to the state's handling of that evidence was denied. The Polk County Sheriff said he linked Duckett to a 1987 cold case homicide, a claim not tested in court, and the mother of the girl whose death was the basis of the case said she was glad it was over.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state
Reported by: Florida Department of Corrections (the agency that held him). The only account of how this person died comes from the agency that held him.
Custody: Serving a sentence.
Sources (11)
- Execution List 1976-present
- Florida double execution day ends -- with the oldest death row inmate's final words: 'I never meant to do what I did'
- Former Lake cop, James Duckett, executed for rape, drowning of 11-year-old
- Busiest US death chamber: Florida executes 2 men in a day, including an octogenarian
- Florida holds first double-execution in decades
- Florida bishops decry death penalty as state executes two in one day
- Florida executes two inmates in one day
- Death row inmate's haunting last words as Florida carries out first double execution in 60 years
- Detectives solve 1987 cold case following execution
- Florida is executing prisoners at a rapid clip. How did we get here?
- Florida schedules two executions on the same day: one of the condemned recounted his crime on Netflix