The Florida Supreme Court ruled on July 24 that Duckett was not entitled to another stay. The court was reviewing his sixth successive postconviction motion as well as another request for DNA testing. The justices affirmed the lower court’s decisions and rejected his request to delay the execution.
In its ruling, the Florida Supreme Court stated: “We affirm the circuit court’s rulings. We therefore deny Duckett’s motion for a stay of execution.”
The court also noted that earlier DNA testing “did not exonerate Duckett,” while finding that additional claims could not overcome procedural barriers. The ruling followed an earlier stay that had allowed DNA testing to take place after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Duckett’s death warrant.
That testing ultimately failed to establish his innocence. According to the Florida Supreme Court’s account, the testing involved a sample taken from the victim’s underwear. The results did not exonerate Duckett, leading the court to lift the previous stay and clear the way for the execution to be rescheduled.
Duckett’s attorneys nevertheless took the fight to Washington.
They filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking another stay, docketed as 26A119, while also filing a petition asking the justices to review the case. The Supreme Court docket confirms that the stay application was submitted to Justice Clarence Thomas on July 25, with Florida filing its opposition on July 27 and Duckett submitting a reply on July 28.
The defense argued that refusing additional DNA testing violated due process. Attorneys also maintained that “no direct evidence has ever linked Mr. Duckett to the crime,” arguing that additional examination of untested evidence could potentially establish innocence or affect his sentence.
The filing raised the possibility of a “wrongful execution.”
But the courts ultimately declined to intervene.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the final effort to stop Duckett’s execution on July 28, allowing Florida officials to proceed with the sentence. The decision came as the state prepared for an exceptionally rare event: two executions on the same day.
Duckett was convicted of the sexual battery and first-degree murder of Teresa McAbee nearly 40 years ago. At the time of the crime, he was a police officer in Mascotte, Florida. He spent more than three decades on death row while pursuing successive appeals and postconviction challenges.
His case repeatedly returned to the courts, including after the governor’s death warrant was signed earlier this year. The additional DNA testing became one of the final avenues pursued by his defense.
The Florida Supreme Court ultimately concluded that the latest round of litigation did not provide a legal basis for stopping the sentence. In addressing some of Duckett’s later filings, the court characterized certain motions as “both time-barred and frivolous, undoubtedly filed only for unreasonably delaying his execution further.”
That determination closed another chapter in a case that had remained active for decades.
Duckett’s execution was also notable because Florida was carrying out two death sentences on the same day. The state scheduled Duckett’s execution for noon, followed by the execution of Dominick Occhicone later that evening. The unusual scheduling drew national attention because same-day executions are exceedingly rare.
For Florida officials, however, the central issue was the enforcement of a death sentence that had survived years of judicial review.
The execution demonstrates the point at which the appeals process eventually reaches its legal endpoint. Duckett’s defense was able to seek DNA testing, pursue state postconviction relief and ask the nation’s highest court for intervention. Those avenues were reviewed and ultimately rejected.
The final result was execution.
The case also underscores the difficult balance surrounding capital punishment. Defense attorneys argued that additional testing deserved consideration because of the possibility of uncovering evidence relevant to Duckett’s guilt or innocence. Prosecutors and the courts, meanwhile, concluded that the testing already conducted did not establish exoneration and that later claims did not provide a sufficient legal basis for another delay.
Duckett maintained his innocence through the end of his nearly 40 years on death row, according to reporting following the execution.
But the courts did not overturn his conviction.
The legal process instead ended with Florida carrying out the sentence imposed after his conviction for the killing of an 11-year-old child.
The execution therefore represents more than the conclusion of a single appeal. It marks the end of one of Florida’s longest-running capital cases and illustrates how a death sentence can remain in litigation for decades before every available judicial avenue is exhausted.
After years of hearings, appeals, DNA requests and emergency filings, the courts ultimately declined to grant another reprieve.
On July 28, the state carried out the sentence.
For McAbee’s family, the execution brought the conclusion of a case that had remained unresolved in the courts for almost four decades. For Florida’s criminal justice system, it marked the final enforcement of a sentence that had repeatedly survived appellate review.
The last-minute legal battle was over.
The judgment stood, and Florida carried it out.
