The state of Florida executed 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone Tuesday evening, making him the oldest prisoner executed in Florida’s modern history. He was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986.
Occhicone was killed via lethal injection at 6:13 p.m., according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Occhiocone was the 12th inmate Florida to be executed this year and the second executed Tuesday, an event so rare that it hasn’t happened in Florida since 1964.
The previous oldest prisoner — Dennis Sochor — was put to death two weeks ago at 74. He was the second oldest man executed in U.S. history. Walter Moody Jr. was the oldest, having been executed in Alabama at 83 in 2018.
Earlier in the day, Florida executed James Aren Duckett, 68, Tuesday for the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.
He was declared dead at 1:19 p.m., according to a statement from the department. The execution was delayed by more than an hour to await a ruling on Duckett’s requests for a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied them.
Duckett became the 11th inmate Florida has executed this year. The man who could become the 12th such death-row inmate, Dominick Occhicone, is scheduled for execution at 6 p.m. If that takes place, it would be the first time two inmates were executed on the same day in Florida since 1964. Occhicone would also be the second oldest inmate executed in U.S. history.
Family members spoke with reporters shortly after Duckett was declared dead by lethal injection in Florida State Prison near Starke.
“Justice has finally been done,” said Tracy McFall, who was a cousin of the victim.
“My 11-year-old cousin was raped and killed and thrown in a lake like garbage. That man should have been executed and felt some kind of pain like he did my cousin. He got off way too easy…and it shouldn’t have taken 40 years for my aunt to see justice. I’m just glad that she’s still alive to see this closure.”
Duckett’s attorneys had unsuccessfully claimed he was innocent and that the state had botched the DNA testing that they claim would have exonerated him.
“No matter where you stand on capital punishment, this should give every Floridian pause, especially considering that Florida leads the nation in death row exonerations,” the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said in a written statement.
“Our state carried out a record 19 executions in 2025, more than double its previous modern-era record. Today’s scheduled double execution continues that trend and would bring the number of executions under Governor Ron DeSantis to 31 in just the past two years, making Florida the national leader during that time,” the statement continued. Forty inmates have been killed by the state on DeSantis’s watch since 2019.
Duckett’s execution was the 30th in Florida since January 2025, and Occhicone’s is the 31st. Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for 61-year-old William Silvia for Aug. 18. Silvia was convicted of the 2006 shooting murder of his wife, Patricia.
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Kola says
The “40” who were executed because of murdering the innocent, are they not to held accountable? Those left behind to grieve the loss of their loved ones who were “unrightfully” taken are they not to see justice? Capital punishment is a Biblical mandate for a society to survive.
Pierre Tristam says
There are no “biblical mandates” in American law. Our laws are secular, even in Florida.