Florida prepares to carry out two executions in a single day for the first time in over 60 years

Florida is preparing to carry out the executions of two inmates on the same day, a first for the state in more than six decades, following the lifting of a stay on the execution of a former police officer scheduled to be put to death earlier this year for the 1987 murder of an 11-year-old girl.

According to the execution warrant signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis last Tuesday, James Aaron Ducket, 68, is scheduled to be executed at noon on July 28 at the Florida State Prison near Starke.

Ducket was convicted of raping and drowning the girl while he was working as a police officer in a small town in central Florida.

The second execution, previously scheduled for 6 p.m. on the same day, involves Dominic Anthony Occhipinti, 80, who was convicted of killing his former girlfriend’s parents in 1986.

This marks the first time Florida has planned to execute two inmates on the same day since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty nationwide in 1976, after a temporary suspension in 1972.

Records from the Florida Department of Corrections indicate that the last time the state carried out two executions on a single day was on May 12, 1964, when Emmett Cecil Blake and Cecil Dawson were executed for murder.

Records show that carrying out multiple executions on the same day was more common in the past.

If the sentences are carried out as scheduled, Ducket and Occhipinti will be the 11th and 12th inmates executed by Florida this year.