Tampa Bay Times13%
Florida executions of ex-cop, Pasco man could be botched, lawsuit says 25%
By Dan Sullivan9%
7/24/2026, 6:55:05 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 25 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Pessimism Bias, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 26.2% saturation with 250 hits. Analysis detected 1,280 faulty-reasoning hits from 955 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 37.2% and a BS Rank of 25% (16,511 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 75.40% of the article peer group.
Attorneys for two Florida prisoners set to be put to death Tuesday have filed a joint appeal in federal court arguing that the same-day executions pose a substantial risk that one or both of them will be botched.
The complaint filed Thursday on behalf of James Duckett and Dominick Occhicone seeks an emergency cancellation of their executions.
If they proceed, it will be the first time Florida has put two men to death on the same day since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979.
The compressed legal timeline and quick turnaround between the two executions makes it more likely that problems will arise, the complaint argues.
A separate federal lawsuit, also filed Thursday, argues that Duckett is at risk of a botched execution due to compromised veins in his body.
He previously underwent chemotherapy for cancer treatment, which made his veins difficult to access, according to the court record.
The lawsuits were filed in the Tallahassee-based Northern District of Florida.
The office of Attorney General James Uthmeier on Friday afternoon filed a request for one of Duckett’s lawsuits to be dismissed.
They argued his claims are baseless and should have been raised long ago.
“The time has come and gone to put an end to litigation that attempts to delay execution of (the) death sentence that (was) finalized in 1990,” wrote Senior Assistant Attorney General Jason Rodrgiuez.
Duckett’s execution is set to occur at noon Tuesday.
Occhicone’s is scheduled to follow at 6 p.m.
Duckett, 68, a former police officer convicted in the 1987 Lake County murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee, maintains he is innocent.
His final appeals have centered on DNA testing that his attorneys say could potentially exonerate him.
Occhicone was condemned for the 1986 Pasco County murders of his former fiancee’s parents.
Raymond and Martha Artzner were shot to death after Occhicone showed up drunk at their Holiday home early one morning, demanding to speak with their daughter.
At 80, Occhicone would be the oldest person Florida has put to death in modern times.
His lawyers have unsuccessfully argued that his advanced age and ailing health would make his execution unconstitutionally cruel.
Their executions come amid an unprecedented string of death warrants .
Since last year, Gov.
Ron DeSantis has ordered more than 30 men to die.
The surge in executions has made Florida the leading state in carrying out the death penalty nationwide.
Duckett and Occhicone’s joint lawsuit offers a glimpse at the grim situation both men face.
Immediately after Duckett learned earlier this month that his execution had been reset, he asked an assistant to the prison warden when he would have his final visits with family and a spiritual adviser, the court record states.
Such visits normally occur the day of the execution.
But because of the unusual schedule, Duckett was told he would last see his family in the morning the day before he is put to death.
“Absent any change to his execution date or time,” the record states, “Duckett will be the only death-sentenced inmate who does not get the opportunity to see his family on the day the State of Florida intends to kill him.”
Duckett’s separate appeal asserts that his compromised veins may require him to receive multiple painful needle insertions if the execution proceeds.
On July 20, the appeal states, an unidentified person wearing a mask visited him at Florida State Prison.
The person examined Duckett’s arms to try to find a vein.
“A difficulty arose,” the document states.
Upon learning that Duckett had undergone chemotherapy for cancer, the person said such treatment “really messes up the veins.”
If the execution moves forward, the appeal states, there is also a risk that the needle will be improperly placed, resulting in a prolonged death, pain or other consequences.
The joint lawsuit echoes those claims.
It describes the same-day executions as a “historical anomaly” and notes other states have adopted rules prohibiting them.
When Oklahoma officials tried to execute two men on the same day in 2014, one of the lethal injections was botched.
Clayton Lockett took 43 minutes to die, according to news accounts, and writhed and groaned throughout the process.
A subsequent investigation recommended that executions not be scheduled within a week of each other, according to the court record.
The lawsuit also argues that mental stress placed on the execution team heightens the risk of problems.
As an example, the complaint says the team could be exhausted or distracted from trying to follow the execution protocol in two cases.
Duckett and Occhicone are also “at risk of having their drugs mixed up because they are being stored together or, of having their drugs improperly stored, because the defendants do not have the necessary facilities to individually and properly store drugs for two executions on one day,” the complaint states.
Defendants named in the joint lawsuit include DeSantis, Florida State Prison Warden Randall Polk, Department of Corrections Secretary Richard Comerford and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, all of whom have a role in the execution process.
Duckett’s attorneys suggested a firing squad as a viable alternative to lethal injection.
But firing squads are not an execution method that is recognized under Florida law.
Both men continue to fight for their lives in other venues.
Earlier this week, Duckett asked a federal court in Ocala to stay his execution over lingering disputes over the DNA testing in his case.
On Friday, the Florida Supreme Court turned down Duckett’s request to conduct additional DNA testing.
The court previously issued Duckett a stay of execution to allow advanced testing to proceed.
The stay was lifted after the results came back inconclusive.
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