US3 min(s) read
Published 12:10 29 Jul 2026 GMT
Dominick Occhicone, a death row inmate who spent almost 40 years behind bars, had some choice words before being given the lethal injection at Florida State Prison.
The US state held the nation's first double execution since 2017, while making Occhicone the oldest Florida inmate to be put to death.
He was put to death alongside an ex-police officer, who spent 38 years on death row.
Occhicone, 80, was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents in 1986, as reported by the New York Post.
The death row inmate would be pronounced dead at 6:13 PM at the prison, becoming the second oldest inmate in modern US history to be executed, after 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. in Alabama in 2018.
But prior to his death, he had one final message.
Occhicone's final meal included an aubergine Parmesan salad, cornbread and soda, before he was given a three-drug lethal injection to end his life.
He chose for his final words to be an apology for his crimes, as he was asked if he wanted to make a statement, saying: “I know it don’t mean much, but I’m sorry.
“I never meant to do what I did.”
The octogenarian was the second inmate to be put to death in the state that day, as former police officer James Duckett, 68, was also given a lethal injection and died at 1:19 PM.
This was the first double execution in the US since April 2017 in Arkansas, while the last in Florida came in 1964.
Duckett was convicted of raping and drowning an 11-year-old girl in 1987, but when he was asked if he wanted to give a statement, he had a different response.
"No, sir," he replied.
The 80-year-old was sentenced to death for the murders of his ex-girlfriend's parents.
Raymond and Martha Artzner were found dead at a home in Holiday, north of Clearwater, on June 10, 1986.
Occhicone's former partner, Anita Gerrety, was living at the house with her parents as two children refused to speak to him when he went to the house.
Reports state that he came back with a handgun, cut the phone lines and shot the parents as Gerrety fled with her daughter.
His lawyers originally argued that the murders were not premeditated, later claiming that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual punishment" due to his age.
But Duckett was put on death row for something he did on duty in Mascotte, near Orlando, on May 11, 1987.
Witnesses said he picked up victim Terasa McAbee in his patrol car before she was reported missing by her mom.
The following morning, her body was found in a lake, with DNA from her body found to be a match with Duckett, while her fingerprints were also found on the car.
Shockingly, Duckett was also a suspect in the murders of a 22-year-old woman in 1986 and a 14-year-old girl in 1987, though he would not be charged.
He has long maintained his innocence of the murder of the child, remaining critical of how the DNA evidence was handled.
