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.

Dominick Occhicone was part of a double execution in Florida. Credit: Florida Department of Corrections

Final words revealed

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.

James Duckett declined to share any last words. Credit: Florida Department of Corrections

Occhicone and Duckett's crimes

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.

Featured image credit: Florida Department of Corrections

An inmate in Florida who has been on death row since the 1980s is set to face a strict rule relating to his final meal.

Dennis Sochor, 74, is set to be put to death today (July 14) after spending almost 40 years on death row, making him the oldest inmate to be executed in the state.

The convicted murderer is set to be given the lethal injection - a combination of three drugs to end his life - with the process scheduled to begin at around 6PM this evening (July 14).

While death row inmates are traditionally allowed to choose a last meal - within reason - Florida employs strict rules around what they can have.

Dennis Sochor has been on death row for four decades. Credit: Florida Department of Corrections

The state employs a strict $40 budget, which was first implemented in 1979, meaning that a limitless banquet of fine foods is definitely off the cards.

As well as having to cost $40 or less, the Florida Department of Corrections also has other strict conditions for what a prisoner can ask for.

The meal must be made up of ingredients that can be purchased from local stores, and fast food orders are not allowed.

Sochor has been on death row since the 80s after being convicted of killing a young woman on January 1, 1982, just hours after they'd met at a New Year's Eve party.

Patty Gifford, 18, had visited the popular Banana Boat bar in South Florida with a friend to ring in the New Year, when she was approached by Sochor and his brother.

They spent several hours talking together, before Gifford's friend started feeling ill and went to sleep in her car.

Gifford then left the party with Sochor and his brother, having planned to go and get food together, however, the men did not go to a restaurant but instead stopped their truck in a remote location.

According to reports, Sochor attacked Gifford after she refused to have sex with him, raped her, and ended her life.

It took until May 1986 for Sochor to be arrested, four years after the horrific crime, and he has still refused to reveal where he placed her body as he attempted to conceal the crime, per the Miami Herald.

Broward County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Schlein told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1983: "The only mistake she made was going out with friends and celebrating New Year's Eve.

"She was a young and beautiful girl, with everything to live for, it's a real tragedy."

Sochor has argued in his appeals that the state has no evidence Gifford is dead as her body has never been found, a defense that the court has repeatedly rejected.

The victim's mother, Marilyn Gifford, told the outlet in 1983: "It's bad enough what he did to her.

"But he's had all this time to repent, to think about what he did, so why not give her back?"

Lead prosecutor Kelly Hancock, who has since retired but plans to attend the execution, told the Miami Herald: "I do not remember all the facts. But I do remember the victims, and the victims’ families.

"He just dumped her out there like trash. That makes it worse."

Sochor is set to die by lethal injection. Credit: Andrew Lichtenstein / Getty Images

Gifford's mother told the outlet in 1987: "He had no pity on Patty, and we have no pity on him. I hope when he takes his last breath, he thinks of her taking her last breath."

Featured image credit: Florida Department of Corrections

A 74-year-old Florida death row inmate has become the oldest person executed in the state's modern history after being put to death for the 1992 murder of his wife.

Per AP News, Dusty Ray Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10PM on Thursday, June 25, following a lethal injection carried out at Florida State Prison near Starke. He had been sentenced to death for fatally stabbing his wife, Karen Spencer, in January 1992.

Before the execution, Spencer was asked if he had any final words. He replied: “Sorry, sorry to the family. Into thy hands I commit my spirit and my soul. I’m on my way, Lord. I’m on my way. Amen."

His final meal before execution

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Spencer's final meal consisted of pizza, French fries and a milkshake.

Death row inmates in Florida are permitted to request one final meal before their execution, although the state places a $40 limit on the order and requires the food to be purchased locally.

Florida's policy differs from Texas, where officials ended the practice of allowing inmates to choose their last meal in 2011. The decision followed the execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer. Per NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, he requested an enormous meal that included two chicken fried steaks, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pound of barbecue and a triple meat bacon cheeseburger, only to refuse to eat any of it.

Dusty Ray Spencer. Credit: Florida Department of Corrections

Spencer's case and sentencing

Spencer was first arrested after choking his wife and threatening to kill her in December 1991. While in jail, he called her and said he would "finish what he started" once he was released.

After fatally stabbing Karen Spencer in January 1992, he was sentenced to death later that year. However, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing two years later after ruling the trial court had "mishandled evaluating aggravating and mitigating circumstances." He was resentenced to death the following year.

Although Spencer became the oldest inmate executed in Florida's modern history, he was not the oldest person executed in the United States during the modern era. That distinction belongs to Walter Leroy Moody Jr., who was 83 when he was executed in Alabama in 2018 for the 1989 letter bomb murders of Robert S. Vance and civil rights attorney Robert E. Robinson.

Another 74-year-old Florida death row inmate, Dennis Sochor, is also scheduled to be executed this year. Sochor was convicted of killing a woman he had known for only a few hours after a New Year's Eve party in 1982.

In the United States, inmates spend an average of 20 years on death row before execution because of legal challenges, high costs and difficulties in obtaining execution drugs.

Featured image credit: Florida Department of Corrections

A South Carolina death row inmate's final meal before being executed by firing squad has been revealed.

Stephen Bryant, a 44-year-old convicted killer, was put to death on Friday (November 14), marking the state’s third use of the controversial method this year alone.

Bryant was pronounced dead at 6:05PM after three prison officers, each armed with live ammunition, opened fire.

He made no final statement and showed no emotion as he looked at the witnesses behind bulletproof glass. Seconds later, shots rang out, and the red bullseye target pinned to his chest flew forward.

Onlookers shared that he took a few shallow breaths before a final spasm, and a doctor confirmed his death a little over a minute later.

Final Meal Before Execution

Bryant becomes the 50th person executed in South Carolina since the state reinstated the death penalty four decades ago and the 43rd executed in the US this year.

Before facing the firing squad, he requested a final meal: spicy mixed seafood stir-fry, fried fish over rice, egg rolls, stuffed shrimp, two candy bars, and German chocolate cake, per The New York Post.

His attorney, Bo King, revealed harrowing details about Bryant’s life, pointing to a genetic disorder, brain damage caused by his mother’s substance abuse, and years of physical and sexual abuse from relatives.

“Tonight, South Carolina gave Mr Bryant his final wounds in a lifetime of suffering,” King said in a statement after the execution.

“Mr Bryant’s impairments left him unable to endure the tormenting memories of his childhood. When these traumas pushed him to mental collapse, he pleaded for professional help. He was refused care by our broken mental health system because he could not afford the fee of $75," they added.

The lawyer described the death row inmate as a man who had found a kind of peace before his death. “We will remember his unlikely friendships, his fierce protectiveness, and his love for nature, the water, and the world.”

South Carolina’s governor denied clemency, and the state’s supreme court rejected appeals claiming the original sentencing had failed to properly consider Bryant’s brain damage.

The attorney general’s office painted a different picture, calling Bryant “methodical” and “cunning,” citing the “gratuitous infliction of horror” in his crimes.

Prosecutors said the prisoner tortured one victim, Willard “TJ” Tietjen, burning his eyes with cigarettes and smearing taunting messages in blood, AP News reported.

He also fatally shot two other men, one before and one after Tietjen, by pulling over to let them urinate before shooting them in the back.

Growing Controversy Around The Firing Squad

Bryant’s execution came as South Carolina ramped up its use of capital punishment after a 13-year hiatus caused by the inability to obtain lethal injection drugs.

Since resuming executions in 2024, the state has executed seven inmates: four by lethal injection and three by firing squad.

The method has sparked renewed national outrage. Human rights groups have slammed it as “barbaric,” while state officials defend it as quick and humane.

The Rev. Hillary Taylor of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty condemned the choice inmates are now forced to make.

“Do you choose being poisoned to death in a way that is akin to waterboarding, do you get cooked to death by electrocution, or do you get your heart blown out of your chest by a firing squad?” she said.

South Carolina now joins Utah as the only two states to have executed three people by firing squad in the modern era. Idaho is preparing to make it its primary method, while the option remains legal in Mississippi and Oklahoma.

Featured image credit: Marcia Straub / Getty

People have always had a morbid fascination with death row inmates and what they select as their final meals.

Perhaps it's the curiosity of seeing what somebody actually chooses to eat as their final meal on Earth or maybe it's just another glimpse into the minds of the nation's most feared criminals.

Either way, final meals continue to be an eerie tradition to this day.

From one inmate's ludicrous final feast to Texas abolishing all inmate final meal requests after one guy overstepped the mark - there are many fascinating stories to tell.

But perhaps the most bizarre of all is that of Victor Harry Feguer - the convicted killer who ate only a single olive as his final meal.

When he was just 28 years old, Feguer was executed by hanging in 1963.

The Michigan-born killed had been in Iowa three years prior when he started panning the local phone directory for physicians.

After landing on the number of Dr. Edward Bartels, Feguer told the doctor that he was with a woman who was in urgent need of medical attention. And so, Dr. Feguer rushed to the given location.

Sadly, it was all a ruse - and Feguer swiftly kidnapped the 34-year-old doctor.

Dr Bartel was killed in Illinois with a single gunshot to the head - his body dumped in a cornfield.

Just days later, the FBI received a tip-off from a man who Feguer had attempted to sell a car to without the correct paperwork. The information led to Feguer's arrest.

Authorities summarized that Feguer had killed the doctor in an effort to steal any drugs the physician may have been carrying to help treat sick patients. Despite repeatedly professing his innocence, he was sentenced to death.

The story took an unexpected political turn when Feguer successfully lodged an appeal that could have seen President John F. Kennedy secure his life, per the LA Times.

However, JFK reportedly found the crime "so brutal" that the appeal was denied.

"Taking all factors into account, it is my decision that the petition should be and is hereby denied," the President wrote in a memo to Feguer.

When his three years behind bars coming to an end, it was time for Feguer to submit his final meal request.

A single olive - with the pit included.

The New York Daily News reports that Feguer had told guards that - when he was dead and buried - he had hoped that an olive tree would grow where he lay. An olive tree is renowned for being a symbol of peace.

Photographer Henry Hargreaves - who recreated a number of famous last meals for a photo collection called No Seconds - later told CBS News: "It's just such a polarising image.

"We think about last meals, and is it something that's going to be totally gluttonous, and then he just has a single olive."

"You know, it's so simple, beautiful, and kind of final. It's like a full stop at the end of his life."

Prison records state that Feguer grew consistently "quiet" as the days to his execution ticked away.

On the day before he died, he was said to be "cooperative and resigned" - with officers adding that he was "very calm" on the morning of his execution.

After his execution, the olive pit was reportedly found inside Feguer's suit pocket - adding truth to his notion that he wished for a tree to grow after his death.

Featured image credit: Iowa Police