Florida stages first double execution in two decades—two 1980s murderers put to death

Florida staged its first double execution in a single day in over six decades on Tuesday night, July 28, 2026.

James Duckett, 68, one of the convicts in the 1980s murders, killed an 11-year-old girl in 1987.

Duckett was put to death by lethal injection at 1:19 p.m. ET on July 28.

Nearly five hours had passed when the officials at the Florida Department of Corrections’ Death Row South Collective executed Dominick Occhicone at 6:13 p.m. ET.

Occhicone was sentenced to death for murdering the parents of his ex-fiancée in 1986.

Occhicone, 80, became the second-oldest inmate to have ever executed in the U.S.

Tuesday, July 28, marked the first occurrence of its kind since 1964, when Florida staged executions of two inmates on the same day, per Death Penalty Information Center.

Arkansas was the only state that put to death two inmates in a single day in 2017.

Since January 2025, Florida has been leading in executions.

Of the 66 death row inmates executed since January 2025, Florida put to death 31 death row inmates, that’s roughly 477%, including the latest executions of Duckett and Occhicone, per USA Today.

2026 has seen the Sunshine State carrying out 63% (12 executions) of the executions in the U.S. alone, meaning it surpassed the total number of executions carried out by all other states when combined.