NewsUS NewsPrisonsJames Aren Duckett, 68, was confirmed dead early on Tuesday in the wake of a lethal injection cocktail of three drugs at Florida state prison near StarkeRachel Vickers-Price UK and World News Reporter23:58, 28 Jul 2026Updated 00:01, 29 Jul 2026A former policeman has been put to death, nearly 40 years after he raped and murdered 11-year-old Teresa McAbee while he was working as an officer in central Florida in 1987. James Aren Duckett, 68, was confirmed dead early on Tuesday in the wake of a lethal injection cocktail of three drugs at Florida state prison near Starke. Duckett is the 11th inmate to be executed by the state in 2026. When asked, he declined to make a final statement and instead chose to respond with “no sir” when asked. Four minutes player, he was shaken by a prison warden who also shouted Duckett's name, but the rapist and murderer was unresponsive. His death comes hours before 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone will become the second-oldest inmate executed in modern US history, with the double death day the first of its kind in nearly a decade. The last time any state carried out two executions in one day was back in 2017, when Arkansas held back-to-back executions.Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has made his state’s death chamber the busiest in the US as the end of his final term approaches. DeSantis has previously said too many families have waited too long to see justice, hence the uptick in lethal injections. Nationwide, the death penalty had been on the decline for more than 20 years. That number has now tracked back upwards behind the increased pace set in Florida. Since 2025, Florida has carried out nearly half the state executions across the US.Choose Daily Mirror as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.‌PrisonsPolitics