Updated on: July 28, 2026 / 6:51 PM EDT
/ AP
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Florida on Tuesday became the first state in nearly a decade to carry out two executions in a single day, putting to death an 80-year-old man who was the second-oldest inmate known to receive a lethal injection in modern U.S. history. Hours earlier, the state executed a former police officer convicted of the killing of a young girl.Gov. Ron DeSantis has made Florida's death chamber the nation's busiest at the end of his final term, saying too many families have waited too long to see justice. The lethal injections just hours apart were the first nearly back-to-back executions since Arkansas put two men to death three hours apart in 2017.DeSantis, who has the authority under Florida law to set execution dates, decided earlier this month to carry out both executions on the same day.Nationwide, the use of the death penalty had been declining for two decades, but that number has ticked up behind the increased pace in Florida. Since 2025 began, Florida has carried out nearly half the state executions across the country.Dominick Anthony Occhicone, the octogenarian, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke following a three-drug injection. His execution came nearly five hours after the ex-police officer, James Aren Duckett, 68, received a lethal dose in the same death chamber.The curtain of the death chamber went up for a second time Tuesday at Occhicone's 6 p.m. scheduled execution time. The inmate was strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm and a spiritual adviser near his feet.
