A former Florida police officer convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year old girl nearly four decades ago is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection later this month.
James Aren Duckett, 68, is scheduled to be put to death at the Florida State prison on March 31, WFTV reported.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant on Friday, the television station reported. It was the fifth death warrant DeSantis has signed this year and the third execution scheduled for March, according to the New Service of Florida.
Death warrant signed for former Central Florida police officer https://t.co/GEmVpuM42I
— WFTV Channel 9 (@WFTV) March 1, 2026
On Tuesday night, Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m., according to The Associated Press.
According to court documents, Duckett was a police officer in Mascotte, a city in Lake County located approximately 33 miles west of downtown Orlando. In May 1987, Teresa McAbee was seen entering his patrol vehicle outside of a convenience store.
Her body was found in a lake less than a mile away from the store, WFTV reported. She had been sexually battered, strangled, and drowned.
Duckett maintained his innocence but was convicted of first-degree murder and sexual battery on May 10, 1988, the News Service of Florida reported. He was sentenced to death on June 30, 1988.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence in 1990, the news outlet reported. For the next three decades, he filed several appeals at the state and federal level. All were denied.
Duckett has until March 13 to file a legal appeal against the governor’s execution order, WFTV reported.
Florida had a record 19 executions during 2025, the most in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In 1984, Gov. Bob Graham oversaw eight executions, a number that was matched by Gov. Rick Scott in 2014, WFLA reported. That number had been set 30 years earlier by Gov. Bob Graham.
than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The highest number before then was eight executions in both 1984 and 2014, under former governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.
© 2025 Cox Media Group
