Just five days away from lethal injection, the Florida Supreme Court has halted the execution of James Duckett. The ex-cop, convicted of the brutal crime of an 11-year-old girl in 1987, could be exonerated thanks to a new DNA test that did not exist three decades ago. This last-minute twist puts the judicial system of the state with the most executions in the U.S. in check.
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday halted the execution scheduled for next Tuesday of James Duckett, a U.S. police officer sentenced to death for murdering and raping an 11-year-old girl in 1987, because of a new DNA test that could clear him.
James Duckett’s execution halted
“James Duckett hopes a long-sought forensic exam might halt his scheduled lethal injection next week.“https://t.co/HtYASEG5G4
– Catholic Mobilizing Network (@CMNEndtheDP) March 24, 2026
The unusual court order, just five days before the execution, comes as the defense has requested a new laboratory analysis, previously not performed, of pubic hair and semen found on the victim’s body, which will be possible with technological advances and, according to lawyers, could show his innocence.
“Based on our review of the record and the parties’ arguments, we exercise our discretion and grant Duckett’s motion to stay his execution,” states the Supreme Court’s ruling, which set this Friday as the deadline to turn over the new evidence.
This would be the fifth inmate executed so far this year in Florida, which leads the U.S. death penalty, where seven inmates have been killed nationwide this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Just last week, rapist and murderer Michael King received lethal injection in Florida, which in 2025 set a record with 19 executions of criminals under the urging of the governor, Republican Ron DeSantis.
Duckett is sentenced to death for the murder, kidnapping and rape of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee, according to court records, which note that the police officer from the city of Mascotte, west of Orlando, pulled into a store parking lot where the girl was.
Some witnesses said they saw the minor leave the scene, while others say she got into the man’s vehicle and, the next morning, a fisherman discovered her lifeless body in a lake in central Florida.
Therefore, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) celebrated that “the Court’s order ensures that the state does not implement an irreversible punishment before fully examining key evidence”.
U.S. authorities have executed at least 21 “likely innocents,” mostly African Americans and Latinos, since the modern death penalty began in 1973, a report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said last November.
Alabama pardoned two weeks ago the death sentence of an African-American man for a 1991 murder, even though he was not the one who fired the gun that killed the victim, whose daughter asked to spare his life.
Filed as: James Duckett’s execution halted
With information from EFE
