Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant Friday for James Aren Duckett, a former police officer convicted of the 1987 sexual battery and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.
Duckett is scheduled to be executed at 6:00 p.m. on March 31, 2026, at Florida State Prison in Raiford. This marks the fifth execution scheduled in the state this year.
The case dates back to May 12, 1987, when McAbee’s body was discovered in a lake less than a mile from a convenience store where she was last seen. According to a letter from Attorney General James Uthmeier, the child was last observed getting into Duckett’s patrol car while he was on duty as a Mascotte police officer.
Investigation records cited by the Attorney General’s office noted that “distinctive tire tracks matching the tires on Duckett’s patrol car were found at the scene,” and the victim’s fingerprints were located on the hood of the vehicle.
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Evidence indicated she had been “sitting backwards on the hood and had scooted up the car” before being strangled and drowned.
Duckett was found guilty of first-degree murder on May 10, 1988, and sentenced to death by Judge Jerry T. Lott on June 30, 1988.
Over the following 38 years, Duckett filed numerous appeals in both state and federal courts, including the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. All challenges to the conviction and sentence were ultimately denied.
In the formal warrant, DeSantis noted that executive clemency was considered but deemed “not appropriate.”
The Attorney General confirmed there are currently no legal stays in place to prevent the execution from proceeding as ordered.
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