The Florida Supreme Court has decided to keep the execution of James Duckett, a former police officer, on hold. This action follows the denial of the state’s request to lift his probation. Duckett was convicted of murdering and raping an 11-year-old girl, Teresa McAbee, nearly 40 years ago.
Duckett, who had been set to be executed on Tuesday, was implicated in the 1987 crime after questioning McAbee near a convenience store and subsequently putting her in his patrol car. The girl never made it home that night; her body was discovered the next morning in a nearby lake.
A recent motion was prompted by inconclusive DNA tests performed on material from the victim’s underwear, which the defense believed could prove Duckett’s innocence. Following these results, Florida’s attorney general sought to lift the stay on the execution, hoping to proceed as planned.
However, on Monday, six out of seven justices from the Supreme Court opted to postpone the execution. They provided lower courts with additional time to review several claims concerning the DNA evidence, with an update requested by Thursday, April 2.
The scrutiny surrounding Duckett’s case has been significant, not just because of the heinous nature of the crime but also due to his background as a police officer. He has consistently claimed he is innocent throughout his nearly 40 years on death row.
On the night of May 11, 1987, Duckett was the last person known to have interacted with McAbee. While forensic experts initially testified that pubic hair found at the scene matched his, the reliability of such hair analysis has since been questioned. Additionally, there were reports of fingerprints from both Duckett and Teresa found on the police car’s hood, along with tire tracks from Duckett’s department vehicle discovered in the lake.
Moreover, an unexplained hour-long gap in Duckett’s radio communications on that night raises further doubts. His case stands out as one of the few instances where a former law enforcement officer is on death row. The outcome now largely depends on whether the forensic evidence collected back in the ’80s can substantiate the death sentence, especially if contemporary DNA tests do not yield conclusive results.
