STARKE, FL — The Florida Supreme Court temporarily halted the scheduled execution of James Aren Duckett, a 68-year-old former police officer convicted of raping and murdering 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in 1987.
Duckett was scheduled to receive a three-drug lethal injection Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke. The court issued the stay pending DNA testing that Duckett’s attorneys argue could prove his innocence. Six of seven justices approved the order, with Justice Adam Tanenbaum dissenting. The Florida Supreme Court ordered the state to provide an update on the DNA testing status by 5 p.m. Friday.
The case stems from the night of May 11, 1987, when Teresa McAbee walked alone to a convenience store in Mascotte to buy pencils for her math homework with her mother’s permission. Duckett, then a Mascotte police officer, was running radar across State Road 50 when he observed Teresa talking to teenage boys in the store’s parking lot. Witnesses provided conflicting accounts of what happened next, with some saying Teresa walked around the store to head home and others testifying she got into Duckett’s patrol car before he drove away. Her body was discovered the next morning by a fisherman along the shore of a lake less than a mile from the store.
A medical examiner determined Teresa was sexually assaulted and then drowned. Physical evidence linking Duckett to the crime included blood and hair samples connecting Teresa to the former officer. Investigators found tire tracks at the lake that matched the tires on Mascotte patrol cars. Most significantly, both Duckett’s and Teresa’s fingerprints were discovered on the hood of his patrol car. Prosecutors argued the palm prints suggested she was trying to push away while being assaulted. Three teenage girls testified during the 1988 trial that Duckett had previously given each of them rides and made sexual advances toward them.
Duckett was sentenced to death in June 1988 after being convicted of first-degree murder and sexual battery. His attorneys have long maintained he was convicted based on circumstantial evidence and that no other suspects were considered during the investigation. As part of his appeals process, Duckett sought DNA testing on pubic hair found in Teresa’s panties and a dried vaginal swab containing semen. These samples had never been tested for DNA and were stored at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office as testing technology advanced over the decades. A circuit court judge ordered the evidence delivered to a private laboratory in Deerfield Beach for extensive testing, which Duckett’s attorneys are funding.
The DNA testing was scheduled to be completed by Friday, according to court records. However, Justice Tanenbaum criticized the timing of Duckett’s DNA request in his dissent, noting that Duckett only sought extensive testing after Governor Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant on February 28. “He failed to explain why he waited until the Governor signed the warrant to pursue all of this, which he clearly could have done sooner with the exercise of some diligence,” Tanenbaum wrote. The justice, appointed by DeSantis in January, added that Duckett was given the opportunity to have DNA testing in 2005 but refused at that time.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opposed the delay, calling it “an obvious attempt to manipulate the judicial system to obtain an unwarranted delay in carrying out the execution.” Uthmeier argued that DNA results should be provided to the court rather than Duckett’s attorneys. “A truly innocent man would have sought SNP DNA testing as soon as it was available rather than waiting over four years and until a warrant for his execution was signed,” his motion stated. Duckett’s attorneys filed a motion requesting the Florida Department of Law Enforcement immediately provide them with DNA results and that laboratory representatives remain available during the weekend to answer questions about testing protocols.
The stay comes during a period of unprecedented execution activity in Florida. With 19 executions in 2025, DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was eight executions in 2014. Florida led the nation with its execution pace, while Alabama, South Carolina and Texas each carried out five executions. A total of 47 people were executed across the United States in 2025. All Florida executions are conducted via lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart.
If the stay is not lifted by Tuesday, it remains unclear when Duckett’s execution would be rescheduled. The temporary halt is pending further order from the Florida Supreme Court, and any future execution would require DeSantis to set a new date after the DNA testing is completed and reviewed. Duckett remains an inmate on Death Row at the state prison in Raiford as the legal proceedings continue.
