By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
ORLANDO | Florida’s governor continues to aggressively enforce the death penalty, but opponents refuse to be silent in response to the state-sanctioned killing.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 17 prisoners have been executed in four U.S. states in 2026. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for 10 of those executed men. After a record-breaking year of 19 executions in 2025, Florida’s governor is keeping a pace that might surpass last year’s total. After the most recent execution of 74-year-old Dennis Sochor July 14, Florida has three active warrants. That means the death house at Florida State Prison — where inmates are transferred from death row at Union Correctional upon getting a warrant signed — is full. Three cells. Three inmates.
And for the first time in 62 years, two of those inmates will be executed on the same day.
In a report published by the Tallahassee Democrat, staffers delved into the records of the Florida Department of Corrections to discover Florida put to death two or more people on the same day 32 times between 1924 and 1964 — which was prior to the 1972 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that put a temporary halt on the death penalty. The last double execution in Florida was in 1964, when Emmett C. Blake and Sie Dawson were put to the death through the electric chair.
Six decades later DeSantis is picking up the mantle of multiple executions in a state where the public support of the death penalty is at an all-time low. Since taking office in 2019, DeSantis tenure has included the execution of 38 men — nine executions between 2019 and 2024, 19 in 2025 and now 10 in 2026.
And by Aug. 18, that number will increase to 13, with the pending executions of James Duckett and Dominick Occhicone Jr. July 28, and William Silvia Aug. 18.
As with each execution, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops has written the governor urging him to for a stay of execution for the inmate living with the warrant — or in the case of the letter offered July 21 stay two executions.
Dominick Occhicone Jr. was convicted for the 1986 murder of Martha Artzner in Pasco County. Occhicone also received a life sentence for the murder of Raymond Artzner. Duckett was convicted for the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in Mascotte, a crime he has long stated his innocence. DeSantis had signed Duckett’s first warrant Feb. 27, 2026, for a March 31, execution. The courts put that date on hold so that Duckett and his appeals team could do DNA testing of old evidence that wasn’t conducted during his trial because of technological limitations. But, the results came back inconclusive — neither exonerating Duckett or proving his direct link to the crime. Duckett’s stay was lifted after judges allowed his conviction to stand, and the governor took no time to sign Duckett’s execution order for Duckett July 14, for the execution date of July 28.
As Archbishop Thomas Wenski has stated, "These executions bring no real closure to the families of the victims and represent vengeance rather than justice. The execution of two elderly men violates human dignity, ours, and the dignity of the condemned. Only China, Iran, North Korea and US still insist on capital punishment."
In the letter from the bishops, Michael Sheedy, executive director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote “the crimes these men were convicted of are gravely evil,” but urged a halt to the two executions and commute both sentences to life without parole.
“To punish with lifelong imprisonment is not to minimize the heinousness of these men’s crimes,” he wrote. “It is rather to recognize with awe that God is the author of life, and to reserve to him the taking of human life except where it is otherwise impossible to maintain the common good. Moreover, requiring state officers to kill two men on the same day seems especially callous. We appeal to you that it is possible both to uphold justice and to exercise mercy.”
Sheedy cited St. John Paul II’s encyclical letter “Evangelium Vitae,” writing that the late pontiff in that document “reflected on the story of Cain and Abel.”
“When Cain killed his brother Abel, this was a terrible sin: the taking of innocent human life. God did not ignore this crime or let Cain off the hook but imposed a severe punishment upon him. Nevertheless, God did not demand that Cain be put to death,” the letter said. “Therefore St. John Paul II wrote, ‘Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity.’”
Opponents of the death penalty will be marking the historic double execution through prayer and presence. Opponents will peacefully gather in the property across the street from Florida State Prison in Starke at 11 a.m. to pray for the the murdered victims and their families, prison staff, the condemned inmates and their families before the noon execution. Afterwards, the gathering will move to another location for respite before returning to the prison for the 6 p.m. execution.
Local vigils are also scheduled throughout the state. For more information on the Starke gathering and remote gatherings, visit https://www.fadp.org/vigils-protests/
- - -
This staff report was originally published by the Florida Catholic (Orlando).
