Florida Carries Out First Double Execution in 60 Years [15KpaoJ1Im4]
Florida carried out its first double execution in about 60 years on July 29, 2026, when the state put to death James Aren Duckett and Dominic Ochi Kon at Florida State Prison. Governor Ron DeSantis rescheduled Duckett's execution to coincide with Ochi Kon's originally scheduled date, a move that combined the two lethal injections into one day. According to the Associated Press, Duckett, a former police officer, was condemned for the 1986 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, while Kon was sentenced for the 1986 murders of his ex-girlfriend's parents. Both men were elderly at the time of their deaths: Duckett was 68, Kon was 80. The executions occurred roughly five hours apart, a compressed timeline that allowed little respite between the state's actions. The last time Florida executed two inmates on the same day was in the mid-1960s, making this a significant departure from decades of single executions. The decision to pair the executions has drawn attention to the governor's authority over the death penalty schedule and raises questions about the motivations for accelerating the pace. As opponents of capital punishment have argued, combining executions may limit public scrutiny of each case and increase the risk of irreversible error. The double execution adds Florida to a small number of states that have carried out multiple executions in a single day in recent years, highlighting the state's assertive use of the death penalty.