Florida Governor Issues 2-Word Response as Ex-Cop’s Execution Warrant Nears Expiration Amid DNA Fight

When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was asked whether a new death warrant would be signed for convicted sex offender James Aren Duckett, his office responded, “Stay Tuned.”

Duckett, a former police officer with the Mascotte Police Department, was convicted in the kidnapping, r---, and murder of 11-year-old Teresa Mae McAbee on May 11, 1987.

He had been scheduled for execution on March 31 at the Florida State Prison.

However, the Florida Supreme Court set an April 8 deadline for legal briefs to be submitted in connection with a request for an independent analysis of DNA test results, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

That deadline extends one day beyond the execution window outlined in the warrant DeSantis signed on February 27, effectively putting the April 7 timeline on hold.

When asked about another warrant being signed, Molly Best, a spokesperson for the governor, replied in an email on April 6, “Stay tuned!”

Duckett’s warrant was the fifth DeSantis signed this year. He has since signed two others.

However, the majority of the court granted a stay on March 26, in part because Duckett was awaiting post-conviction DNA testing. The court noted his claim that the results could “provide newly discovered evidence of his actual innocence.”

DNA Labs International was selected to conduct single-nucleotide polymorphism testing on a sample taken from McAbee’s jeans. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) announced on March 27 that the results were inconclusive.

Duckett then sought additional testing by Othram Inc., a firm hired by his defense team to further analyze the data.

However, a circuit judge in Lake County denied that request. In his order, Judge Brian Welke wrote that the Florida Supreme Court’s stay of execution “does not indicate any testing beyond what was already ordered by this court.”

“The results of the testing have now been reported, and no further testing remains to be done, nor is further testing possible,” Welke said.

Welke added that further testing “would not generate new evidence on which the defendant’s actual innocence claim could rest.”

In a motion to maintain the stay, Duckett’s attorney, Mary Elizabeth Wells, argued that the defense was not seeking additional testing, but rather a “qualified lab that can answer the question once and for all whether Mr. Duckett is guilty of this crime.”

The court required all briefs on the request to be submitted by the end of April 8.

In a motion filed on April 3, to vacate the stay, the state argued that calculations from the SNP DNA results appeared to further link Duckett to the crime.

“Regardless of the exact figure, there is no new evidence of innocence based on these DNA results,” the state said. “There is only new evidence of his guilt. The statistical calculations would merely establish the strength of that new evidence. The current SNP DNA results are ‘definitive’ in the sense that matters legally to a claim of innocence. The results do not exonerate him.”