Florida Man Convicted in Horrific 1976 Killing of 13-Year-Old Step-Niece Faces Execution

A man from Florida convicted of beating and choking his 13-year-old step niece to death is set to be the sixth person to be executed by the state of Florida.

The incident occurred in July 1976, and the man is scheduled to be executed on April 30 at the Florida State prison.

The convict, identified as James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection on April 30.

Hitchcock was initially sentenced to death in 1977 after being convicted of first-degree murder in July 1976. Hitchcock was accused of killing his step niece, Cynthia Driggers. Following a series of appeals, he was resentenced to death in 1988, 1993 and finally in 1996.

According to court records, Hitchcock was unemployed and had moved in with his brother at his Orlando home several weeks before the murder incident. Cynthia Driggers was the stepdaughter of Hitchcock’s brother, whom he killed on July 31, 1976.

After several hours of drinking beer and smoking marijuana with friends, Hitchcock returned to his family's home, he told police after he was arrested. Hitchcock, who was 20 at the time, went to the 13-year-old girl’s room and raped her, according to investigators.

When the girl told Hitchcock that she had been injured and planned to tell her mother, Hitchcock tried to stop her from leaving the room and began choking her, according to officials. Hitchcock took the girl outside, where he beat her and choked her until she stopped moving, and then left her in the nearby bushes. Hitchcock then took a shower and went to bed.

Hitchcock later recanted during the trial, testifying that his brother walked into the girl’s room shortly after she and Hitchcock finished having consensual intercourse. Hitchcock said his brother took the girl outside and began beating and choking her in a fit of rage, and she was already dead by the time Hitchcock pulled his brother off the girl.

Hitchcock mentioned he had initially taken the blame to protect his brother.

The Florida Supreme Court denied Hitchcock’s appeal on April 23 to halt his execution. His attorneys had argued that he was innocent and that the state had illegally refused to grant him access to public records related to the death penalty. A final appeal is still pending before the U.S Supreme Court.

Hitchcock’s execution will be the sixth execution in the state of Florida, following a record 19 executions in 2025.

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in the state. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.