Killer Cop or Innocent? Florida Execution Paused Pending DNA Results

A former Mascotte police officer, James Aron Duckett, was convicted for r--- and murder of a 11-year-old girl 40 years ago. Duckett was convicted by a jury primarily based on circumstantial evidence presented by the state. The jury had recommended a death sentence for Duckett.

Duckett was scheduled to be executed on March 31. But in a rare ruling, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a stay of Duckett’s execution pending DNA results related to the case.

Duckett, who is currently 68 years old, was a rookie cop at the time of the incident. He has been convicted and sentenced to death penalty, but the DNA result could determine his fate. Duckett was set to die by lethal injection in Florida when the Supreme Court issued a rare ruling.

It was previously established that the 11-year-old victim had gone to a convenience store to buy a pencil. She met Duckett outside the store, from where she was kidnapped, r---- and later drowned in a lake.

The 11-year-old had walked to her local Circle K convenience around 10 p.m. in Mascotte, Florida, a rural city just outside Orlando. Duckett was on patrol for the Mascotte Police Department and had stopped at Circle K, where he noticed the girl talking with a 16-year-old boy outside the store, court records show.

Duckett has always maintained that he asked both the victim and the boy to go home and drove off. However, the boy and his uncle said that Duckett put the victim in his patrol car and drove off.

The victim’s mother came to look for her daughter around 11 p.m. When she could not locate her, she asked the store owner, who suggested she might have gone with Duckett. She then searched the area and later contacted police and filed a missing person’s report.

After spending almost 40 years on death row. Duckett’s execution was scheduled for March 31 after the governor of Florida signed his death warrant last month. However, Duckett’s attorney requested a delay so that the DNA tests could be conducted on semen collected from the crime scene.

The Supreme Court issued the stay on March 26, pending the DNA results.

The DNA test conducted on March 27 was inconclusive, however, Duckett’s attorney has mentioned that another laboratory would likely be able to conduct the tests.

At this point, the outcome of the DNA test is considered crucial to Duckett's defense, and no additional legal actions remain.