ACTION NETWORK: STOP THE EXECUTION:
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WORDS TO HEED: FROM OUR POST ON KEVIN COOPER'S APPLICATION FOR POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING; CALIFORNIA: (Applicable wherever a state resists DNA testing): "Blogger/extraordinaire Jeff Gamso's blunt, unequivocal, unforgettable message to the powers that be in California: "JUST TEST THE FUCKING DNA." (Oh yes, Gamso raises, as he does in many of his posts, an important philosophical question: This post is headed: "What is truth, said jesting Pilate."...Says Gamso: "So what's the harm? What, exactly, are they scared of? Don't we want the truth?"
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CONTEXT: (Associated Press): "The state of Florida is set to execute two death row inmates on the same day for the first time in more than 60 years, now that a stay has been lifted for a former police officer who had been scheduled to die earlier this year for killing an 11-year-old girl in 1987. James Aren Duckett, 68, is scheduled to die at noon on July 28 at Florida State Prison near Starke, according to a death warrant signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Duckett was convicted of raping and drowning the girl while working as a police officer in a small central Florida city. The execution for Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, was previously scheduled for 6 p.m. that same day. He was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986. "
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Through their adamant refusal to allow no one but the Florida agency to perform the tests, the state destroyed the evidence most central to Mr. Duckett’s case by choosing a testing method and agency that they knew could not provide a definitive result.
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Mr. Duckett has consistently maintained his innocence. The State’s duty is to ensure that justice is done, and not rush to kill in a case with such serious doubts over guilt. We are committed to seeking every avenue of relief for Mr. Duckett ahead of his scheduled July 28 execution so that the State of Florida does not execute an innocent man. We urge Governor DeSantis to re-open the clemency process and fully evaluate the serious issues in the integrity of Mr. Duckett’s conviction.”
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RELEASE: (On rescheduling the execution): July 15, 2026. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty,
GIST:"The legal team for James Duckett, previously scheduled for execution on Tuesday, March 31, issued the following statement after Gov. Ron DeSantis rescheduled his execution for July 28:
“We are disappointed by the Governor’s decision to set a new execution date for our client James Duckett after the State’s own decisions prevented a full and reliable evaluation that could have demonstrated his long-maintained innocence. It is particularly shameful that the Governor chose a date just two weeks away and set the execution on the very same day as the already scheduled execution of Dominick Occhicone.
After his first death warrant was signed in February, Mr. Duckett was granted DNA testing of biological evidence that had never been tested with modern forensic technology. Instead of ensuring the use of a test that would allow for the most complete analysis possible, the State insisted upon using a laboratory that it knew was not capable of performing the advanced Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) test necessary to fully analyze this degraded DNA evidence.
The State alleged this choice was for speed, arguing in court that it has “a strong interest in not having the execution delayed,” and wanted testing to be completed “as soon as possible.” Their argument, however, ignored the expert who testified that his lab could do the necessary WGS testing as quickly, if not quicker, than the lab chosen by the State to perform an inferior test. Through their adamant refusal to allow no one but the Florida agency to perform the tests, the state destroyed the evidence most central to Mr. Duckett’s case by choosing a testing method and agency that they knew could not provide a definitive result.
Only when a stay of execution was issued by the Florida Supreme Court allowing additional litigation was Mr. Duckett allowed to receive the underlying data so that an independent expert could attempt the analysis that should have been done from the outset. By then, it was too late. Because the State’s chosen laboratory had used a testing method not designed for the type of forensic testing that was needed, and that consumed all of that limited sample, the expert was left with data than could not provide an inclusion or exclusion.
The inconclusive test results are a direct consequence of the State’s own decisions. They chose the laboratory, chose the testing method, and chose expediency over the truth of what happened to Teresa McAbee. Now, they seek to execute our client without the full truth ever being revealed.
Mr. Duckett has consistently maintained his innocence. The State’s duty is to ensure that justice is done, and not rush to kill in a case with such serious doubts over guilt. We are committed to seeking every avenue of relief for Mr. Duckett ahead of his scheduled July 28 execution so that the State of Florida does not execute an innocent man.
We urge Governor DeSantis to re-open the clemency process and fully evaluate the serious issues in the integrity of Mr. Duckett’s conviction.”
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.fadp.org/statement-from-counsel-for-james-duckett-on-rescheduled-execution-date/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;
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“We are disappointed by the Governor’s decision to set a new execution date for our client James Duckett after the State’s own decisions prevented a full and reliable evaluation that could have demonstrated his long-maintained innocence. It is particularly shameful that the Governor chose a date just two weeks away and set the execution on the very same day as the already scheduled execution of Dominick Occhicone.
After his first death warrant was signed in February, Mr. Duckett was granted DNA testing of biological evidence that had never been tested with modern forensic technology. Instead of ensuring the use of a test that would allow for the most complete analysis possible, the State insisted upon using a laboratory that it knew was not capable of performing the advanced Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) test necessary to fully analyze this degraded DNA evidence.
The State alleged this choice was for speed, arguing in court that it has “a strong interest in not having the execution delayed,” and wanted testing to be completed “as soon as possible.” Their argument, however, ignored the expert who testified that his lab could do the necessary WGS testing as quickly, if not quicker, than the lab chosen by the State to perform an inferior test. Through their adamant refusal to allow no one but the Florida agency to perform the tests, the state destroyed the evidence most central to Mr. Duckett’s case by choosing a testing method and agency that they knew could not provide a definitive result.
Only when a stay of execution was issued by the Florida Supreme Court allowing additional litigation was Mr. Duckett allowed to receive the underlying data so that an independent expert could attempt the analysis that should have been done from the outset. By then, it was too late. Because the State’s chosen laboratory had used a testing method not designed for the type of forensic testing that was needed, and that consumed all of that limited sample, the expert was left with data than could not provide an inclusion or exclusion.
The inconclusive test results are a direct consequence of the State’s own decisions. They chose the laboratory, chose the testing method, and chose expediency over the truth of what happened to Teresa McAbee. Now, they seek to execute our client without the full truth ever being revealed.
Mr. Duckett has consistently maintained his innocence. The State’s duty is to ensure that justice is done, and not rush to kill in a case with such serious doubts over guilt. We are committed to seeking every avenue of relief for Mr. Duckett ahead of his scheduled July 28 execution so that the State of Florida does not execute an innocent man.
We urge Governor DeSantis to re-open the clemency process and fully evaluate the serious issues in the integrity of Mr. Duckett’s conviction.”
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.fadp.org/statement-from-counsel-for-james-duckett-on-rescheduled-execution-date/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;
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