Death row inmate's haunting last words as Florida carries out first double execution in 60 years
Florida has held the first double execution in the United States since 2016, with its oldest inmate to be put to death ever and a former police officer both being killed.
Dominick Occhicone was 80-years-old and spent nearly four decades on death row following his conviction for killing his ex-girlfriend's parents in 1986, reports the New York Post.
Following a final meal of aubergine Parmesan salad, cornbread and soda, Occhicone was executed on Tuesday, July 28, by being administered a three-drug lethal injection of an octogenarian.
With his last words, Occhicone apologised a final time for his actions.
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When asked if he wanted to make a statement, he said: “I know it don’t mean much, but I’m sorry.
“I never meant to do what I did.”
He was pronounced dead at 6:13pm at Florida state prison, becoming the oldest death row inmate to be executed in Florida ever, and the second oldest known prison in modern US history after 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. in Alabama in 2018.
He was the second inmate to be put to death in Florida that day, with the last double execution coming in April 2017 in Arkansas. The last double execution in Florida came in 1964.
Former police officer James Duckett, 68, was also given a lethal injection and died at 1:19pm. He had been convicted of raping and drowning an 11-year-old girl in 1987.
In contrast to Occhicone, when asked if he wanted to give a statement, Duckett said: "No, sir."
The crimes of Occhicone and Duckett
Occhicone was imprisoned and sentenced to death for the murders of Raymond and Martha Artzner at a home in Holiday, north of Clearwater, on June 10, 1986.
His ex-girlfriend, Anita Gerrety, was living at the house with her parents and two children and refused to speak to Occhicone when he went to the property.
It's reported he returned with a handgun, cut the phone lines and shot the parents as Gerrety ran away with her daughter.
Though he did not deny the shootings, his legal team argued they were not premeditated. His lawyers also argued his execution was a 'cruel and unusual punishment' given his age and condition.
Duckett, meanwhile, was on duty on his own in Mascotte, near Orlando, on the evening of May 11, 1987.
He picked up victim Terasa McAbee in his patrol car, witnesses said, and she was later reported missing by her mother.
Her body was found in a lake the next morning. DNA and hair collected from the girl's body was found to be a probable match to Duckett, with the victim's fingerprints also found on his car.
Duckett was also a suspect in two other murders of a 22-year-old woman in 1986 and a 14-year-old girl in 1987, according to the Lakeland Ledger, but was never charged in either case.
Duckett maintained his innocence of the murder of McAbee and had criticised the handling of DNA evidence.
Infamous death row meals
Victor Feguer
Feguer kidnapped and killed Dr Edward Bartels in July 1960. The doctor's body was later found in an Illinois cornfield with a single gunshot to the head.
Feguer was convicted of federal kidnapping and murder and executed by hanging at the Iowa State Penitentiary on 15 March, 1963.
For his final meal, the 27-year-old murderer requested a single olive with the pit in it. Feguer apparently told guards that he hoped an olive tree would grow from his grave, 'as a sign of peace'.
John Wayne Gacy
One of America’s most notorious serial killers, Gacy was convicted in 1980 after murdering at least 33 boys and young men in the 1970s.
The 52-year-old was executed by lethal injection at the Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois on 10 May, 1994.
Gacy opted for a bucket of KFC's original recipe chicken, French fries, 12 deep-fried shrimp, and a pound of strawberries for his last supper. In an eerie full-circle moment, it’s said that he previously managed several KFC restaurants owned by his father-in-law.
James Edward Smith
Smith was found guilty of fatally shooting Larry Don Rohus while he was robbing an office building in Houston, Texas, in 1983.
He was put to death by lethal injection at Texas’ Huntsville Unit on 26 June, 1990.
The inmate asked for a lump of rhaeakunda dirt for his final meal, as part of a voodoo ritual, which he both practised and believed in, as he hoped that it would assist his journey into reincarnation.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his bizarre request was denied, and the 37-year-old was given plain yoghurt instead.
Timothy McVeigh
McVeigh was convicted of conspiracy, using a weapon of mass destruction, and destruction by explosives resulting in death for carrying out the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people.
On 11 June, 2001, he was executed for his crimes via lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Indiana.
McVeigh, 33, chowed down on two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream for his final meal.
Lawrence Russell Brewer
Brewer was a white supremacist who, along with two other men, was convicted of murdering James Byrd Jr. in 1998.
Aged 44, he was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Texas on 21 September, 2011.
For his last meal, the criminal infamously requested: two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions; a triple bacon cheeseburger with fixings on the side; a cheese omelette with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, peppers and jalapeños; a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecue meat with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas with all the trimmings; a Meat Lovers pizza; one pint of vanilla ice cream; a slab of peanut butter fudge; and three root beers.
However, when it arrived, Brewer refused to touch any of it - you can imagine how that went down. His actions ultimately led to the state abolishing the long-standing tradition.
Daniel Murphy