Red state notches dubious record as governor pushes for families to ‘see justice’

A red state notched a dubious record on Tuesday after its governor pushed for more families to finally “see justice.”

The Guardian reported that Florida executed two death-row inmates Tuesday, making it the first state in a decade to execute more than one person on a single day. Florida executed an 80-year-old named Dominick Anthony Occhicone by lethal injection, making him the oldest inmate to die under such circumstances, and ex-police officer James Aren Duckett, 68, who was put to death in the same chamber just five hours earlier, the report noted.

“Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, has made the state’s death chamber the nation’s busiest at the end of his final term, saying too many families have waited too long to see justice,” according to the report.

“Nationwide, the use of the death penalty had been declining for two decades, but that number has ticked up behind the increased pace in Florida. Since 2025 began, Florida has carried out nearly half the state executions across the country,” it added.