LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Court documents show Florida’s Supreme Court stayed the execution of James Duckett, as court-ordered DNA testing has not been completed.
Duckett was scheduled to be executed March 31.
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At question is a swab from the victim’s underwear.
Documents show Duckett filed a motion for more DNA testing after his death warrant was issued.
The filing shows the state agreed it could make a difference in the case, and the circuit court granted the motion.
That court allowed the state complete control over the location, timing, and method of the testing.
In the court filing, it shows Duckett raised several claims, including that testing results would provide newly-discovered evidence that he is innocent.
Documents show the State has to show the circuit court the status of the testing no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, March 27.
Duckett, a former Mascotte police officer, was set to be executed in the 1987 murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee, according to the death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Over the past four decades, Duckett has unsuccessfully appealed his conviction and death sentence.
Duckett is the grandfather of Trenton Duckett, the 2-year-old boy who was reported missing from his mother’s Leesburg apartment in 2006 and has never been found.
James Duckett was on Florida’s Death Row at the time his grandson vanished and is not a suspect in the toddler’s disappearance.