Plans to execute a former Mascotte police officer for the death of a girl in 1987 will remain on hold after the Florida Supreme Court denied the state’s request to allow the execution to proceed. James Duckett was convicted of killing 11-year-old Teresa McAbee, according to a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DNA testing in the James Duckett murder case has come back inconclusive, according to Florida’s attorney general, and he is requesting that Duckett’s execution move forward.

The execution of a former Florida police officer convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl has been temporarily halted by the Florida Supreme Court.

The Florida Supreme Court has issued a rare stay of execution for James Duckett, the former Mascotte police officer accused in the 1987 murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.

Former Mascotte police officer James Duckett is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection March 31.