Florida schedules three executions in six weeks under DeSantis
Florida has scheduled two more executions before the end of March. Michael King, 54, faces lethal injection on Tuesday for the 2008 kidnapping, rape, and murder of Denise Amber Lee. Meanwhile, 68-year-old James Aren Duckett will be executed on March 31 for the 1987 rape and killing of an 11-year-old girl.
A third execution, that of Chadwick Willacy, has been set for April 21 after Governor Ron DeSantis signed the warrant earlier this year. The 58-year-old was convicted in 1991 for a brutal murder involving burglary, robbery, and arson.
Chadwick Willacy's case dates back to 1990, when he broke into the home of Marlys Mae Sather, a 56-year-old woman. He struck her with a blunt object, tried to strangle her, and then set her on fire. Sather died from smoke inhalation. A jury convicted Willacy in 1991 of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery, and arson, with a 9-3 majority recommending the death penalty.
The Florida Supreme Court upheld his conviction and sentence in 1994 and 1995. Over the years, Willacy's appeals for postconviction relief and habeas corpus were rejected by state and federal courts in 2007, 2014, and 2017. Governor DeSantis' recent warrant makes Willacy the sixth inmate this year to receive an execution date in Florida.
Florida has already carried out three executions in 2025, with a total of 19 planned—marking a modern-era record. The state remains one of only two in the U.S. to actively use capital punishment in the last decade. Recent legislation has also expanded its application, allowing prosecutors to seek the death penalty for child rape cases involving victims under 12.
James Aren Duckett, a former Mascotte police officer, was convicted in 1988 for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. His execution is set for March 31. Michael King, meanwhile, was sentenced to death for the 2008 abduction, rape, and murder of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee. His lethal injection is scheduled for Tuesday.
Willacy's execution will proceed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on April 21. The state's total for 2025 now stands at 19, the highest number in its modern history. Legal challenges in his case have been exhausted after multiple court rejections over nearly three decades.
King and Duckett's executions will take place within days of each other, following years of legal proceedings. Florida's use of capital punishment continues under expanded laws, with no further appeals pending in these cases.
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