James Ernest Hitchcock becomes the sixth person put to death in Florida in 2026

James Ernest Hitchcock, 69, was put to death by lethal injection Thursday evening at Florida State Prison in Starke for the rape and murder of his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter nearly 50 years ago.

He was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., according to the Department of Corrections. He is the sixth person to be executed by the state this year.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday denied requests for stays by Hitchcock and James Broadnax, who was scheduled for execution Thursday night in Texas.

The Florida Supreme Court denied Hitchcock’s requests for postconviction relief and a stay of execution last week.

According to court documents, on July 31, 1976 Hitchcock sexually assaulted his step-niece Cynthia Driggers in her bedroom in Orange County. When she threatened to tell her mother, Hitchcock took Driggers outside and strangled her, leaving her body in some bushes. Hitchcock went back inside, showered, then went to bed.

In his trial, Hitchcock claimed the actions were consensual and that his brother, who entered the bedroom shortly afterward, killed the girl by strangulation.

Last Wednesday Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a warrant for Richard Knight, 47, to be executed May 21 for the 2000 murder of Odessia Stephens and her four-year-old daughter Hanessia Mullings in Broward County.

The warrant for Knight is the eighth DeSantis has signed this year.

Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025, a modern-era record. The modern era represents the time since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, after it was halted by a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

One of the warrants DeSantis signed this year expired after the Florida Supreme Court issued a stay.

On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court reversed a trial court order that now gives James Duckett’s legal team access to DNA data.

Duckett is a former police officer convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in 1987.

The stay was issued March 26 partly because Duckett awaited postconviction DNA testing, which the court noted he claimed will “provide newly discovered evidence of his actual innocence.”

DNA Labs International was selected to conduct the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) test of a sample located on McAbee’s jeans. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced on March 27 that the testing was inconclusive.

Duckett argued for further testing by Orthram Inc., which his defense hired to analyze the data.

On Tuesday, former Congressman David Jolly, appearing at the Capitol as he runs for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, said the pace of executions would slow if he’s elected.

“I intend to hit a pause on executions in the state of Florida until my office as governor can complete a thorough review of the discriminatory impact that we know exists in our criminal justice system,” Jolly said. “I would not anticipate continuing the pace of this governor, and it might be quite some time before I would be in a position to sign a death penalty.”