DNA test results that might have saved James Duckett from execution came back inconclusive on Friday, the state announced in a report to the Florida Supreme Court.
Though the Supreme Court granted Duckett a rare stay of execution Thursday ahead of his scheduled lethal injection on Tuesday, the state is now asking the court to reconsider.
“The recently reported DNA results were inconclusive and therefore did not exonerate him in any manner,” Attorney General James Uthmeier wrote in a court filing. “Because the … DNA testing is complete and the results do not exonerate Duckett, the stay of the execution should be lifted.”
The Supreme Court had ordered the state to provide the DNA results by 5 p.m. Friday.
In its order to grant a stay of execution, the Court acknowledged that it could be lifted upon the results of the DNA test. It is not yet clear how the Court will rule or when.
Duckett’s defense responded to the state in a court filing late Friday afternoon, pointing out that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said they could not provide an opinion on the results, but “a qualified bioinformaticist may be able.”
Leigh Clark, deputy director of forensic services for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, wrote in an email announcing the results that she believes another lab “would be capable of further reviewing the … data.”
“When the outcome of the results is whether a man lives or dies, there is no valid scientific basis for prohibiting a second examiner to analyze the results,” defense attorney Mary Wells wrote in the filing. “There can be no question as to the irreparable injury that Mr. Duckett will suffer if this Court lifts the stay. Mr. Duckett will be executed by the State of Florida before experts have properly and thoroughly evaluated the DNA testing results.”
Duckett, a former cop, has long maintained that he did not commit the rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in 1987.
He first sought DNA testing more than two decades ago, and some items were tested and yielded no results. There remained a single slide that held biological material from McAbee’s underwear.
A judge granted a request from defense attorneys to compare Duckett’s DNA with the biological material a week after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant.
In the state’s motion to lift the stay of execution, Uthmeier wrote that the Court should consider whether the inmate “delayed unnecessarily” in bringing the claim.
“Duckett waited until after a warrant was signed to seek DNA testing for a murder he committed over 38 years ago where he knew about the slide at least since the relinquishment in 2003,” he wrote. “A truly innocent man would have sought … DNA testing as soon as it was available rather than waiting over four years and until a warrant for his execution was signed.”
McAbee was last seen alive the night of May 11, 1987, outside a Circle K in the small town of Mascotte, west of Orlando. She’d walked there from her nearby home to buy a pencil to do her math homework.
Duckett, one of the town’s two police officers, was running radar on State Road 50 in search of speeders across from the store. He spotted McAbee talking to an older boy near a dumpster and questioned the pair about being out past curfew, according to court records.
The boy left with his uncle while Duckett placed the girl in his patrol car. People nearby said they saw Duckett drive off after McAbee walked away in the opposite direction, according to court records.
When the girl didn’t return home, her mother reported her missing. Duckett took the report and made a missing person flyer.
The next morning, a man fishing found the girl’s body floating face-down in a lake less than a mile south of the Circle K. She’d been raped, strangled and drowned.
Tire tracks near the scene were similar to the tread on Duckett’s police car. Investigators identified McAbee’s fingerprints on the car’s hood.
If the Florida Supreme Court decides to lift the stay of execution, Duckett’s death warrant will be effective until April 7.
Times staff writer Dan Sullivan contributed to this report.
