SerpApi.Org
Florida’s highest court declined Tuesday to halt the execution of Dominick Occhicone, whose lawyers say he is too old and ill to be put to death for a 1986 Pasco County murder.
In an unsigned opinion, the court rejected arguments from Occhicone’s defense that his advanced age and ailing health would make his execution unconstitutionally cruel. His attorneys have said he suffers from numerous health problems, including insomnia, kidney failure and heart trouble.
The court asserted that the claim was untimely and “lacks any merit.” They wrote that the court could not overturn Occhicone’s death sentence based on such claims, saying that power rests instead with Florida’s governor.
“Occhicone has identified no authority that would allow our court to vacate his death sentence based on the combination of his age and the litany of infirmities from which he allegedly suffers,” the opinion stated. “That plea sounds in clemency, which of course is the province of the executive branch.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Occhicone’s death warrant late last month. His execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. July 28. If it proceeds, Occhicone will be the oldest person Florida has put to death since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979.
On the same day at noon, the state plans to execute James Duckett, a former police officer convicted in the 1987 murder of an 11-year-old girl. Duckett maintains his innocence. It will be the first time in the modern era that the state has carried out two executions in one day.
Both are set to be put to death amid an unprecedented string of executions. Since last year, DeSantis has signed more than 30 death warrants.
In their appeal, Occhicone’s attorneys argued that the rapid pace of executions has likely damaged the mental health of employees at Florida State Prison, where the condemned are put to death. They sought a six-month pause to investigate the psychological impact on the prison staff.
The court similarly found that there is no legal authority allowing them to order a halt to executions. They also denied other arguments, including a claim centering on an alleged shortage of etomidate, the lead drug in Florida’s lethal injection protocol, and the possibility that expired drugs could be used in Occhicone’s execution.
Occhicone has few legal options remaining. It’s expected he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is rare, though, for the nation’s highest court to stop executions.
Occhicone was convicted in 1987 for the murders of his former fianceé’s parents.
Raymond and Martha Artzner were both shot to death June 10, 1986, at their Holiday home. Occhicone had been engaged to marry their daughter, Anita Gerrety, but she ended their relationship.
Early that morning, he showed up drunk at the home she shared with her parents, according to court records. He knocked at the sliding door to her bedroom. Gerrety woke, told him to go away and threatened to call police.
Occhicone left, but returned an hour later with a handgun, records state. He disabled to home’s phone lines, then began banging on windows and doors. Raymond Artzner came outside, wielding a broomstick and confronted him. Occhicone shot him.
As Gerrety fled with her daughter to a neighbor’s home, Occhicone broke through a door and encountered Martha Artzner. He shot her four times.
At his trial, defense attorneys argued his extreme alcohol abuse made him incapable of forming intent to commit the crime. He was said to have spent his days in bars. On the day of the murders, he was said to have drank as much as three quarts of vodka, according to court records.
A jury voted 7-5 in favor of the death penalty. Such a vote today would result in life in prison; current Florida law requires a minimum of eight votes for a death sentence to be imposed.
