Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Friday, March twenty seventh, and here's
Speaker 1: something you don't hear every day out of Florida. They
Speaker 1: have granted a stay of execution for a death row inmate.
Speaker 1: But the case gets more interesting because the clock is
Speaker 1: still ticking on that execution robes.
Speaker 2: Help us with this.
Speaker 1: Welcome this episode of Amy and TJ. This is a
Speaker 1: scheduled execution for next week. It could or could not
Speaker 1: go through robes based on some DNA testing that is pending.
Speaker 1: This is a hell of a high stakes case right now.
Speaker 3: It certainly is, and all eyes are on the state
Speaker 3: of Florida.
Speaker 4: This is almost unheard of. That's why it's it's.
Speaker 3: First of all, it's very very rare that the Supreme
Speaker 3: Court would step in and stay this execution pending further
Speaker 3: order first place.
Speaker 4: But it's even a bigger deal.
Speaker 3: That it's happening in the state of Florida because this
Speaker 3: was a heinous crime. A former police officer convicted of
Speaker 3: raping and murdering an eleven year old girl. We're talking
Speaker 3: about James Aaron Duckett.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, Florida, we've done a lot of executions, and
Speaker 1: not like execution stories out of Florida. And just for
Speaker 1: that context, Robes, it's given how DeSantis is signing death
Speaker 1: Warrens left and right to hear that one has been
Speaker 1: halted days.
Speaker 2: Before it was supposed to go through.
Speaker 1: Today is the twenty seventh, it's scheduled for the thirty first,
Speaker 1: and it still might go through. It might not go through.
Speaker 1: And I guess, Robes, is it possible this man could
Speaker 1: go free given the stakes we're talking about. We won't
Speaker 1: give you everybody these details, but I've we haven't discussed
Speaker 1: that to this Are we really talking about this man
Speaker 1: could possibly, yes, get exonerated.
Speaker 4: Yes, all of the above is possible.
Speaker 3: He could be he could still be executed on Tuesday,
Speaker 3: and he could just have a postponed execution that would
Speaker 3: be rescheduled for a later date. Or he could be
Speaker 3: completely exonerated. It really is one of those three things.
Speaker 3: This is a big deal, and we're recording this just
Speaker 3: before noon on Friday. They have given the Supreme Court
Speaker 3: has given the State of Florida a deadline by the
Speaker 3: end of business today. They have to let the court
Speaker 3: know where this DNA evidence is, what the status of
Speaker 3: the testing is.
Speaker 4: That is what's at play here.
Speaker 3: James Aaron Duckett's attorneys say that they now have a
Speaker 3: new way of testing some DNA that was found in
Speaker 3: that little girl's pants, basically that they say they believe
Speaker 3: could exonerate their clients.
Speaker 1: And this was back in May of nineteen eighty seven,
Speaker 1: is what we're talking the communities outside of Orlando.
Speaker 2: I have that right where he was.
Speaker 1: But yes, he did work as a police officer for
Speaker 1: little Teresa mccabee was out eleven years old. The officer
Speaker 1: runs into her and another friend says their outpass curfew,
Speaker 1: says she needs to get in his car. That is
Speaker 1: the last time she's seen and she's reported missing. The
Speaker 1: next day, her body was found in a lake. Medical
Speaker 1: examiner determined this eleven year old girl robes just and
Speaker 1: again we got a thirteen year old in old house.
Speaker 1: I just think about the child that did. Just to
Speaker 1: hear what the medical examiners say this girl went through
Speaker 1: was just awful.
Speaker 4: It's absolutely horrific.
Speaker 3: Yes, the medical examiner said that little Oh my gosh,
Speaker 3: this little girl was sexually assaulted, she was strangled and
Speaker 3: then drowned.
Speaker 4: That's just awful.
Speaker 3: It's hard to even get your head around just the
Speaker 3: viciousness and the cruelty. But I also look, there was
Speaker 3: a lot of evidence. When you go through what happened
Speaker 3: in the trial, I'm actually kind of shocked that the
Speaker 3: Supreme Court, I believe the decision was six to one
Speaker 3: correct saying putting a stay on this execution.
Speaker 1: But when we go back, I'm sorry, we didn't just
Speaker 1: think this was the State Supreme Court, so not the
Speaker 1: US Supreme Court. I guess the US Supreme Court, this
Speaker 1: never gets involved.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they say no, thanks hard pass.
Speaker 3: The State Supreme Court voted six to one so overwhelmingly
Speaker 3: in favor of staying the execution. But you go back
Speaker 3: and you read what came out in court and the
Speaker 3: evidence that was presented against him, it's kind of it
Speaker 3: kind of looks like everything points to this former police officer.
Speaker 1: You know, I kind of little off the direction we're going,
Speaker 1: But you made me think of it, robes, shouldn't we
Speaker 1: get it?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: I mean, should no matter what if there's a question, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's give it a couple of days, let's figure this out.
Speaker 3: You know, you make a very good point, and I
Speaker 3: think that's pretty much where the Supreme Court was at
Speaker 3: this point, because they even said according to court records,
Speaker 3: that even the state of Florida acknowledged that this evidence
Speaker 3: could prove his innocence. And so if there's even a
Speaker 3: thought or a question or a possibility that this new
Speaker 3: evidence or a new way of testing this evidence is available,
Speaker 3: why shouldn't we Why wouldn't we do this before executing
Speaker 3: a man?
Speaker 4: You can't undo that.
Speaker 1: So this is yes DNA. I believe it was seeming
Speaker 1: that it was found on the little girl's pants. They
Speaker 1: have that, and they have had that, but it hasn't
Speaker 1: gone through whatever latest and greatest DNA testing. I did
Speaker 1: see a report as well that he it's been talked
Speaker 1: about in the past, and he wasn't on board with
Speaker 1: even having this DNA test.
Speaker 3: That was what the prosecutor was trying to argue, saying, Look,
Speaker 3: he had this testing, this new testing available to him starting.
Speaker 4: In twenty twenty four, and they've known.
Speaker 3: About the DNA, They've known about that since the very
Speaker 3: beginning of the case. So why wouldn't he have pursued
Speaker 3: the testing in twenty twenty four? Why wait until you
Speaker 3: actually have an execution day set? Because Governor DeSantis set
Speaker 3: this execution date fairly recently, and it wasn't until he
Speaker 3: got his date where he was like, oh wow, that's
Speaker 3: the day I'm going to die. That he then tried
Speaker 3: to get this process going.
Speaker 1: Thank your shot, I guess take your shot. You got
Speaker 1: nothing else to lose. And maybe that's why they did it.
Speaker 1: But who knows how this now DNA is going to
Speaker 1: work out. But robes if this DNA which he is
Speaker 1: claiming could clear him, first of all, does it well?
Speaker 4: So that's my point.
Speaker 3: The other evidence in the case, and they're saying yes,
Speaker 3: But maybe the other evidence in the case.
Speaker 4: Could be explained.
Speaker 3: Some of it could be explained just by the mere
Speaker 3: fact that he had her in his vehicle to allegedly
Speaker 3: take her home. And I don't know what he's alleging
Speaker 3: that maybe when he dropped her off, someone else must
Speaker 3: have taken her.
Speaker 1: Who knows, But I mean this would have to clear
Speaker 1: him if the girl was sexually assaulted, and that I
Speaker 1: mean the semen that was left behind doesn't belong to
Speaker 1: this guy. That's exculpatory. I mean, does that nicely hear him? Yes,
Speaker 1: that would that somebody else. But like you said, roll
Speaker 1: all this other stuff he pieced together, some of its circumstantial,
Speaker 1: some of it seemed to be hard evidence of the interaction.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, so the evidence that was presented at trial.
Speaker 3: First of all, both of their fingerprints were on the car,
Speaker 3: So both his James Ducketts and Teresa mcabee's fingerprints were
Speaker 3: on his car. I think that could be explained just
Speaker 3: by the fact that she was seen in his car
Speaker 3: getting into his car.
Speaker 4: So that's okay.
Speaker 3: But the tire tracks to his vehicle match the tire
Speaker 3: tracks left behind at the lake where her body was found.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's tough to get around.
Speaker 3: And then the blood and hair from the victim were
Speaker 3: traced back to him.
Speaker 2: That's how they got to him in the first place.
Speaker 2: That it was. So again, how you going to explain
Speaker 2: it away? Who knows?
Speaker 3: And then to me one of the more damning ones.
Speaker 3: And I know this is circumstantial, but this still had
Speaker 3: some weight when I was reading about it. Other girls
Speaker 3: in the area testified that this dude, this police officer,
Speaker 3: James Duckett, was creepy, would offer them rides and.
Speaker 4: Tried to assault them.
Speaker 3: So there was a pattern of behavior that was established
Speaker 3: by three other young girls who testified at his trial.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and some of that, it's some of that's circumstantial,
Speaker 1: and some of that seems to be evidence pointing towards him.
Speaker 1: But Ropes is he if he thought this DNA was
Speaker 1: there and could clear him, he would have been screaming
Speaker 1: for the past twenty whatever years. Test that DNA.
Speaker 4: But what's the point of screaming that now?
Speaker 3: So you get it postponed, so there's a stay of executions,
Speaker 3: so you can get another week, another month, maybe another year.
Speaker 3: But ultimately, if that DNA is tested, that's the final nail.
Speaker 3: And I mean it is going to be I shouldn't
Speaker 3: say if it is going to be tested. When it
Speaker 3: comes back, if it shows it's his DNA, he just
Speaker 3: puts the final note.
Speaker 4: I guess he has nothing to lose. Maybe it would
Speaker 4: be the point I would.
Speaker 1: Say, we have seen again, Roe, we just happened to
Speaker 1: have covered a lot of executions and at the end
Speaker 1: they try everything, and we have seen some try things
Speaker 1: that and have the same argument from the judges and
Speaker 1: the prosecutors like this was here the whole time you
Speaker 1: had twenty years, you could have tried this option. You're
Speaker 1: just trying to delay. And yes, Robes, I bet somebody
Speaker 1: if you knew you were supposed to die next Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and they pushed it to Wednesday.
Speaker 2: You would appreciate it, right. You fight for it at.
Speaker 1: The end, You fight forever, every last second, in every
Speaker 1: last breath. And maybe that's all this is. However, Robes
Speaker 1: what if? What if is DNA is tested?
Speaker 4: You know it's you make a good point.
Speaker 3: And if you're, if you're at any point a part
Speaker 3: of the process that leads to the execution of a man,
Speaker 3: however legal and however warranted it may be in the
Speaker 3: eyes of most people, you still if you had any doubt,
Speaker 3: it's just a the tiniest pinprick of a doubt that.
Speaker 4: Would stay with you. It would stay with me.
Speaker 3: It would be one of those things where why wouldn't
Speaker 3: we have tested the DNA, Why wouldn't we have turned
Speaker 3: over every rock, Why wouldn't we have just made sure,
Speaker 3: beyond a shadow of a doubt that this man absolutely
Speaker 3: is guilty of this horrific crime against this eleven year
Speaker 3: old girl.
Speaker 1: So the testing point, as we're speaking, we don't know
Speaker 1: the status, but the court has given the state a
Speaker 1: deadline of this evening, early evening to let them know.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they need the results of the
Speaker 1: but they want at least the status.
Speaker 4: They want at least the status.
Speaker 3: But from what I've read, it's very well possible that
Speaker 3: we will actually have the results of the DNA testing
Speaker 3: by late today.
Speaker 1: And so you have a stay in place by the court.
Speaker 1: They can lift that at any time that they want to.
Speaker 1: So I guess some more legal wrangling needs to take place.
Speaker 1: But through all this, yes, he wants the DNA test it,
Speaker 1: but he has been proclaiming his innocence. Stay here, we
Speaker 1: will let you hear what his attorneys the statement they
Speaker 1: put out having to do with all this latert back
Speaker 1: and forth just days before execution day.
Speaker 3: Welcome back everyone to this Friday episode here on Amy
Speaker 3: and TJ, where we are talking about something we don't
Speaker 3: talk about very often, the state of Florida. The state
Speaker 3: Supreme Court there put a stay of execution on a
Speaker 3: man convicted of a heinous crime, and just days away
Speaker 3: from execution. We're talking about former police officer James Aaron Duckett.
Speaker 3: He was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering an eleven
Speaker 3: year old girl, Teresa mccabee, back in nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 3: His scheduled execution was set for Tuesday, March thirty first,
Speaker 3: but the court has stepped in saying, wait a minute,
Speaker 3: we need to know there is a new way of
Speaker 3: testing DNA that was found on those I think it
Speaker 3: was her little it was her pants, correct semen on
Speaker 3: her pants. So this is now we are waiting for
Speaker 3: final word of where the process is in the testing
Speaker 3: and if we actually have perhaps even some results from
Speaker 3: the DNA testing by the end of the day today.
Speaker 4: So this is this is.
Speaker 3: An hour by hour, moment by moment case, because there
Speaker 3: are we've mentioned three things that could happen.
Speaker 1: I just thought about another thing I didn't think about before.
Speaker 1: What if is inconclusive? Is there any chance is not
Speaker 1: a good enough sample?
Speaker 3: If it's income exclusive, I would imagine the standing of
Speaker 3: the court nineteen ninety he was convicted, that would have
Speaker 3: to stand, and the decision by the jury to vote
Speaker 3: for death that would have to stand.
Speaker 4: So this might just be a brief pause.
Speaker 3: This could be a longer stay while they figure things out,
Speaker 3: or he could be exonerated.
Speaker 1: This is incredible. I am We're sitting here talking about
Speaker 1: a crime. How many years ago was this growth on
Speaker 1: this one?
Speaker 4: Forty almost forty years ago? Thirty nine years ago.
Speaker 1: So we are looking at a clock and in a
Speaker 1: few hours we could find word that this guy is innocent,
Speaker 1: he didn't do it.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many people out there are proclaiming
Speaker 1: his innocence necessarily other than his own legal team at
Speaker 1: this point, but that would be incredible. We are this
Speaker 1: is a weird countdown or weird thing to be waste
Speaker 1: on standby.
Speaker 3: For yeah, on a Friday afternoon, knowing that there is
Speaker 3: the possibility that his execution will go forward four days
Speaker 3: from now. This is what his attorney had to say
Speaker 3: following the Court's order or the Supreme Court's order, James
Speaker 3: Duckett has steadfastly professed his innocence for the nearly four
Speaker 3: decades he has been on death row. DNA testing currently underway,
Speaker 3: as ordered by the Circuit Court, has the potential to
Speaker 3: conclusively establish mister Duckett's innocence. Mister Duckett and his defense
Speaker 3: team are grateful for the Court's decision, recognizing the importance
Speaker 3: of ensuring that the testing proceeds in a careful, thorough
Speaker 3: and orderly manner. We remain hopeful that the results will
Speaker 3: bring long awaited clarity and justice.
Speaker 2: Hopeful it brings clarity injustice.
Speaker 4: It could yes, actually it either way. It could do that.
Speaker 1: Very well, but well said, and it seems like they
Speaker 1: were leaving open the possibility, well, this might not go
Speaker 1: their clients.
Speaker 3: Because all the other evidence points directly at James Duckett.
Speaker 3: So yes, if this bit of sperm, if this bit
Speaker 3: of DNA that was on that little girls' pants, if
Speaker 3: that has a different suspect another person, yeah, the whole
Speaker 3: thing is upended. His innocence now is literally hanging in
Speaker 3: the balance. But to imagine, I haven't even let myself
Speaker 3: think about thirty nine years behind bars for a crime
Speaker 3: you didn't commit. And he was a former police officer
Speaker 3: and maybe he was a little creepy. Maybe he was
Speaker 3: and had some bad behavior or some tendencies, but maybe
Speaker 3: he didn't actually commit this crime.
Speaker 1: Also, maybe he's guilty as l and bottom line is
Speaker 1: just fine, and you know what, but it's okay. We
Speaker 1: talk about the death penalty plenty here and to know
Speaker 1: that everybody feels comfortable with. Even if you don't like
Speaker 1: the death penalty, you can at least say an innocent
Speaker 1: man is not.
Speaker 2: Being you know what.
Speaker 3: And I think that either way, if he's if he's
Speaker 3: exonerated because of the DNA, obviously that's a massive win
Speaker 3: for James Duckett and perhaps even pointing police an investigator
Speaker 3: in the right direction for the person who is responsible
Speaker 3: if that's the case. But if it proves, if it
Speaker 3: confirms that he in fact did rape and murder this
Speaker 3: little girl as he was previously convicted of.
Speaker 4: That does give peace of mind.
Speaker 3: It gives peace of mind to everyone involved in the
Speaker 3: process that they got the right guy and that the
Speaker 3: right guy is paying for his sins on Tuesday. So
Speaker 3: this is a really interesting case. It's developing. We will,
Speaker 3: of course keep our eye on this, but we thought
Speaker 3: we would let you know what's happening right now in
Speaker 3: the state of Florida. But with that, everyone, thank you
Speaker 3: so much for listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ.
Speaker 1: Holmes.
Speaker 4: We'll talk to you soon.