WEBVTT - No Execution Tonight! Florida Supreme Court Says State Cannot Execute James Duckett… For Now 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:06.560 Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, March thirty first, the day 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:11.840 James Duckett was supposed to be executed in Florida. It 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.320 will not happen, not today at least thing with that. 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.200 Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roll. This 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:21.880 is a surprising case because of where it is, who 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:24.080 it is, and that there was a stay of execution. 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:25.560 So let's go ahead. 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.000 And I hate to say the word unpack all this, 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.320 but a scheduled execution tonight in Florida is not happened. 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.839 Yeah, And it was surprising to have the Florida Supreme 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.760 Court step in and place his stay of execution for 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.640 James Aaron Duckett's defense team to have DNA that's been 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:47.120 stored for nearly forty years now to be tested. His 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.440 attorneys saying this could exonerate him. He has maintained his 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.319 innocence from the beginning. And so the Supreme Court, the 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.120 state Supreme Court Court stepped in and said, let's get 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:58.000 that tested. 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:00.960 Okay, we were on the edge of our seats last 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.000 week the state. This rarely happened. It certainly doesn't happen 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:06.000 in Florida. But a court stepped in and said, hey, 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:08.520 there's something relevant enough that we think we shouldn't go 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.080 through the execution. So Roland, we were waiting standing by 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.320 last Friday, they said we want to status update by 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.520 five o'clock. Sure enough, they got one by five o'clock 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.319 on Friday, and it didn't really help. It didn't move 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:22.600 the needle one way or another day. 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:26.920 Yes, it was inconclusive, and so immediately the state then 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:31.920 files a petition to the State Supreme Court saying, okay, 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.319 we did what you said, we put everything on pause. 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:40.080 We got the results, and they do not exonerate James Duckett. 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.240 He has not been proven to be innocent. There is 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:46.520 no other suspect, there's no other DNA, and yes it's inconclusive, 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.840 but it also doesn't exonerate. So we would like to 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:54.640 go forward with the planned execution for today, March thirty first, 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.520 at six pm. We would like James Aaron Duckett to 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:02.040 die by lethal injection as scheduled. And honestly, yes, his 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:04.760 defense team filed the motion saying wait, wait, wait, wait wait, 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:08.079 can we have another lab look at it. I have 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:10.840 to say I didn't think they were going to side 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:12.000 with the defense. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:16.480 And I am not exactly sure why. They didn't explain 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.160 a lot in their ruling. But the Supreme Court State 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.799 Supreme Court, when asked by the prosecutor to now lift 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.280 the stay and let the execution go through at six 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:30.600 o'clock to night, the State Supreme Court said, no, our 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:35.040 stay is going to stay in place. But rose they 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:38.200 put another date on it that I don't necessarily understand 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.320 what they're waiting for, but in a couple of days 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:43.600 they're expecting to hear back from all parties. 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.920 That is correct, on April second, that is this Thursday. 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:51.520 So in just in two days, the Circuit Court is 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.600 required to now give an update by five pm or 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.000 at five pm is the way I believe it was worded. 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.320 And the only way I can can imagine they could 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.560 give an update is if another lab is taking a 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.639 look at the results. The defense actually had a specific 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.560 lab that they had fought for initially to actually do 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.680 the testing and take a look at the DNA and 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:15.840 we'll describe where this DNA came from and all of 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:17.519 that for those of you who need to be caught up. 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.400 But the State said no, we wanted at our lab, 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:22.840 So the State's lab did it. It's inconclusive and Now 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.040 the defense says, now, can our lab take a stab 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:29.200 at it? So my understanding would be that yes, another 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.920 lab is either retesting it or reviewing it, or somehow 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.720 just another set of scientific guys are on these results 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:41.200 to see if it can in fact exonerate duck it. 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:45.920 I mean, let's bottom line, this thing is that a 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.240 man has been on death row for forty years, literally 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.080 have his has his life in the balance based on 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.080 some DNA testing now ropes, that is a big deal 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.560 and a big headline. The possibility that a death row 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:05.240 inmate could be exonerated, however, robes as big of a 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.480 headline as that seems to be. There are plenty of 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.320 others who just look at a guy who was desperate 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.080 to stay alive, and now he's throwing anything he can 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:12.280 up against the wall and to see if it might 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:12.920 legally stick. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.200 And look, the cynic in me says that exact same thing. 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.000 We see this all the time. There's no guilty prisoners 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.680 on death row. Everyone's innocent, right. Most people say, I 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.080 didn't do it wasn't me. It was this guy, It 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.200 was him, It wasn't me. Look, I have to at 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.760 least consider the fact that six out of the seven 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:39.719 Florida State Supreme Court justices opposed the state's request to 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:43.520 go forward with the execution. That is significant in a 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:48.919 state like Florida, and six out of seven that to 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:51.400 me speaks volumes. This wasn't a split decision. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.920 Oh this does this not speak to. 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.400 It does not. There is nothing they suggested. There's nothing. 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:01.880 You please tell We've been researching this case for a while. 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.400 I don't see anything other than his own camp that 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.080 is hootin and hollering about an innocent man is about 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:09.840 to be put to death. 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.560 No, and look everyone, and we have gone over the 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:17.320 evidence that was presented in court. They claim it was 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.800 all circumstantial. It was the fact that he was last 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:24.200 seen with this eleven year old girl. And by the way, 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.880 we are talking about we're talking about an eleven year 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:33.360 old girl who was strangled, drowned, and raped in nineteen 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.839 eighty seven. And this officer, he was a police officer. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.920 He was a rookie officer, correct James Aaron Jumper. He 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.720 was a young guy, a new officer. And he even 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.840 admits to having seen this eleven year old girl the 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.599 night she went missing. She apparently left her home to 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.960 go she told her mom she needed to get some pencils. 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.360 Ten thirty at night, She's seen with a sixteen year 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.119 old boy near this convene in store. According to James 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.360 Duckett and to eyewitnesses, he tells a little girl and 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:07.400 the sixteen year old, you guys are out past curfew, 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.560 tells the sixteen year old to skidaddle, gets her in 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.880 the back of his car. She's never seen again. That's 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.000 damning right then, and there the fact that he is 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:17.880 the last known person to have seen her alive. 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:21.599 Yeah, throwing the other stuff. 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:23.840 The other stuff is that her handprints are on the 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:24.480 hood of his car. 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:24.920 Okay. 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.479 The other evidence is that that there are tire tracks 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:31.400 that are leading to the lake where her body was 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:35.119 found the following day by a fisherman. And the fact 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.400 that there was a pubic hair that they said matched 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:41.560 his pubic hair. They didn't have the DNA testing abilities 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:43.400 that they do now. And this is where we are. 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:48.800 There was some seamen found on the eleven year old's genes, 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:52.839 and that semen has now been able to undergo a 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.880 type of testing that wasn't available up until recently. 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.839 Okay, please put in context which you mean by recently. 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:04.599 Here's the twenty twenty four and this is significant. According 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:07.919 to police and prosecutors, James Aaron Duckett was given the 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:13.680 opportunity to have that DNA tested with this new way 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:18.080 of testing it, and he declined, why the opportunity to 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:23.320 have that seaman tested? And it wasn't until Governor DeSantis 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:27.080 signed his death warrant and his clock started ticking. You 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.880 got thirty days. All of a sudden, his defense team 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:33.960 in the last hour and a few days leading up 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:36.680 to the execution said wait a minute, we want that 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:37.560 DNA tested. 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:39.520 Well, I skip it in the first place. I'm not 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.960 saying that sarcastically. I'm saying, what was their legal reasoning 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:47.320 for why they did not want that DNA tested? What 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:49.000 was their logic. 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.240 I haven't seen a direct response to that. I've only 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.840 seen the prosecutor raise the exact question that you did 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.680 to the court saying I'm sorry, but an innocent man 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:00.440 would have asked for this to be tested immediately as 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:03.320 soon as proper testing was available, and that in and 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:05.320 of itself speaks for itself. 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.040 S has this been a case? We've seen some cases. 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:12.640 I mean, what's the folks who get people off who take. 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:14.240 It Connison's project, the innocent project. 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:15.760 This is not one of their cases. 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.160 No, nobody else is out there hooting and holland that 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.600 innocent man is about to be killed. Now, is it possible? 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:26.640 I guess robes, But we are now being inundated at 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.320 this point. If you were, sweetheart, Look, there's a way 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.720 that innocent people act, and they're not quiet. 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.720 For forty years, they are not. 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.319 It's interesting that you say that, because I actually did 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.079 a deeper dive and was reading what the sheriff said 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:45.319 about his deputy, and look, police aren't one. Aren't a 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.040 group of folks who look to their own to look 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.760 for suspects or to be suspicious of. But he said 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:52.960 it was his rookie deputy who he was on the 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:54.959 scene with him the next day. He said the way 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:59.440 Officer Duckett was acting was so strange that he started 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.840 to investigate. He said he was uncomfortable, He wasn't curious 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:06.199 about how she died. He was shifty in a way 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:10.200 that he felt like made him suddenly suspicious. I thought 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.320 that was interesting that his own sheriff, on the day 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.560 her body was found, started getting He said, the way 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:19.160 he was talking about how he was the last person 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.839 to see him. Sounded like a rehearsed, nervous story, and 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.640 it raised a red flag for him to dig deeper. 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:29.160 And that is how the investigation into Duckett began was 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.079 because of his sheriff's suspicions. It took five months for 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.720 them to actually bring charges and arrest him. But he 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.280 said that very day that that little girl's body was found, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.719 he thought, hmm, I thought that was of note as well. 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.480 That does not guilt to make just because somebody had 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:49.120 a gut feeling. Sure, but it is relevant. 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:50.880 And I do think I hadn't looked to see. But 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.840 when Duckett was sentenced to death, Before he was sentenced 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:58.040 to death, I should mention James Duckett actually in court records, 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.240 said this to the judge. He has always maintained his innocence. 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.920 He said, I did not do this. When the person 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.360 who did this repeats it, I want to see the 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:10.400 face of the person telling the victim's mother, father, sister, brother, 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.360 I am sorry. We thought we had the right one before. 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.480 That's interesting, that's what he said right before sentencing. He 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:18.520 was defiant. 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.959 Every prosecutor and judge in the country said, yeap that 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.319 sounds familiar. I heard that before, right before I sent 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.560 a guy off to a life sentence. 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:27.720 Yeah, sounds about right. 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:32.960 Everybody on cell Block D is innocent. Everybody so fine. 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.120 There are exceptions they should be listened to. But at 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:39.600 some point, Robes, when do you stop all the back 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:41.920 and forth and the madness we don't have We have 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.840 our issues with the death penalty, yes, but we also 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.319 have penalties or problems with it being delayed justice that 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.160 this is justice. Why are we waiting forty years? Why 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:53.240 are we waiting forty two forty five so we can 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.400 get every lab in the country to test this DNA 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:56.840 that he had forty years to test? 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.280 And yet you made the point, Look, if it's just 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.520 a matter of a day or two more for another 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:03.760 lab to take a look at it, why not do that? 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.199 And it seems like that is where the Florida State 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:10.760 Supreme Court fell on this. It's better to be safe 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.679 than sorry. There's no undoing an execution, and so why 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.240 not push it a little forward? So we're hopefully going 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:21.200 to get some more answers about what will happen to 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:25.200 Ducket given where we are, we're literally in limbo right now, 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:27.640 in just a matter of days on Thursday. But when 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.600 we come back, we're going to talk about what Duckett 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.800 has been doing for these past thirty days since DeSantis 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.079 signed his death warrant. He's been writing all about it 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:50.760 on a website. And welcome back everyone to this episode 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:55.040 of Amy and TJ. The execution is off for now 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.079 of James Aaron Duckett. He was scheduled to die tonight 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:02.120 by lethal injection for the rape and murder of an 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.920 eleven year old girl nearly forty years ago. The Florida 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.400 State Supreme Ford said let's give it a few more 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:12.040 days after the first DNA tests from the case came 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:16.120 back inconclusive, and the defense asked for another lab to 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:20.160 take a look at the results before making the decision 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:25.520 about when or if to actually follow through with the 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:28.679 execution of James Aaron Duckett. And so a whole host 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:32.480 of events take place once a governor signs a death 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:36.440 warrant that I really didn't know. Obviously, this is all 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:40.080 very rehearsed and scheduled, but I didn't realize the day 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.600 the death warrant is signed, action is taken. 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.800 Yeah, you're isolated this and they keep an eye on you. 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.000 This is a totally different It shifts and right, what 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.400 is it? They their own death were over thirty forty years, 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:57.880 but they end up not necessarily an isolation that long, 0:12:58.080 --> 0:12:59.319 certainly in Florida. 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.280 In Florida's Oh yes, so he actually duck it. Actually, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.480 there's a website out there called Prison Writers, and I look, 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.720 they do vet this writing so as to not upset 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.320 or harm any victims' families out there. But they have 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.360 some editors who have journalism backgrounds, and they make sure 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:19.680 that the writing is non offensive. But he was allowed 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.720 to post through this website what it's been like for 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:24.920 him these past thirty days. And so he said. On 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:29.440 February twenty seventh, that is when DeSantis signed his death warrant. 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:33.280 He said, literally, two vans pulled in. A few minutes later, 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.080 a door to the wing opened up. The warden called 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.120 his name and said, it's time. The governor has signed 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:39.720 your warrant. 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:40.320 So he got. 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:44.360 Handcuffs, shackles, waste chain, and he was escorted past all 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:46.719 his friends that he had spent all this time and 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:51.800 death row with saying goodbye, and going into a van 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:56.040 heading to death death watch basically where he had to 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:59.560 sign copies of his death warrant and go to the 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:04.400 Q where he now yes, had a plexiglass a bunk, 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.880 a locker, a small table, a toilet, a sink, but 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.040 he had to let go of all of his limited 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.280 personal property, including his phone, access to internet. All of 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:15.800 that gone. 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:19.120 Yeah, the execution still might go through. I mean, the 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.520 execution still might happen. I'm not sure how active, how 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.400 long the warrants they active. I think they go a 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.080 little while. I think they anticipate these things, do they not? 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:30.200 Isn't the warrant active? They don't have to sign another one, 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:30.480 do they? 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.480 I don't believe now once you go past the date though, 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.280 I don't know when they extended it to you know how, 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:39.320 Sometimes they extend the death warrant where they give themselves 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.560 some time in case there's some sort of issue, usually 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:43.760 only a day. I thought, yeah, I'm not sure how 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.560 this is going to work. But he is still sitting 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.240 there from what we understand, because it is in limbo 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:53.040 right now in this Q block basically, or Q wing 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.600 is what it's called. And it's just interesting to hear 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.280 him talk about what it's like in these final days 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.080 for death re inmates. He was expecting it to be 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.680 about thirty days. He said, I miss emailing. I mostly 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:09.960 miss music. The silence is constant. I miss seeing outside. 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:12.760 The two windows are painted over. You can only see 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.320 their outline. He says that an officer a station in 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.800 front of his cell twenty four to seven, logging everything 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.600 he does, and he is allowed to write on this tablet, 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:26.440 which then his words were able to be published. But 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:29.200 he has a space where he says final words because 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.000 he is preparing to die, he said. My legal team 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.960 continues to fight. They have not stopped since the warrant 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.360 was issued. But this is where I say goodbye to 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.880 those who have read my work. I wanted to write 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.960 this last piece because, as I see it, it's time. 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.760 Keep me in your prayers and thank you for the support. 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:48.360 It's I just didn't know that there was even an 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:53.280 outlet for inmates like this to just basically communicate with 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.800 the outside world about what it's like to be on 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.200 death row or what it's like to await your execution date. 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.440 I guess some people find it, I don't know, interesting, 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.000 fascinating part of someone's story. I don't know. There might 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:10.600 be others looking at that and find it disgusting. Why 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:12.000 do they get this out and why do they get 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:15.000 to put a message out? But they have freedom of speech. 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:18.280 I guess they shouldn't be kept from speaking. They are 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.920 allowed to profit from their crime, so there are some 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:24.840 types of rules put in place. But I just wonder 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:26.440 as you were reading that, I just I wonder what 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.600 the mom of the victim feels about him having a message. 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.040 I wonder if she's even aware, does she even check in? 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:37.120 I just I don't know he's writing as the sympathetic 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.560 figure in this whole thing. If he's an innocent man, 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:45.000 obviously he's a sympathetic figure. But I just haven't studied 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.560 the case. But I have seen enough of the folks 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:51.800 who are studying this case who do have opinions on 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.960 this case. It's just not that ground swell of in 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:58.840 a sense that's being out there for this sense. 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.920 To your point, and it's one thing to proclaim your innocence, 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:03.800 it's another thing to have a whole other group of 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.680 folks who devote their lives to trying to do their 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.280 best to make sure that people who are innocent, who 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:15.320 haven't been properly represented or who haven't had a fair trial, 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:19.960 actually make sure that they and their rights are protected. Yes, 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.040 there's no group that has come to his aid or 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.720 have come out to say he didn't do it. He's 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.280 an innocent man. He's pretty much at this point the 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.760 only person other than his attorneys who say he's innocent. 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.160 So I mean, we should see again, Robes. I'd see 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:39.040 it through, not to the point of being unreasonable. If 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.440 you want to, Yes, give him the lab, let them test. 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.600 Then it comes back inconclusive. What do we do then, Well, 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:46.520 since we don't know for sure, then the least you 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:47.760 could do is commute his sentence. 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:48.959 Is that what they're setting up? 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:53.280 This could probably a media narrative. This could all be 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:55.920 a pr campaign to get us talking about it, to 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.160 get more people interested in this thing, to where there 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.359 is a ground swell of support for him and attention 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:02.960 for him, and maybe you get some big names on 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:04.120 TV talking about him. 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.399 Who knows that lawyers are doing the job trying to 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.320 keep a man alive and I can't fault them for that. 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.000 Wow, I got it too, I got it too. And 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.239 he talks about clemency and what does clemency mean if 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.640 that's what he's actually seeking at this point? But he said, 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.640 it's a chance to convince those in charge who you are, 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:27.080 not making excuses for why you were here, but showing true, 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:31.320 honest change by presenting testimony, evidences, witnesses and making the 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.439 argument I am not now who I was. Then I 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.080 guess he's talking about other crimes. When I read that, 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:39.720 he's writing about what clemency means and how it's not 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.240 being extended to inmates in Florida. If he's talking about himself, 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.560 he's claiming he was innocent from the beginning. So that's 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:51.240 a strange premise to write about tritle. And that's what 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:53.600 it seems like. That is what he seems like. 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.560 You should that makes sense, knock yourself out. But how 0:18:57.760 --> 0:18:59.800 just how far do we take this thing? 0:18:59.840 --> 0:18:59.919 Right? 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:04.040 How far is it allowed? And to his argument about 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:08.080 clemency rose, what are we supposed to do to folks 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:09.600 if you have a ten year sentence and then you 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:11.600 go back to the judge in three years and say, look, 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:14.480 I'm a changed man. I shouldn't be here for ten 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:18.520 years because I have been changed. Would we listen to 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.879 that person or would we say no, you need to 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:25.399 serve your time as justice has been laid out for 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:30.800 what you did. Take James Dunckett. You're saying I shouldn't 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:34.320 have to see through the punishment I was given for 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.320 my crime because now I'm a different man than I was. 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:38.639 That ain't how it works. 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.480 It's just not and that's you got to. 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:44.720 Take issue with it. But Robes, I compare him to 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:47.160 anybody else in jail who's going to say, Hey, I'm 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:51.840 different now, so that sentence doesn't count. No, you're being 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:53.879 punished for what you did at the time when you 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:54.199 did it. 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.520 Yep. I know you make a very good noise, and 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.800 I think a lot of people feel exactly the same 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:03.840 way as you. It'll be interesting to see a what 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:07.639 the results are come Thursday, if there are new results coming, 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:12.080 and be what happens next to James Duckett. 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:13.920 This is the one I was just thinking, Okay, well, 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.520 if we get word the execution is not going to 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:18.640 go through and he's going to be spared and he's 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:21.080 just going to get life in prison. Or if they 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.040 go through with the execution, do you have a preference? 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:24.399 No? 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.920 No, not that. How do you feel either way? Right? 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.920 If they decide to execute this man, if they decide 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.359 not to, My first thought went to the mom of 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:37.440 the victim who wants this guy executed, and so I 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:41.399 to think his sentence is commuted and we save a 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:45.400 life is something I am on board with. But I 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.040 have a problem being on board with it when the 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.280 mother of the eleven year old who was drowned, raped 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:56.000 says I need this justice. If I have a hard 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:57.040 time going against that. 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.359 I know we always. I do think that they're should 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:04.240 be weight given to the victim's family. I think ultimately 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:09.200 what their wishes are should be considered alongside the sentencing. 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.159 But at this point, we just know that he was 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.439 in fact sentenced to death. We will see what the 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:19.160