Florida’s Catholic bishops are urging Governor Ron DeSantis to halt the planned executions of two death row inmates scheduled for the same day, arguing that justice can be served without taking additional lives.
According to Vatican News, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a July 21 letter to Governor DeSantis requesting that the executions of James Duckett and Dominick Occhicone Jr. be stayed and that their death sentences be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Duckett was convicted in the 1987 murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee, while Occhicone was convicted in the 1986 murders of Raymond and Martha Artzner. Both executions are currently scheduled for July 28.
In the letter, Executive Director Michael B. Sheedy made clear that the bishops are not minimizing the gravity of the crimes.
“The crimes for which these men have been convicted are gravely evil,” Sheedy wrote, adding that the deaths of the victims represent “profound sorrows which their loved ones will carry to the end of their days,” according to Vatican News.
Rather than calling for the men to be released, the bishops are asking that they spend the remainder of their lives in prison without parole. They argue that such a sentence upholds justice while respecting the sanctity of human life.
Drawing from Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Sheedy noted that the late pope had firsthand experience with the horrors of both Nazi and Soviet totalitarianism and understood “the darkness and depravity to which human beings can sink.” Even so, St. John Paul II consistently taught that every human person retains God-given dignity.
According to Vatican News, the bishops also pointed to the biblical account of Cain and Abel, which St. John Paul II reflected upon in Evangelium Vitae. Although Cain committed the grave sin of murdering his brother, God punished him without demanding his execution. As the encyclical states, “Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity.”
The letter emphasizes that imposing a sentence of life imprisonment does not diminish the seriousness of the offenses. Instead, Sheedy explained that such a punishment recognizes that “God is the author of life and the taking of life should be reserved to Him alone,” except in circumstances where it is otherwise impossible to protect the common good, according to Vatican News.
The bishops also expressed concern about carrying out two executions on the same day, with Sheedy describing it as “especially callous” to require state personnel to execute both men within hours of one another.
The appeal concludes by affirming that justice and mercy are not opposing values. “We can entrust the final judgment of every individual to God,” the bishops wrote, while also offering prayers for the repose of the souls of Teresa McAbee, Raymond Artzner, and Martha Artzner, for comfort for their families, and for Governor DeSantis as he considers the request.
The letter closes with a passage from the Book of Ezekiel for reflection: “Do I find pleasure in the death of the wicked—oracle of the Lord GOD? Do I not rejoice when they turn from their evil way and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23).
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