Judge denies independent DNA review in Duckett case despite defense push

TAVARES – A circuit court judge Wednesday denied death row inmate James Duckett’s appeal to have an independent DNA lab analyze inconclusive results he hoped would exonerate in the 1987 rape and murder of a child. Duckett was a rookie Mascotte police officer on duty when Teresa McAbee was found floating in a lake. Until recently, he has resisted testing a semen stain found on her panties because the sample would be destroyed in the procedure. But with the clock ticking after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for March 31, testing went forward. The Florida Supreme Court issued […]

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