James Duckett was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of eleven year old Teresa McAbee
According to court documents Jame Duckett was working as a Mascotte Police Officer when he would sexually assault and murder Teresa McAbee
James Duckett would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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James Duckett is incarcerated at Union Correctional Institution
James Duckett Case
he murder occurred in May 1987. At the time, James Duckett worked as a police officer for the City of Mascotte. He was the only officer on patrol from 7 p.m. on May 11 to 7 a.m. on May 12. Between 10 and 10:30 p.m. on May 11, Teresa McAbee, an eleven-year-old girl, walked a short distance from her home to a convenience store to purchase a pencil. She left the store with a sixteen-year-old Mexican boy, who was doing laundry next door. They walked over to the convenience store’s dumpster and talked for about twenty minutes before James Duckett approached them. James Duckett entered the store and asked for the girl’s name and age. The clerk advised him that Teresa was between ten and thirteen years old. Stating that he was going to check on her, James Duckett left the store and walked toward the dumpster, where he located the two children. James Duckett testified that he conversed with the children and instructed Teresa to return home.
The sixteen-year-old boy testified that, after speaking with James Duckett, he went to the laundromat to wait for his uncle, who arrived soon thereafter; that Duckett and Teresa were standing near the patrol car; and that James Duckett asked the uncle the nephew’s age. Subsequently, Duckett suggested that the uncle talk to his nephew while he spoke to Teresa. According to the uncle and the boy, James Duckett placed Teresa in the passenger’s side of his patrol car and shut the door before proceeding to the driver’s side. The uncle also testified that he never saw Teresa touch the hood of Duckett’s car.
At about 11 p.m., Teresa’s mother walked to the convenience store, searching for her daughter. The clerk told her that Duckett may have taken her daughter to the police station. For about an hour the mother and her sister drove around Mascotte in search of Teresa. During this time, the mother did not see a police car. She next went to the Mascotte police station and, finding no one there, drove a short distance to the Groveland police station. There, she told an officer that she wanted to report her daughter as missing. The officer told her that he would contact a Mascotte officer to meet her at the Mascotte police station.
Teresa’s mother returned to the Mascotte police station and waited fifteen to twenty minutes before Duckett arrived. Duckett told her that he had spoken with Teresa at the store; that she had been in his police car; and that he had directed her to return home. The mother filed a missing person report with Duckett.
Duckett drove to the mother’s home to obtain a picture of Teresa, called the police chief to inform him of the missing person report, and advised the chief that he had made a flyer and did not need any help. Duckett then returned to the convenience store with a flyer but told the clerk not to post it because it was not a good picture. Although he told the clerk that he would return with a better one, he never did. Duckett did bring flyers to two other convenience stores. The clerk at one store testified that, while the police usually drove by every forty-five minutes to an hour, Duckett drove by at 9:30 p.m. but failed to return until he brought the flyer later that evening. A tape of Duckett’s radio calls indicated none between 10:50 p.m. and 12:10 a.m. At 1:15 a.m., Duckett went to the uncle’s house to question his nephew about Teresa, then around 3 a.m. returned to the mother’s home.
Later that morning, Teresa’s body was found in a lake less than a mile from the convenience store where Teresa was last seen. A medical examiner testified that the perpetrator had sexually assaulted the victim while she was alive, strangled her, and drowned her, causing her death. Before this incident, the victim had not engaged in any sexual activity. Blood was found on her underpants, but not in or about Duckett’s patrol car. Semen was discovered on her jeans.
A technician for the sheriff’s department examined the tire tracks at the murder scene and concluded they were very unusual. While leaving the crime scene, he observed that the tracks of a Mascotte police car appeared to be similar. He stopped his vehicle, examined the tracks, and determined that they were consistent with the tracks at the crime scene. An expert at trial corroborated this evaluation. The tracks were made by Goodyear Eagle mud and snow tires, which are designed for northern driving. While the local tire center had not sold any of those particular tires during its nine years of existence, it had received two sets by mistake and placed them on the two Mascotte police cars.
Evidence revealed that the vehicle that left the impressions had driven through a mudhole. However, no evidence was presented that Duckett cleaned his vehicle, and no debris from the scene was found in or on his vehicle. Evidence was also presented that Duckett was neat and clean later that night, as if he had just come on duty.
Both Duckett’s and Teresa’s fingerprints were discovered on the hood of Duckett’s patrol car. Duckett’s prints were commingled with the victim’s, whose prints indicated that she had been sitting backwards on the hood and had scooted up the car.
A pubic hair was found in the victim’s underpants. While other experts could not reach a conclusion by comparing that hair with Duckett’s pubic hair, one FBI special agent, who had been qualified in forty-two states as an expert in hairs and fibers, concluded that it was highly probable that it was Duckett’s. The expert also testified that the pubic hair did not match the hairs of the sixteen-year-old boy, the uncle, or the others who were in contact with the victim that evening.
Before his arrest, Duckett gave a statement in which he denied driving his vehicle to the lake that evening. He further stated that the victim had not been on the hood of his patrol car and that he had stopped at the Jiffy store for coffee after the girl went home.
The State presented the testimony of three young women who allegedly had sexual encounters with Duckett. The first woman, a petite nineteen-year-old, testified that in January or February 1987 she ran into Duckett while she was looking for her boyfriend. Duckett told her that he, too, was searching for her boyfriend, and drove her in his patrol car. While in the car, Duckett placed his hand on her shoulder and attempted to kiss her. After she refused to kiss him, he desisted and she left the car. The second woman, a petite eighteen-year-old, stated that, on May 1, 1987, Duckett picked her up while she was walking along the highway. After Duckett drove her to a remote area in an orange grove, he parked the car, placed his hand on her breast, and attempted to kiss her. When she refused to kiss him, he desisted and drove her to where she requested. The third woman, a petite seventeen-year-old, testified that on two occasions, once in February or March 1987, and again in April or May 1987, she voluntarily met Duckett at a remote area while he was on patrol and performed oral sex on him.
Duckett testified at trial. He admitted many of the facts surrounding the incident, including his encounter with Teresa, but denied driving off with her and killing her. He also denied any involvement with the three young women.
The jury found Duckett guilty of sexual battery and first-degree murder. In the penalty phase, the State presented no additional testimony, but Duckett presented four witnesses. The jury recommended a sentence of death by an eight-to-four vote. The trial judge found two aggravating circumstances (that the murder was committed during the commission of, or immediately after, a sexual battery; and that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel), and one statutory mitigating circumstance (that Duckett had no significant history of prior criminal activity). The trial judge also concluded that Duckett’s family background and education gave rise to nonstatutory mitigation. For the murder, the trial judge sentenced Duckett to death, concluding that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances; and for the sexual battery conviction, the judge sentenced him to life imprisonment for the mandatory minimum of twenty-five years. On appeal, we affirmed.1
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-supreme-court/1435678.html
