LIVE UPDATES: Florida to execute man for rape, murder of 13-year-old
An Orlando man convicted of raping and strangling to death his 13-year-old step-niece, Cynthia Driggers, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday, April 30. The U.S. Supreme Court denied James Hitchcock’s appeal for a stay of execution Thursday afternoon.
Hitchcock’s execution comes just over a week after Florida executed Chadwick Willacy for a 1990 murder in which prosecutors said he set his neighbor on fire after she caught him burglarizing her home. If the execution goes as scheduled, Hitchcock will be the sixth person Florida has put to death in 2026, following the same accelerated schedule Gov. Ron DeSantis began last year.
Hitchcock’s attorneys argued that he was denied due process when evidence discovered two decades after his clemency proceedings failed to receive due consideration. As attorneys for other recent death row inmates have brought up in appeals, they also said recent discoveries about Florida’s alleged misuse of lethal injection drugs would cause him unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment
Here’s what to know.
When is James Hitchcock scheduled to be executed?
Hitchcock is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 30, at Florida State Prison near Starke.
Who is James Hitchcock?
In July 1976, 20-year-old James Ernest Hitchcock was living with his brother, Richard, in his Orlando home.
He went out drinking and smoking marijuana with friends in Winter Haven before returning home, prosecutors said. According to Hitchcock’s initial statement to police after his arrest, he arrived home around 2:30 in the morning on July 31 and entered the house through the dining room window before going into his room.
Then he went into the room of Cynthia Driggers, his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter.
Hitchcock admitted to police he had sex with her, and grabbed her by the neck after she said she was hurt and going to tell her mother. He carried her outside and tried to talk her out of telling anyone, he said, but when she started “hollerin’,” he choked her, hit her twice, then strangled her to death. He then shoved her body into some bushes before returning inside, taking a shower, and going to sleep, he said.
During his trial, Hitchcock changed his story and said that his brother Richard murdered his stepdaughter after finding out what she and Hitchcock did, which he claimed was consensual. Hitchcock said his initial statement was to protect his brother, court records show. Years after the trial, multiple witnesses came forward to claim Richard Hitchcock had a long history of violence against women and girls, according to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
The age of consent in Florida is 18. Children under that age may not legally give consent.
Hitchcock condemned to death 4 times
After his initial sentencing, Hitchcock appealed over the trial judge’s instructions for the jury not to consider mitigating factors. The Florida Supreme Court reaffirmed the death sentence in 1982, but the circumstances led to a 1987 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that said states couldn’t limit the type of evidence a killer facing a possible death sentence can present to a trial court during a sentencing hearing.
Hitchcock was sentenced to death a second time in 1988, a year after his first sentence was vacated. The state Supreme Court upheld that sentence in 1990, but was forced to examine the case again after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on instructions given to juries. Hitchcock continued to appeal on various procedural grounds. The state Supreme Court vacated Hitchcock’s second death sentence in 1993 and ordered a new sentencing. It threw out his third death sentence in 1996, and a jury sentenced him to death again.
In 2000, the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Hitchcock’s fourth death sentence.
Who is the next person to be executed in Florida?
On Thursday, May 21, Richard Knight is set to be put to death for the stabbing murders of Odessia Stephens and her 4-year-old daughter, Hanessia Mullings, in Broward County in 2000.
How many people are on Florida’s death row?
As of April 30, there are 246 people on death row in Florida. The stats break down to 245 men (153 White, 81 Black, 11 other) and one Black woman.
How many death row inmates has Florida executed?
From 1924 until May 1964, the state of Florida executed 196 people. There were no executions from May 1964 until May 1976.
In 1972, the United States Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, but it was reinstated in 1976. Florida has carried out 130 executions since then.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Appeal denied, Florida to execute man for rape, murder of 13-year-old
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
