Last chance for death row inmate?

TAVARES, FLA. — James Duckett, the rookie cop convicted in 1988 of raping and murdering an 11-year-old Mascotte girl, is getting another chance to avoid the executioner’s lethal injection needle.

He was supposed to be executed on March 31.

The Florida Supreme Court has granted Duckett’s request to have DNA results analyzed by a bioinformatics expert. On Monday, Circuit Judge Brian Welke ordered the examination to move forward.

It is the latest attempt by Mary Elizabeth Wells to prove her client is innocent

From the beginning, there was an attempt to link Duckett to the crime with genetic evidence. There was other evidence, too: tire tracks, fingerprints and a supposed eye witness account, which has been repeatedly recanted.

For genetics, first there was hair but without a root so it could not be tested. An FBI analyst said it was consistent with Duckett, but that was controversial when the expert’s results and the lab came under fire in an internal investigation.

There was a semen sample discovered in Teresa Mae McAbee’s underwear, but Duckett didn’t want that tested for years, saying the sample was so small it would be destroyed in testing.

That changed when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant.

A new kind of testing, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) can analyze smaller samples. Used in genealogical research. Investigators used the family tree research to learn the identity of “The Golden State Killer,” James DeAngelo Jr., years after terrorizing California.  

Duckett’s SNP sample was sent to DNA Labs International, but the results were inconclusive.

The new move might be the last chance for Duckett, but it is unclear how the experts from Orthram Inc., in Texas, might help.

Bioinformatics unites the fields of biology, computer science, and statistics. Experts examine gene sequence and other information using the latest technology.

DNA experts testify about the odds of anyone besides the suspect having the same DNA configuration, sometimes coming up with greater numbers than the world population.