Clock is ticking for DNA results as ex-Florida cop faces execution

All of what James Duckett hopes will spare him from being executed next week exists inside a test tube and at the ends of two cotton swabs.

The tube holds the only remaining genetic material left by the person who raped and murdered 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in 1987. DNA from one of her family members sits on the end of one of the swabs. The other holds DNA that was scraped from Duckett’s mouth earlier this month inside a death watch cell at Florida State Prison.

All three items are, at this moment, being scrutinized through advanced forensic testing at a private laboratory in Deerfield Beach.

The results could be Duckett’s last shot to prove his innocence. State prosecutors are confident the results will confirm what a jury almost 40 years ago decided: that Duckett, a former police officer, is the girl’s killer.

Duckett, 68, was one of two cops in the small town of Mascotte, west of Orlando, when he was accused in McAbee’s murder.

The girl left her home late the night of May 11, 1987, to buy a pencil to do her math homework. She walked the short distance to a nearby Circle K, where Duckett spotted her talking to a teen boy. He questioned the pair about being out after a curfew. The boy left with his uncle before Duckett placed the girl in his patrol car.

He later said he told her she shouldn’t be out late before letting her go. McAbee’s mother reported her missing later that night. A fisherman found her body the next morning in a lake less than a mile from the Circle K. She’d been raped, strangled and drowned.

Tire tracks near the scene were said to match Duckett’s patrol car. The girl’s fingerprints were found on the car’s hood.

Duckett has long maintained that he did not kill McAbee. He first sought DNA testing more than two decades ago. Some items were tested and yielded no results. There remained a single slide that held biological material from McAbee’s underwear.

But no testing of that slide was conducted due to concerns that such efforts would destroy the evidence. The years since have seen vast improvements in DNA testing. As the Florida Supreme Court conducts a routine review of Duckett’s case, it seems increasingly likely that his fate hinges on that science.

Leigh Clark, the deputy director of forensic services for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, detailed the testing procedures in testimony during a series of court hearings this month.

The testing, she said, would produce four possible results: the DNA matches Duckett, the results are inconclusive, there are no results or the DNA matches someone else.

In the first three scenarios, Duckett likely would not live past March 31. The fourth could upend his death sentence and likely lead to further litigation.

At the direction of Lake County Circuit Judge Brian Welke, the department conducted initial testing on the slide. But the sample is so small that it is insufficient to obtain a full DNA profile, Clark said.

Clark cautioned any further testing would completely consume the remaining sample. However, the results would be available for comparison to another person in the event that they do not yield a match to Duckett.

Clark recommended a testing method that relies on SNPs — or single-nucleotide polymorphisms — which are small genetic variations in a DNA sequence. It’s a more advanced form of DNA testing that is commonly used in genealogical research. It can provide a more comprehensive look at a person’s genetic makeup than traditional testing.

It’s what Duckett’s defense preferred.

“The most reliable method is SNP,” his lead attorney, Mary Elizabeth Wells, said in a March 12 hearing. “And we have a man’s life on the line.”

The trouble is the state’s lab was unable to conduct SNP testing. It needed to work with a private lab to make it happen.

A series of court hearings two weeks ago saw disagreement and discussion over which of a handful of private forensic labs was best to conduct the testing.

Clark provided the names of four private labs. But she said she was unable to say which one might be best.

“To provide an analogy, you’re kind of asking me to recommend a restaurant in another state were I’ve never been and never intend to go,” Clark said. She added that the department was happy to preserve the sample, communicate with a lab designated by the court and ship it there.

A lengthy discussion between prosecutors, Duckett’s defense attorneys and the judge concluded with a decision to send the items to DNA Labs International.

The family-owned private company frequently works with law enforcement in cold case investigations and efforts to put a name to unidentified human remains. It recently drew public attention after reports that Arizona sheriff’s officials sought the lab’s assistance in the kidnapping investigation of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC news anchor Savannah Guthrie.

The company has lab facilities in Utah and South Florida. The DNA evidence in Duckett’s case was delivered at the latter location March 13.

The rushed effort has so far not been enough to secure Duckett a stay of execution. The testing isn’t expected to be complete until Friday, when he will be four days away from receiving a lethal injection.

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