Dominick Occhicone is scheduled for execution in Florida on Tuesday, July 28 at 6 pm. Occhicone is nearly 81-years old and will be the oldest person executed in modern state history. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Martha Artzner and is serving a life sentence for the murder of Raymond Artzner. His death sentence rests on a 7–5 jury recommendation that would not be sufficient under Florida law today.

Occhicone is an elderly man experiencing significant age-related decline. He suffers from heart disease, kidney disease, impaired vision and hearing, and requires assistance with basic daily activities, including navigating stairs and entering and exiting the shower. Prison staff will have to assist him as he crawls onto the gurney where they will take his life. He no longer resembles the man sentenced four decades ago.

Several factors combine to make this execution especially troubling and make up the basis of his appeals:

• nearly 81 years old with significant medical concerns
• almost four decades on death row
• 7–5 jury recommendation that would not satisfy today’s law
• devout Catholic faith
• concern over the well-being of prison staff who will have to carry out their 20th execution in 18 months
• continuing lack of transparency surrounding execution drugs and the use of a lifesaving drug that is currently under a nationwide shortage

Florida’s Execution Machinery is Under Extraordinary Strain

Occhicone’s primary legal claim revolves around a documented nationwide shortage of Etomidate, the first drug in Florida’s execution protocol. On April 7, 2026, the American Society of Health System Pharmacists reported that hospitals and emergency medical providers are having to limit their use of this lifesaving drug. Meanwhile, the State of Florida is stockpiling it for executions. Occhicone’s attorneys argue that Florida has continued scheduling executions despite the shortage while refusing to provide meaningful transparency about how the drug is being obtained, stored, and used. They also point to Department of Corrections records that show departures from the state’s written execution procedures, including questions surrounding the preparation and expiration of etomidate.

Florida’s accelerated execution schedule is placing extraordinary psychological strain on everyone involved — not only those facing execution, but correctional officers, death-watch staff, and prison administrators repeatedly tasked with preparing people for death. They also explain that the practice of a prison employee, not a medical professional, being responsible for shaking the condemned person, touching or flicking their face, and repeatedly calling their name to determine whether they remain responsive after the lethal injection begins is unnecessary and psychologically. This illustrates how executions have become increasingly mechanical. Florida has normalized something that should never become routine.