STARK, FL– A Florida man convicted of beating and strangling his 13-year-old niece to death nearly 50 years ago is scheduled to be executed Thursday evening.
James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at the Florida State Prison near Stark. Hitchcock was initially sentenced to death in 1977 after being found guilty of first-degree murder in the July 31, 1976, killing of Cynthia Driggers. After a series of appeals, he was re-sentenced to death in 1988, 1993 and 1996.
This will be Florida’s sixth execution so far this year 19 executions recorded in 2025 Republican Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.
According to court records, Hitchcock was unemployed and had moved into his brother’s house in Orlando several weeks before he killed Cynthia Driggers, Hitchcock’s niece, on July 31, 1976. After several hours of drinking beer and smoking marijuana with friends, Hitchcock returned to the family home, he told police after his arrest. Investigators said Hitchcock, who was 20 at the time, went into the 13-year-old girl’s room and raped her.
When the girl told Hitchcock she was hurt and planned to tell her mother, Hitchcock tried to stop her from leaving the room and then began choking her, officials said. Hitchcock took the girl outside, where he beat and choked her until she stopped moving, then left her in some nearby bushes. Then Hitchcock took a shower and went to bed.
Hitchcock later recanted during the trial, testifying that his brother entered the girl’s room shortly after she and Hitchcock had finished having consensual sex. Hitchcock said his brother took the girl outside and began beating and choking her in a fit of rage, and she was already dead when Hitchcock pulled his brother off the girl.
Hitchcock said he initially took the blame to protect his brother.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal to stop Hitchcock’s execution. His lawyers said he was innocent and that the state illegally refused to grant him access to public records related to the death penalty.
A final appeal is still pending before the US Supreme Court.
A total of 47 people They were executed in the United States in 2025. Florida led the way with a series of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.
Another execution in Florida is scheduled for May 21. Richard Knight, 47, is scheduled to receive lethal injection for his conviction in the fatal stabbing of his cousin’s girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter.
All executions in Florida are carried out by lethal injection if they contain sedatives, paralytics or heart-stopping drugs, according to the Department of Corrections.