In the nearly five-decade-long saga of a Florida murder case, the clock ticks down for James Ernest Hitchcock. At 70, Hitchcock faces the death penalty for a crime committed when he was just 20, marking a grim milestone in Florida’s execution record.
Hitchcock is set for a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday. He was initially sentenced to death in 1977 following his conviction for the first-degree murder of 13-year-old Cynthia Driggers, his step-niece. Despite appeals and resentencing in 1988, 1993, and 1996, the execution has remained on course.
This execution would be Florida’s sixth this year, following a record-breaking 19 executions in 2025. Under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida has seen more executions in a single year than any other since the death penalty’s reinstatement in 1976. The previous high was eight executions in 2014.
Court documents reveal that Hitchcock, unemployed at the time, had been living at his brother’s Orlando residence for weeks before the murder. On July 31, 1976, after a night of drinking and drug use, Hitchcock reportedly entered the room of his 13-year-old step-niece and raped her. When Driggers threatened to report the incident to her mother, Hitchcock allegedly strangled her, later moving her outside where he continued to beat and choke her until she was lifeless, according to investigators.
During his trial, Hitchcock claimed he was shielding his brother, asserting that it was his brother who fatally attacked Driggers after discovering the two together. This testimony contradicted his initial confession, which Hitchcock said he made to protect his sibling.
Recently, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal to postpone Hitchcock’s execution, despite his lawyers’ claims of innocence and allegations of denied access to death penalty-related public records. A last-minute appeal remains in consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The broader context of capital punishment in the U.S. shows that 47 individuals were executed nationwide in 2025, with Florida leading the count. States including Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas followed with five executions each.
On the same evening, Texas plans to execute a man who maintains he was not the shooter in a robbery that killed two individuals 18 years ago. The case drew attention because prosecutors allegedly misused rap lyrics to secure the death sentence, according to the defendant’s claims in Texas.
Another execution is slated in Florida for May 21, involving Richard Knight, who faces the death penalty for the brutal stabbing of his cousin’s girlfriend and her young daughter.
The Florida Department of Corrections conducts executions using a three-drug protocol, which includes a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug to stop the heart.
