Overview
- Hitchcock was put to death by lethal injection Thursday and pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Raiford.
- The U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal Thursday morning after the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal last week that raised innocence claims and sought execution records.
- He was convicted in 1977 of killing his 13-year-old step-niece, Cynthia Driggers, in 1976 and remained on death row for nearly five decades after multiple resentencings.
- The state used a three-drug protocol that includes a sedative, a paralytic, and a heart-stopping drug, and the execution was Florida’s sixth of 2026 after a record 19 last year.
- Texas executed James Broadnax later Thursday, bringing U.S. executions this year to 10, as Driggers’ relatives said the punishment closed a long and painful chapter.