TAVARES - Former Police Officer James Duckett was given a death sentence Thursday for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.

Before being sentenced, Duckett told Circuit Judge Jerry Lockett that he was innocent. He said that the killer of Teresa Mae McAbee remains free and that he would like to see the faces of her family and those who convicted him of murder when the killer strikes again.

Lockett rejected those arguments, along with those of Duckett's family members, childhood friends and former co-workers who described the former Mascotte police officer as a hard worker, a good father and morally upstanding.

Duckett, 31, and father of two boys, was convicted in May of the slaying. He was the only officer on duty in the small community east of Orlando on the night in May 1987 when the girl disappeared.

Her body was found in a lake near her home the next day. A medical examiner determined she had been sexually assaulted and drowned.

Duckett maintained he was convicted solely on circumstantial evidence and predicted he would be freed by appellate courts.

Credit: Associated Press