Florida man executed for the killing of his brother's teenage stepdaughter nearly 50 years ago

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of beating and choking his brother's 13-year-old stepdaughter to death nearly 50 years ago was executed Thursday evening.

James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of the July 1976 killing of Cynthia Driggers.

The curtain to the death chamber opened promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time. Hitchcock’s entire body was covered in a sheet up to his head. He stared at the ceiling as the team warden made a call, then gave his final statement.

“Just to say goodbye to Joshua my friend. Thanks for all you’ve done,” Hitchcock said without elaborating.

As he spoke, a man in the witness room, raised his hand, and Hitchcock lifted his head to try to see.

Hitchcock blinked rapidly as the drugs began flowing and took several deep breaths. A minute later, his breathing became more shallow and quickly stopped. Minutes into the execution, the team warden briefly flicked Hitchcock‘s face and yelled his name twice and shook his shoulders. Hitchcock didn’t respond, his face slowly turning ashen.

There was no visible reaction from the 28 witnesses nearby. A doctor came in 11 minutes into the execution, checked Hitchcock with a stethoscope and shone a light into his eyes before nodding at the team warden, who declared him dead.

Several members of Driggers' family addressed reporters afterward. The victim's younger sister, Lynn Cobb, said she added life, fun and dreams for her family in the 13 years she was alive.

“I thank God for giving me the strength and courage all these years and shaping me even through this tragedy for the person I am today,” Cobb said. “We now close the door on this chapter of our lives. We will continue to remember Cindy by keeping her memory alive and always understanding that life is precious and time is valuable.”

One of Driggers' cousins, Ginie Meadows, said Hitchcock never thought this day would come, but he was wrong.

“For those of you that do not understand why this process is justified, I am certain that you have not known the agony and emotional torture of having someone you love brutally murdered,” Meadows said. “You have not had to sit in a courtroom and have the murderer smirk at your family.”

Another cousin, Chip Meadows, expressed relief that the execution was finally carried out.

“I’ve lived with this for 50 years,” Meadows said. “I can breathe today. I am loving life. Free at last, free at last. Our monster is dead.”

Court records indicated Hitchcock, then 20 and unemployed, had moved into his brother's suburban Orlando home weeks before the killing occurred. He told police following his arrest that after drinking beer and smoking marijuana with friends for several hours, he returned to the home, entered the girl's room and raped her, investigators said.

When the girl told Hitchcock that she had been hurt and planned to tell her mother, he tried to stop her from leaving the room and began choking her, court records show. Authorities said Hitchcock then took the girl outside, where he beat and choked her until she stopped moving, leaving her in nearby bushes. Hitchcock then took a shower and went to bed.

Hitchcock recanted during his trial and blamed his brother instead. Convicted of first-degree murder, he was sentenced to death in 1977. Years of appeals followed and he was resentenced to death in 1988, 1993 and 1996.

Thursday's execution was the sixth in Florida this year under death warrants signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Four of the other five Florida inmates put to death this year received death sentences in the 1990s. DeSantis also oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025, far more than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.