Orlando senator files bill to bring back death penalty

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidiqAIhF-SpqDKygL7KuCvlLKMfbmKl8mtpwRJbjgECCLr7I4pAM18jzub6nwXBwK2keiIkLFlwou9T3vw7kx6tHsfw0dQlIUT61Lb9OCF5eb-qD7MSsRQ5QXOLVfbj-fRR7m0g1ZkHFk/s1600/Death+Penalty+News+deathpenaltynews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidiqAIhF-SpqDKygL7KuCvlLKMfbmKl8mtpwRJbjgECCLr7I4pAM18jzub6nwXBwK2keiIkLFlwou9T3vw7kx6tHsfw0dQlIUT61Lb9OCF5eb-qD7MSsRQ5QXOLVfbj-fRR7m0g1ZkHFk/s400/Death+Penalty+News+deathpenaltynews.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hoping to reinstate the death penalty in Florida, a Democratic state senator from Orlando filed a bill Friday that would require juries to be unanimous in condemning a killer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If approved, the measure (SB 280) by Sen. Randolph Bracy could end delayed trials and confusion over a Florida Supreme Court ruling in October that struck down the state's capital punishment law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lawmakers last year tried to fix the death penalty law by requiring a 10-2 jury vote for death sentences, but the court's ruling said a 12-0 vote was needed. The Senate preferred a unanimous jury, but the House and state prosecutors wanted more leeway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The Supreme Court has kind of set the direction that we need to go in, so I think there'll be more buy-in from the House," said Bracy, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No bill has been filed in the House yet, but House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said his panel will hold hearings on the issue next week. He wants to look at the entire death penalty statute for possible changes, not just the unanimous jury provision.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There's a pronged analysis that goes into every death penalty case," said Sprowls, a former prosecutor who has tried capital murder cases. "We're going to view each one of those independently and collaboratively and figure out the best scheme to serve Floridians."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lawmakers say the issue is among their top priorities and that delays of murder trials are plaguing the courts. Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said about 200 cases are affected by the death penalty's status in limbo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think its paramount for the victims' families for cases to be fairly adjudicated without delay," Negron said. He added that he hopes for a Senate vote soon after the legislative session that begins March 7.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The issue stretches back to January 2016, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida's death penalty law because it allowed a judge to issue a death sentence after taking into account a jury's recommendation. Under the old law, a 7-5 majority recommendation was enough to recommend death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Except for Alabama and Florida, all of the 32 states with capital punishment require a unanimous vote for death. Florida was one of five states that executed a prisoner in 2016.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Legislature responded by passing the 10-2 jury vote law. That was then declared unconstitutional as well by the Florida Supreme Court's October ruling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But even if lawmakers pass a new law this year, courts could be grappling with the fallout in the future. The court's October ruling didn't specify what should happen to ongoing capital murder cases or whether those on death row who weren't sentenced by a unanimous jury have grounds for an appeal of their sentence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bracy said he believes the Legislature should declare the unanimous jury provision to apply retroactively, but he hasn't included it in his bill. That would give every prisoner on death row sentenced to death by a split jury the grounds to appeal for a life sentence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state's highest court compounded the confusion this week when it issued an order telling prosecutors they couldn't seek the death penalty in ongoing murder trials, only to vacate the order hours later. A court spokesman later said the order was "prematurely issued."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The episode came a day after a judge for Brevard and Seminole counties empaneled a jury for the sentencing phase of a murder trial, thinking he could move forward by telling the jury a death sentence had to be unanimous.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sprowls said the ambiguity of the law is causing "paralysis" in the trial courts. Judges are typically allowed to issue alternate jury instructions to comply with a court order that updates existing laws, he said, but it doesn't seem like the Florida Supreme Court will allow that to happen in this case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think that you have a court that is clearly demonstrating a systematic hostility towards the death penalty in general," Sprowls said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the death warrants and oversaw the executions of 23 prisoners since he took office in 2011 - the most of any governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, isn't pressing lawmakers for an answer to the situation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A spokeswoman for Scott said his office is still reviewing the Florida Supreme Court ruling, but wouldn't say if he has a preference for how the law should be fixed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, the families of murder victims, the 384 prisoners on death row, prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges are waiting on a resolution. Groups that oppose the death penalty are also awaiting the outcome, but are pleased the courts are moving toward making it harder to get the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's also put a de facto moratorium on executions, as Scott hasn't signed a death warrant since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ingrid Delgado of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops noted that Saturday marks one year since the last prisoner, Oscar Ray Bolin Jr., was executed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This is another reminder that executions are not needed to keep society safe," Delgado said.</div><br />Source: Orlando Sentinel, January 7, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Orlando senator files bill to bring back death penalty

Hoping to reinstate the death penalty in Florida, a Democratic state senator from Orlando filed a bill Friday that would require juries to b...

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Typo upends Florida Supreme Court's death penalty ruling

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfPilg7L1RnSdwhqg91YIolRZnrK1rfVxPeCRTPsERWK4hLriM8mCgl-sYgqUD1gLdkPcsMo2SCZJ9CIrWA3QFT38v39-o2FiCVJdIhxgUnZC5s_1xrLFV3kpEK_X5toHxx66iOIdHo4/s1600/jury-box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Jury box" border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfPilg7L1RnSdwhqg91YIolRZnrK1rfVxPeCRTPsERWK4hLriM8mCgl-sYgqUD1gLdkPcsMo2SCZJ9CIrWA3QFT38v39-o2FiCVJdIhxgUnZC5s_1xrLFV3kpEK_X5toHxx66iOIdHo4/s400/jury-box.jpg" title="Jury box" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just hours after declaring prosecutors could not seek death sentences under existing state law, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday rescinded the order, an uncommon move that casts fresh uncertainty on the state's death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The reason: A typo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a 5-2 ruling Wednesday morning, the court rejected Attorney General Pam Bondi's request to let prosecutors seek the death penalty as long as juries voted unanimously. The court threw out the state's revamped death sentencing law in October because it required only a 10-2 super majority of the jury to put someone to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then at 1 p.m., the Supreme Court rescinded the order, saying it was "prematurely issued," and deleted it from the court's website.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Wednesday morning ruling was vacated because of a "clerical error," said Craig Waters, a spokesman for the court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead of writing that death penalty laws in section 921.141 of Florida Statutes were unconstitutional, the court identified section 941.141 - a statute which does not exist.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It may have simply been a scrivener's error and they wanted to rescind the order to correct the scrivener's error," said Rex Dimmig, the public defender in Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties. "It could be that simple; it could be something more complicated."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Waters did not say if or when the court planned to re-issue the ruling, which provided brief clarity for a death penalty system that was in limbo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the court ruled in October that juries had to be unanimous to sentence someone to death, Bondi and prosecutors said capital trials ought to continue but that jurors should be instructed that the rules had changed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Defense attorneys saw things differently: If the death penalty law was unconstitutional, then no one could be sentenced to death, they argued.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's what the justices decided early Wednesday, writing that the whole statute was unconstitutional and "cannot be applied to pending prosecutions."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">How the court will act now is uncertain, but it is likely the Legislature will rewrite the state's death penalty statutes when they come into session March 7. Next week, the House Judiciary Committee will start deliberating on the issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last month, the committee's chairman, Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, told the Times/Herald that rewriting death penalty laws is a priority.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We have to act," said Sprowls, a former prosecutor. "By the time we conclude our business, we have to have a death penalty statute that can be relied upon and that's legal, so that victims have access to justice."</div><br />Source: miamiherald.com, January 4, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Typo upends Florida Supreme Court's death penalty ruling

Just hours after declaring prosecutors could not seek death sentences under existing state law, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday resci...

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