Florida tightens death penalty law to
require unanimous jury recommendation
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[March 14, 2017]
(Reuters) - Florida's governor
signed legislation on Monday tightening state law to require a unanimous
recommendation by a jury before judges can impose the death penalty.
The law is the state's latest effort to restart its death penalty
process, which was put on hold twice last year after rulings by the U.S.
Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court in separate cases.
"The law establishes clear statutory standards for how the death penalty
can be applied in Florida," said Robert Dunham, executive director of
the Death Penalty Information Center.
The statute, signed by Republican Governor Rick Scott, makes Florida the
latest U.S. state to require death penalties to be imposed only after a
unanimous recommendation by a jury. Only Alabama still allows a judge to
impose capital punishment without the unanimous agreement of a jury,
Dunham said.
The measure was passed quickly by the state's Republican-controlled
legislature after the Florida Supreme Court in October struck down a
previous law that allowed judges to impose the death penalty if 10
jurors recommended it.
In January 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a still earlier
Florida law, saying it unconstitutionally let judges determine the facts
that would lead to a death sentence, rather than juries. That law also
allowed judges to override a jury's recommendation or impose the death
penalty if a majority of jurors recommended it.
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Executions in Florida, home to the nation's second-largest death
row, have been on hold since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling.
There are 382 people in Florida prisons who have been sentenced to
die. Since the process of appealing death penalty verdicts can take
decades, some have been on death row since the 1970s.
The only state with more people on death row than Florida is
California, where 749 inmates have been condemned to die. California
has not executed anyone since 2006.
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It was not immediately clear when Florida would resume executions.
Many of the cases in the state remain under review. The new law,
along with a Florida Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, may
lead courts to resume the process of deciding whether to impose the
death penalty in new cases going forward.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; Editing by
Peter Cooney)
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