Nearly two months since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Florida’s unusual system of imposing death sentences, Gov. Rick Scott approved a new sentencing law Monday morning.
In January, the Court ruled that Florida judges who handed down death sentences in spite of the jury’s findings were violating the Sixth Amendment. Key changes in the new law include a requirement for the system to have at least 10 jurors agree on a death sentence as opposed to seven.
Additionally, jurors must unanimously agree on at least one aggravating circumstance before recommending execution. The old law held that a simple majority sufficed.
For George Dekle, a long-time prosecution lawyer and current UF associate professor in the Levin College of Law, Florida’s new law will not solve the problem the Supreme Court wanted to fix.
Dekle said sentencing procedures will be significantly different, but a judge could still rule against a jury’s recommendation if the judge deemed it necessary.
“There’s no remedy for that,” Dekle said. “If a judge opposes a sentence, the state can’t appeal that sentence.”
The adoption of new procedures ended a halt on executions for the state’s nearly 400 death-row inmates, Dekle said, and now the justices made a ruling to appease themselves.
“This law is placating the Supreme Court of the United States,” he said.
Contact Martin Vassolo at mvassolo@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @martindvassolo.
