Unanimous jury for death penalty in Florida expected to end
Share this @internewscast.com

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)

Eradication of the unanimous-jury requirement for executions in Florida is a virtual certainty now that a bill allowing eight out of 12 jurors vote to impose a death sentence heads to Governor Ron DeSantis for signing.

The Florida Senate passed SB 450 on Thursday with a 29-10 vote that fell mostly along party lines.

The legislative change was largely a reaction to the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in which Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people.

To DeSantis’ chagrin, Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“One juror should not be able to veto that,” DeSantis, a Republican, said during a news conference about Cruz’s narrow avoidance of the death penalty. “I don’t think justice was served.”

In January, Rep. Berny Jacques (R-Seminole) and Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill) filed identical bills to eliminate the requirement that juries must vote unanimously before a death sentence is imposed.

The potential change to the unanimity requirement comes as Florida Republicans are also attempting to widen the scope of the death penalty’s applicability. Earlier in March, Sunshine State legislators introduced a bill that would permit not just murderers — as is currently the case — but also child rapists to be put to death for their crimes.

Changes to death penalty procedures are becoming something of a current trend: Idaho lawmakers recently opted to revive firing squads for executions that could not be carried out by lethal injection.

The Florida bill nixing the unanimous jury requirement conflicts directly with U.S. Supreme Court precedent, but the bill’s text declares that precedent to be “wrongly decided.”

Share this @internewscast.com
You May Also Like

Trump Lawyers at Justice Department Amid Classified Documents Probe

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump met with the Justice Department for…

Sanctuary state California and work Gov. Gavin Newsom investigating ‘state-sanctioned kidnapping’

Sixteen Venezuelan and Colombian migrants who entered the country over the southern…

Susan Boyle makes surprise Britain's Got Talent return and reveals stroke battle

She appeared alongside the West End cast of Les Miserables and said…

Prince Harry a No-Show for London Court Appearance Over Alleged Phone Hacking

Prince Harry defied a British judge’s orders Monday and failed to appear…

The Point, June 5, 2023: Special Report: The Price of Plenty

Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8…

Binance mishandled funds and violated securities laws, according to SEC lawsuit

WASHINGTON – The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its founder Changpeng…

Sgt. Cory Maynard murder: Timothy Kennedy arrested, charged

Timothy Kennedy, Sgt. Cory Maynard (West Virginia State Police) The suspect in…

Russia Claims it Repelled Large-Scale Ukrainian Offensive

Russia stopped a “large-scale offensive” by Ukrainian forces from Sunday morning which…

Tiny Sheffield cat found underweight and riddled with fleas faces losing a leg

The cat was found underweight, riddled with fleas and with three fractures…

Have a look at your Monday Forecast!

Today will be mostly sunny with patchy fog, and a few pop…

Sonic boom heard over Washington is a rare sound with a rich history

NORFOLK, Va. – People living in and around the nation’s capital on…

What were North Dakota’s most commonly-reported crimes in 2021?

BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — As KX’s Crime Tracker has shown, there are…