Tallahassee, Florida– The Florida Supreme Court upheld a state law that allows non-unanimous juries to sentence people to death, establishing the nation’s lowest threshold for issuing death sentences at a time when The state leads A National increase In executions.
In a decision issued Thursday, the court confirmed the 2023 law, which He ended the condition of the jury being unanimous In ruling on the death penalty, he rejected the arguments of death row inmates Michael Hunt and Michael Jackson that their sentences were unconstitutional.
Florida law allows the death penalty with a jury recommendation of at least 8-4 in favor of death, the lowest standard in the country, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Alabama is the only other state that allows death sentences to be imposed by non-unanimous juries, with a slightly higher threshold of 10-2.
Florida lawmakers passed the non-unanimous jury procedure in response to the verdict Saved a life The shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Florida’s death penalty requirements have changed repeatedly in recent years, following legal challenges and changes to the state Supreme Court, where five of the seven justices were appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
For decades, Florida did not require unanimity death penaltyallowing a judge to impose the death penalty as long as a majority of jurors support the punishment. But in 2016 the US Supreme Court He overthrew the state systemSaying that it allows judges a great deal of discretion.
The state Legislature then passed a bill requiring a jury recommendation by a 10-2 vote, but the state Supreme Court at the time said such recommendations must be unanimous, prompting lawmakers in 2017 to require jury unanimity.
Three years later, the state Supreme Court, with new conservative jurists appointed by DeSantis, She retracted her previous decision He ruled that death was recommended It does not require consensus.
In recent years, the country has also expanded Which crimes The death penalty can be justified to include child rape convictions, despite a US Supreme Court ruling prohibiting the death penalty in such cases.
Meanwhile, Florida Record breaking The wave of executions continues under DeSantis, and another man is scheduled to die Thursday evening in what will be The nineteenth state execution In 2025.
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Kate Payne is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America It is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.