Florida's death penalty process now requires at least 10-2 jury vote to recommend death penalty. The measure comes two months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that death penalty is unconstitutional.
In January, the Supreme Court ruled that Florida's death penalty was unconstitutional because it limited the power of the juries to recommend an execution. The higher court alleged that the state gave judges the power to decide on the defendant's execution, according to Politics Herald Tribune. The revision on death penalty suspended the death sentencing of Timothy Hurst, who killed a fried chicken restaurant manager in 1998.
"We've got to come to something that will work," said House Judiciary Chairman Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville said. "This will work.
Since the higher court's ruling, Florida's death penalty was appended. Florida houses 389 inmates in the death row, the nation's second largest number of prisoners who are sentenced to death, Reuters reports. On Thursday, the Republican-controlled legislature advanced a law that gives the juries the power to recommend death penalty eligibility. The bill is set to be signed by Republican Governor Rick Scott. According to the death penalty amendment, at least 10 jurors must vote on death sentences in murder cases. The bill also requires the juries to solidly approve on the aggravating factors warranting it.
The ruling on Florida's death penalty which is yet to be decided is not applicable to the present inmates in the death row. Meanwhile, as the amendment of Florida's death penalty is still pending, critics are looking on the effect of the Supreme Court ruling in states including Alabama and Delaware, Washington Post reported. An Alabama judge cited that allowing judges to override the juries' death penalty recommendation was unconstitutional. This supported the claims of the study that Alabama judges dominated the juries' decisions 100 times in the last 40 years.
Florida's death penalty news comes after it was announced that Utah lawmakers passed a bill that would eliminate death penalty. Florida had already performed its first execution this year after putting Oscar Bolin Jr. to death.
