Florida Governor Rick Scott is moving ahead with an overhaul of the state's death penalty law. In fact, spokeswoman Jackie Schultz revealed that he already signed the bill into law on Monday.
According to Yahoo! News, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law a major revamp of Florida's death penalty on Monday. This move is allegedly in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared the previous system unconstitutional.
The new law entails at least 10 out of 12 jurors to recommend execution for it to take effect. Florida also previously needed that a majority of jurors recommend the death penalty. The law was recognized unconstitutional in January, since the jurors served an advisory role while the judges had the final verdict in death sentence cases.
"It is my solemn duty to uphold the laws of Florida and my foremost concern is always for the victims and their loved ones," Scott stated in a statement released by his office. He also added, "I hope this legislation will allow families of these horrific crimes to get the closure they deserve."
ABC NEWS reported that the new regulation took effect as soon as Scott signed the bill. Even though the judges may decide on lowering a death sentence recommendation to life in a few circumstances, they will not be allowed to impose a death sentence without at least a 10-2 jury decision.
Death sentence critics stated that the law is an improvement, but does not completely renovate the state's death penalty. Florida belongs to the three states that don't require a unanimous jury ruling in favour of the execution.
"We're glad that after years of work, the unreliable and unacceptable system by which a person could be sentenced to death when five out of twelve jurors disagreed is coming to an end," Baylor Johnson, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, mentioned in an email. He went on by stating, "But make no mistake: the legislature still hasn't solved the problem of Florida's broken death penalty system. Hopefully it won't take the next inevitable court ruling for them to finish that work."
Even the Republican Senator Greg Evers, the chairperson of the Senate Criminal Committee and who worked with the House counterparts to get the legislation passed, said that the new law would have been better if it called for a unanimous jury decision prior to condemning a prisoner. But he also expects that the new law will be challenged, as claimed by The Big Story.
Meanwhile, the new law also necessitates prosecutors to spell out prior to beginning the murder the trial and the reasons behind imposing the death sentence, and the requirements of the jury to decide unanimously if there is at least one reason. The prosecutors should also look out for aggravating factors that would justify the death sentence.
