TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In what would be a significant change to the state's capital punishment system, a Florida Senate panel discussed a bill Monday to require a jury to unanimously recommend the death penalty.
The Senate's Criminal Justice committee took up the bill (SB 148), but ran out of time to vote. Sen. Thad Altman, a Viera Republican who's co-sponsoring the bill, said the measure would likely return to the committee next week.
Thirty-three states impose the death penalty. Florida and Alabama are the only ones that do not require a unanimous vote of the jury.
The bill also would require jurors in a death-penalty murder case to vote on "aggravating circumstances," factors that increase "the gravity of a crime or the harm to a victim." The jury also must agree unanimously on any evidence that supports a death recommendation.
Altman explained his aim with the bill is to achieve better justice.
"I really believe a unanimous (recommendation) will enable us to have a more effective and accurate system, especially when you have jurors that may be ambivalent on the death penalty," he said. "I think it would enable us to be tougher on crime by requiring a unanimous (recommendation), by making the penalty phase the same as the conviction phase."
Jurors in Florida must be unanimous to convict, but may vote with a simple majority to recommend the death penalty. The trial judge must give "great weight" to the recommendation, and usually follows the jury's suggestion as to death or life imprisonment.
In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Florida's system of death penalty sentencing.
"Recommendations are still subject to review by the judge," said Sen. David Simmons, an Altamonte Springs Republican who's skeptical of the measure. "The present system provides the assurance that one juror would not be able to prevent imposition of the death penalty simply because of personal belief."
Source: The Miami Herald, March 11, 2013
