Florida | Gov. DeSantis signs controversial death penalty legislation

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a bill that will allow juries to impose the death sentence even if all 12 jurors do not agree.

He is also likely to approve a second bill passed by the lawmakers on Tuesday that would make sexual battery of a child under age 12 a death penalty offense.

The governor, who is rumored to be considering a presidential run, has publicly pushed for both bills -- legislation that opponents say violates the U.S. Constitution and could lead to wrongful executions.

A representative for DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

DeSantis, a Republican, has been embroiled in a conflict with Disney over the control of the central Florida district where Disney World is located, drawing ire from Democrats and some of his own party members in recent weeks.

The conflict began last year when Disney executives publicly criticized a controversial DeSantis-backed law banning discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in certain K-12 classrooms.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News.

The governor's support of these bills has led to additional criticism.

Maria DeLiberato, a capital defense lawyer, told ABC News the newly signed legislation would discount Black and brown jurors' voices and make Florida an "extreme" state with the lowest threshold to sentence offenders to death.

"If you steal a pack of gum in Florida, you are entitled to a unanimous jury determination of your guilt. And so, to have anything less to take someone's life, is just a straight violation of the Constitution,” DeLiberato said.

8 out of 12 jurors

Under the new requirements, prosecutors only need to convince eight out of 12 jurors that a defendant should be sent to death row. Of the 24 states that are actively carrying out the death penalty, just three states allow non-unanimous death sentence verdicts. In Alabama, a 10-2 juror majority is needed. In Missouri and Indiana, a judge can decide if the jury is divided.

DeSantis has openly pushed for the change since a jury voted 9-3 last October to execute Parkland gunman Nikolas Cruz. The teen instead received the statutorily mandated sentence -- life without the possibility of parole.

"Why do we have one person who can hold all this up?" DeSantis said at a campaign event following the decision. "The legislature needs to change that."

DeLiberato told ABC News the other bill, which would make child rape a crime punishable by death, would also violate the constitution. The Supreme Court took up the issue in 2008 and ruled that it would violate the 8th Amendment, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment."

"We all can agree that child rape is probably the most horrific crime we can think of. But the issue here is it has already been decided that it's unconstitutional" to invoke the death penalty in those cases,” DeLiberato, who is also the executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said.

Florida has the highest death row population of any state that is actively carrying out executions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Since 1976, 101 Floridians on death row have been executed. Thirty have been exonerated in that time — more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Many of those inmates were convicted by non-unanimous juries.

SCOTUS

Previously, Florida permitted a simple majority to sentence an offender to death. But following a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling and then a state supreme court ruling, the legislature changed course and required that death penalty sentencing be unanimous.

In 2020, the state's high court again ruled on the issue, but this time with the addition of three DeSantis-appointed justices. It again reversed the requirement of unanimity and paved the way for this week's pending legislation.

Donald Dillbeck and Louis Gaskin have already been executed by Florida this year. A third, Darryl Barwick, is scheduled to be put to death on May 3.

Source: abcnews.go.com, Miles Cohen, April 20, 2023

_____________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW US ON:

TELEGRAM

TWITTER

CONTACT: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Singapore executes three drug mules over two days

Singapore hanged three people for drug offences last week, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003. These come a week before a constitutional challenge against the death penalty for drug offences is due to be heard. Singapore has some of the world's harshest anti-drug laws, which it says are a necessary deterrent to drug crime, a major issue elsewhere in South East Asia. Anyone convicted of trafficking - which includes selling, giving, transporting or administering - more than 15g of diamorphine, 30g of cocaine, 250g of methamphetamine and 500g of cannabis in Singapore will be handed the death sentence.

Florida | After nearly 50 years on death row, Tommy Zeigler seeks final chance at freedom

The Winter Garden Police chief was at a party on Christmas Eve 1975 when he received a phone call from his friend Tommy Zeigler, the owner of a furniture store on Dillard Street. “I’ve been shot, please hurry,” Zeigler told the chief as he struggled for breath. When police arrived at the store, Zeigler, 30, managed to unlock the door and then collapsed “with a gaping bullet hole through his lower abdomen,” court records show. In the store, detectives found a gruesome, bloody crime scene and several guns. Four other people — Zeigler’s wife, his in-laws and a laborer — lay dead.

Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case

A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail. Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Vietnam | Woman sentenced to death for poisoning 4 family members with cyanide

A woman in Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing family members including two young children in a series of cyanide poisonings that shocked her community. The Dong Nai People's Court found 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing and using toxic chemicals. Judges described her actions as "cold-blooded, inhumane and calculated," saying Bich exploited the trust of her victims and "destroyed every ethical bond within her family."

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog