Florida’s death penalty history is a complicated one. A Broward county circuit judge is looking to apply Florida's new death penalty law to an old case.
Last month, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that would reduce the requirements for sentencing someone to death.
The law requires only 8 jurors are needed to sentence someone to death, it used to be a unanimous decision.
And now one judge is using this new law on old cases.
However, a local law professor believes the judge’s ruling is a slippery slope.
“What I suspect happened is the state asked the judge to allow them to use this new statute and the judge ruled in the state's favor,” said University of Miami professor Craig Trocino.
In Broward County, Circuit Judge Martin Fein ruled Florida’s latest death penalty law applies to crimes committed before the law passed.
According to our CBS12 News partners at the Sun Sentinel, Judge Fein is looking to enforce this on a 2016 murder case whose jury has yet to be selected.
The University of Miami Law Professor Craig Trocino expects this case to be challenged.
“This is going to be a lot of litigation on this particular issue and ultimately I think it’s going to end up costing Florida taxpayers a lot of money,” said Trocino.
Florida’s death penalty history is a complicated one.
It was most recently highlighted by the sentencing of Nikolas Cruz, whose life was spared because the jury could not unanimously agree on the death penalty.
In our exclusive debate in October 2022 with Governor DeSantis and Charlie Christ, our Liz Quirantes asked about the death penalty in Cruz’s sentencing.
“When you murder, in cold blood, 17 innocent people there’s no other punishment that meets the gravity of that crime,” said DeSantis.
Trocino said Cruz’s fate won't change because he’s already been sentenced.
“That conviction and sentence is final, it’s not touchable. The time to challenge it has long since passed,” clarified Trocino.
In April, the governor signed Senate Bill 450 into law which would only require an 8-4 majority to sentence someone to death.
Trocino says whether it’s retroactively applicable will play out during its day in court.
“In some circumstances, it can and in some circumstances, it can’t. That will have to be litigated at court,” said Trocino.
Judge Fein’s ruling only applies to his courtroom.
Once the trial is complete, should the losing party disagree with the outcome, they would have to file an appeal with the appellate court.
If there is still no agreement on how this law is applied, it could go to the Florida Supreme Court for a decision.
Source: CBS News, Staff, May 9, 2023
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
