Despite the jury’s split decision, the judge chose to sentence Hurst to death. “What I think about when I’m involved in that is the victim”. The jury’s death recommendation was not unanimous.
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The U.S. Supreme Court today struck down Florida’s death sentencing system as unconstitutional. In Florida, the jury plays an advisory role, deciding if the defendant is eligible for the death penalty, then a judge determines whether that sentence should be imposed.
Overall, the death penalty use declined dramatically in the United States in 2015, with 28 executions spread across six states, the fewest since 1991. In some cases, of course, the issues are narrower, but advocates take each ruling and try to make the most of it both for individuals and for the movement as a whole.
“Right now, Florida juries can feel like, well, we’re just making a recommendation”, she said.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that a jury’s “mere recommendation is not enough”.
Justice Samuel Alito dissented, saying that the trial judge in Florida simply performs a reviewing function that duplicates what the jury has done.
Therefore, while the decision’s impact on inmates now on death row may be limited, the ruling is one more indication that this Court is interested in taking up the constitutionality of the death penalty.
“The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death”.
Florida’s solicitor general, Allen Winsor, said that the state’s hybrid system was constitutional because it allowed juries to decide a defendant’s fate first.
But the most powerful argument for a review of Florida’s death penalty remains this chilling fact: Our state leads the nation in the number of death-row inmates exonerated since 1973, with 26, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Other Republican legislators, however, are less willing to pursue expansive reform of Florida’s death penalty process. He said he hopes to argue the current appeals next month, but hasn’t ruled out filing a new appeal based on the new ruling. In response, three years later, the Florida Supreme Court told the state legislature it should pass a law requiring unanimous juries. Florida House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, who learned of the ruling while he was giving a speech to open the state’s annual legislative session, said the Supreme Court had “impeccable timing”. This isn’t like some Supreme Court decisions which forever bind us to a particular ideology. In interviews on Wednesday, legal experts said that regardless of the precise language that emerges from Tallahassee, there’s little doubt Florida will have to transfer power from judges to juries, shouldering ordinary citizens with a grave duty.
What may happen to the 400 people on Florida’s death now.
Alabama also allows judges to override a jury’s findings in death penalty sentencing hearings, but it’s not clear whether its system is affected by the case.
However, the Montana attorney general’s office believes the decision does not affect Montana’s death-penalty law.
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“This shows that the Supreme Court continues to apply close scrutiny to the death penalty”, said Cassandra Stubbs, director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project, to CNN of the initial decision.
