I want to know he has no more appeals. “We lead the nation in mistakes – people who have been removed from death row because they were wrongly sentenced to death…”
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“It’s a mess”, said Sebring defense attorney William Fletcher.
Florida has about 400 prisoners on death row, second only to California.
Houchin, who successfully prosecuted Altersberger, believes the Florida Legislature will have to change its death penalty law. After a conviction, the jury moves to the sentencing phase of the trial.
“Obviously we are very pleased with the decision”, said Litty, who was studying how the decision could impact Tisdale’s possible punishment. If the jury has issued a recommendation, the judge doesn’t have to follow it. No other state gives judges such discretion.
“Either that or we abolish the death penalty”, Carlos Trujillo, a Miami Republican and chair of the House Criminal Justice Committee, told the Herald.
The 8-to-1 decision in the Hurst v. Florida case is a temporary victory for Timothy Lee Hurst, who was convicted in 2000 of the 1998 murder of Cynthia Lee Harrison, his co-worker at Popeye’s restaurant in Escambia County.
In his dissent, Justice Alito noted that if the jury in a capital case in Florida recommends a life sentence, the judge may override that decision only, “If the facts suggesting a sentence of death were so clear and convincing that virtually no reasonable person could differ”.
Hurst’s lawyers had argued that reigning precedent in Florida demands that “aggravating factors” of the crime be identified for the defendant to be eligible for the death penalty.
Hurt could potentially be re-sentenced in an attempt to avoid death, but the previous juries involved in the Florida process to determine death sentences all recommended Hurt should receive the death penalty in split decisions.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a jury must have the final say in issuing a death sentence, not the judge. The court ruled that Florida gave too much authority to judges.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, however, that Florida’s capital sentencing procedure violates the Sixth Amendment right “to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury” because it regards a jury as merely “advisory”, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the majority.
The court ultimately ended up sending the case back to the Florida Supreme Court to determine if the error in Hurst’s sentencing was harmless or if a new hearing should be staged.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declared that Florida’s death penalty sentencing system is unconstitutional.
In Hurst’s case, prosecutors asked the jury to consider two aggravating factors: the murder was committed during a robbery, and it was “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel”.
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“By striking down Florida’s capital punishment scheme, the Supreme Court restored the central role of the jury in imposing the death penalty”, Cassandra Stubbs, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Capital Punishment Project, said in a statement. The likely result will be many more death row inmates returning to court for resentencing and potentially years of additional delays in executions.
