Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Thursday signed a bill into regulation that enables juries to advocate the loss of life penalty with out unanimous consent.
For a jury to advocate the loss of life penalty below Florida regulation, the jury should unanimously verify there was an “aggravating issue” current to warrant capital punishment. Aggravating factors embrace if the crime was particularly merciless or heinous, if it was dedicated for cash, or if the sufferer was below the age of 12, amongst others. Then, the jury could make the choice whether or not to advocate the defendant receives the loss of life penalty. Beforehand, there needed to be unanimous consent to advocate the loss of life penalty. Underneath the brand new regulation, solely eight out of twelve jurors should favor capital punishment. If this margin just isn’t met, the defendant will obtain life in jail with out the potential for parole.
DeSantis said of the invoice:
A couple of months in the past, we endured one other tragic failure of the justice system. In the present day’s change in Florida regulation will hopefully save different households from the injustices we now have suffered. I’m proud to signal laws that may forestall households from having to endure what the Parkland households have and guarantee correct justice can be served within the state of Florida.
This invoice grew to become a spotlight for the Florida legislature after a jury convicted the 2018 Parkland shooter of 17 counts of first-degree homicide and obtained a sentence of life in prison after three jurors voted in opposition to the loss of life penalty.
This comes after the Loss of life Penalty Data Heart referred to as 2022 the “Year of the Botched Execution” in a report highlighting racial disparities, issues administering deadly injections, and different points with the capital punishment course of within the US.
Picture supply: jurist.org
