Florida is overhauling the state’s death penalty laws to require that at least 10 out of 12 jurors recommend execution before it’s carried out. Previously, only a majority of jurors was needed to recommend a death sentence.
Florida overhauls death penalty in a bid to resume executions after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling: https://t.co/HrwjPIzK1J
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 3, 2016
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that the state’s current law is unconstitutional because judges could reach a different decision than juries, which only had an advisory role in recommending the penalty.
The bill won’t affect the 389 inmates currently on Florida’s death roll immediately but could, pending on a ruling by Florida’s Supreme Court on whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling would apply to those currently sentenced to death.
