Florida dramatically loosens death penalty requirements after Nikolas Cruz sentencing

Florida will soon no longer require unanimous jury recommendations for judges to impose death penalty sentences

Death Penalty Florida (© South Florida Sun Sentinel 2022)

Florida will soon no longer require unanimous jury recommendations for judges to impose death penalty sentences under a bill the Legislature approved Thursday, a reaction to the life sentence handed to the man who massacred 17 people at a Parkland high school.

The House passed the bill on a 80-30 vote. It now goes to Republican Gov Ron DeSantis for final approval. It will allow the death penalty with a jury recommendation of at least 8-4 in favor of execution. Mr DeSantis supports the proposal.

The bill was filed after the outrage over a divided 9-3 jury sparing Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz from capital punishment for the 2018 massacre. He instead received a life sentence with no parole.

Only three states out of the 27 that impose the death penalty do not require unanimity. Alabama allows a 10-2 decision, and Missouri and Indiana let a judge decide when there is a divided jury.

Florida has executed two convicted murderers this year, including one on Wednesday, and another execution is scheduled in three weeks. Mr DeSantis, who is a likely presidential candidate, hadn’t overseen an execution since 2019 before signing the three death warrants this year.

Barring any stays, it will be the shortest period that three executions have been carried out in Florida since 2014 under former Gov Rick Scott, also a Republican.

For decades, Florida had not required unanimity in capital punishment. The state allowed a judge to impose capital punishment as long as a majority of jurors were in favor of the penalty. But in 2016, the US Supreme Court threw out state law, saying it allowed judges too much discretion.

The state Legislature then passed a bill requiring a 10-2 jury recommendation, but the state Supreme Court said such recommendations should be unanimous, prompting lawmakers in 2017 to require just that.

Three years later, the state Supreme Court, with new conservative jurists appointed by Mr DeSantis, rescinded its earlier decision and ruled that a death recommendation does not need to be unanimous. Florida’s unanimity standard has remained untouched until now.

The Independent and the nonprofit Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) have launched a joint campaign calling for an end to the death penalty in the US. The RBIJ has attracted more than 150 well-known signatories to their Business Leaders Declaration Against the Death Penalty - with The Independent as the latest on the list. We join high-profile executives like Ariana Huffington, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson as part of this initiative and are making a pledge to highlight the injustices of the death penalty in our coverage.