Janelle Irwin Taylor
Toast: Two judges, some killers (unfortunately) and death penalty critics
The death penalty doesn’t exist in Florida. At least not for now. And that’s a thing of beauty for people who don’t care for the policy much. Especially considering Florida is the second-most murderous state in the nation in terms of capital punishment.
Two judges, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Samantha Ward and Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Michael Andrews, found consensus that right now, Florida doesn’t have a death penalty.
Last month, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down part of Florida’s death penalty law, Andrews refused prosecutors’ request to seek the death penalty in the case of a Pinellas Park man (monster if he’s indeed guilty) accused of shaking and striking his 3-month old-daughter to death.
Then this week Ward did the same in the case of a 30-year-old woman who killed both her mother and father in-law. She also sited the Supreme Court ruling.
“The United States Supreme Court held Florida’s capital sentencing scheme unconstitutional. This Court, therefore, concludes that there currently exists no statutory authority in Florida under which the State can seek the death penalty, nor this Court impose the death penalty,” Ward wrote, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
But despite that ruling, prosecutors have continued to seek the death penalty in capital cases, arguing that only a portion of Florida’s law was struck down. In the Pinellas case, they argued lawmakers would have time to sort out the language before the April trial.
Defense attorneys in that case successfully argued that the ruling did indeed squash Florida’s death penalty law as is evidenced by the state Legislature hurrying to replace it.
Two versions are floating. One in the Senate would require unanimous jury consent for both qualifying a case as capital and again to implement the death penalty. It removes discretion by a judge to implement the death penalty despite a jury’s recommendation to the contrary.
Another version in the House would simply require a 9-3 majority in favor of the death penalty.
Prosecutors support the latter, defense attorneys the former.
It’s probably (if not certain) that the death penalty will make a resurgence in the Sunshine state, but these rulings and the judges associated with them will no doubt have succeeded in making the process a little less easy for prosecutors.
It’s worth noting, this issue could also have wound up in the “Dump” category this week if we had looked exclusively at the victims and their families. Without overlooking what may feel an injustice to them, we send heartfelt condolences to the families wrapped up in this legal red tape.
Dump: Jim Frishe
Jim Frishe has been in the race for Pinellas County Property Appraiser for about 10 months. His opponent, Mike Twitty, has been in it for about six. Yet Twitty is out-raising Frishe by more than $60,000.
Twitty has raked in contributions in excess of $103,000 compared with Frishe, who comes in just under $40,000.
That’s a huge gap even if Frishe hadn’t have had a four-month jump. To make it worse for Frishe, he’s a former veteran member of the Florida House of Representatives. That means he should have plenty of name recognition and gobs of GOP friends with deep pockets.
Twitty, well he’s just a first-time candidate who’s managed to sack Frishe in terms of fundraising and support.
Frishe may have been doomed from the start. He lacks any real tangible experience to tout on a résumé for property appraiser. He claims his experience in real estate qualifies and said he’s taken some classes along the way. Against some candidates that may have been enough.
But Twitty comes to the table with an entire career of property appraisal experience under his belt. Clerk of the Court Ken Burke, a prominent member of the local GOP, recruited him. And he earned an endorsement from the incumbent, Pam Dubov, who isn’t seeking re-election.
It’s worth noting that it’s not likely anyone would have run against Dubov had she decided to seek re-election instead of devoting more of her time to her church as a Deacon.
The numbers coming in this week couldn’t have felt good for Frishe. If he’s not considering hopping out of the race he’s got to at least be examining some pretty extreme measures to remain competitive.
