Joe Henderson
You can legitimately argue that the executive order by Gov. Rick Scott removing Orlando State Attorney Aramis Ayala from 21 more potential death penalty cases was blatant over-reach. For the record, I wouldn’t automatically agree but I can see that side of the argument.
We all know what a firestorm Ayala created when she decided not to seek the death penalty for alleged cop-killer Markeith Loyd. Scott came down on the side of outrage and in a stunning turn he ordered that the case go to another prosecutor. He doubled-down on that – well, 21nd down – with his most recent decree.
That prompted state Sen. Randolph Bracy, an Orlando Democrat, to blast Scott in an op-ed published in the New York Times. He was making strong arguments why the governor’s actions are wrong, at least up to the point where he wrote this paragraph:
“As a black man, I see the death penalty as a powerful symbol of injustice in which race often determines who lives and who dies, especially in Florida. The state has the second-largest number of death row inmates in the country, after California, and African-Americans are grossly over-represented on Florida’s death row.”
Fact check, please!
Actually, there are 143 black males on death row compared to 214 white males. And when it comes to the total number of executions carried out since the capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, Texas is the runaway leader with the number of people put to death with 576. Florida is fourth (behind Oklahoma and Virginia) with 92.
As for the butcher’s bill, those executed include 57 white males compared to 29 black males. Both women executed in the state also were white.
His heart might have been in the right place, but being so far off on the numbers totally undercuts Bracy’s argument.
Public sentiment is turning against the death penalty because it’s obviously not the deterrent its supporters claim. It’s strictly about society’s need for vengeance. If the state were to decide to do away with it in favor of locking murderers up and never letting them out, that would be fine by me.
I might make an exception for anyone who murders a police officer, but that’s about it.
Here’s the thing, though: It’s not my call. Florida has the death penalty and if there ever was a case where it should be in play, it’s the one involving Loyd. If the law is going to be changed, that is done in the Legislature. While I appreciate and maybe even agree with Ayala’s argument about the futility of capital punishment, it’s her job to prosecute crimes like the one Loyd allegedly committed to the full extent of the law.
Yes, a prosecutor can exercise judgment in deciding what to course of action to take. I believe she was wrong, though, by basically saying she won’t seek the death penalty because she doesn’t like it. If that’s her heartfelt belief, she should consider a career change – maybe defending accused murderers instead of prosecuting them.
3 comments
Kendra
April 5, 2017 at 11:33 am
There was absolutely nothing incorrect about his numbers. He clearly stated that Florida has the second largest population of INMATES on death row – not the second largest number of people actually executed. Thus his number was correct. He stated that black men are “overrepresented.” That is correct. He did not say that there were more black men than white men on death row. When you look at the PERCENTAGE of blacks versus whites who are CHARGED WITH MURDER, a higher percentage of blacks are sentenced to death. You are attacking numbers he didn’t actually put out.
And it has been shown time and time again, it’s not only that blacks are overrepresented on death row. The number one indicator of whether a person will be sentenced to death? The race of the victim. If your victim was black, no worries, you’ll probably get life in prison. If your victim was white? Say hello to lethal injection. If you think that the death penalty isn’t grotesquely race-based, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
I swear, I am tired of encountering people who are either 1.) flatly stupid or 2.) incapable of reading or at least comprehending what they read. You should be embarrassed, Mr. Henderson.
And give me a break with your, “Florida has the death penalty, so the prosecutor has to seek it.” Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. I am an attorney; the prosecutor’s primary function is to see that justice is done. Period. See Berger v. US, 295 US 78, 88 (1935). When capital punishment is so heavily race-dependent (as opposed to being based on the circumstances of the underlying crime), the SA’s office does not just have the prosecutorial discretion to avoid seeking the death penalty; it has a DUTY not to seek it. Over and over again in our state and national history, we have had to put the brakes on the death penalty for precisely these reasons. Unfortunately, getting to a Supreme Court decision like the one that ended capital punishment a half century ago is a torturously slow process, and in the meantime, people are wrongly put to death. It took a great deal of courage for Ayala to say, “I’m going to use my discretion to prevent that now instead of waiting until irreparable harm is done.”
Way to show your complete, unabashed ignorance.
Kendra
April 5, 2017 at 11:36 am
And she didn’t refuse to seek the death penalty because “she doesn’t like it.” Good grief. You are a special kind of idiot.
Glehn
April 6, 2017 at 7:34 am
Kendra’s comment already said it all. Not sure why this “article” was even written, let alone promoted in Sunburn on 4-6-17. It’s completely idiotic.
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