Jesse Scheckner
As the hours tick by on the last day of Regular Session, linguistic quibbles and resentment over process could spell the end for a bill meant to keep cop killers from getting lighter sentences.
The Republican sponsors of the legislation (SB 234) disagree over just four words that, to a layman, appear to mean the same thing.
Ormond Beach Sen. Tom Leek’s preferred version states that people cannot resist a “lawful or an unlawful” arrest with violence or a threat of violence. Jacksonville Rep. Jessica Baker, meanwhile, prefers language regarding resisting should apply to “any” arrest.
On the surface, the dispute is over semantics. But Leek and Baker both acknowledged it’s more about a lack of inter-chamber collaboration.
After Senate talks about the bill got contentious in late March, when members of the Black Caucus resolved that they could not support any bill without a “good faith” requirement for police, Leek amended the bill to include the requirement and a definition for the term.
The process to do so, he said Friday, included the input of numerous police, legal and local government advocacy organizations.
But one party absent from the process was Baker, who said as much on the House floor Thursday after the Senate refused to accept her amendment to replace the language referring to a “lawful or an unlawful” arrest with “any.”
Baker noted that the House accepted the “good faith” language, but the Senate did not do the same when asked to approve a comparatively minor amendment in return. She said the Senate “cheered as they stripped away” the House’s amendment before sending it back.
“Well, I have some news for our friends on the other side of the rotunda: We are a bicameral Legislature, and we will not be dictated to by the Senate,” she said. “If our partners want to kill this good bill for the second year in a row, and they refuse to stand behind law enforcement, and they want to keep lighter sentences for cop killers, then that is on them.”
Leek fired back Friday afternoon, saying Baker was “offended” because the Senate excluded her.
“If what she needs to hear is that I’m sorry that she wasn’t engaged in that process, this is it: I’m sorry,” he said, somewhat dismissively. “But now, reach as deep inside you as you need to reach to find the goodness to do the right thing.”
He then requested, and the Senate agreed, to send the bill back to the House with a demand that the amendment be removed.
This is the second year Baker has carried a bill containing SB 234’s proposed changes. The measure is titled the “Officer Jason Raynor Act” after Daytona Beach Police Officer Jason Raynor, who was fatally shot in 2021.
Prosecutors sought a first-degree murder charge against Raynor’s killer, Othal Wallace, who resisted lawful detainment by Raynor, forced a physical confrontation and in less than 30 seconds pulled a gun and shot the officer in the head.
Jurors instead found Wallace guilty of a lesser manslaughter charge, which carries a maximum 30-year prison sentence when the crime involves a firearm. Community outrage followed.
SB 234 would require mandatory life sentences without parole for defendants convicted of manslaughter in cases involving the death of a police officer.
Fort Myers Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin sponsored the legislation in 2024 but couldn’t get it to the chamber floor. Leek took it up this year.
Democrats in both chambers have voiced support for Leek and Baker tossing the bill back and forth.
Miami Rep. Ashley Gantt said she appreciated the “bipartisan collaboration” Baker employed to refine the measure.
“The policy that was in the original language in the bill, that the Senate changed, is good policy for Florida,” she said. “And so, I am very honored to applaud you, support you and say, ‘You go, Baker,’ one more time.”
Tamarac Sen. Rosalind Osgood leaned into acrimony.
“Shame on someone that’s so petty that they’re putting ego and personalities before what we’re trying to do for the people,” she said. “A lot of times we talk offline, but we’re the Florida Senate … and we stand with you, my brother.”
Sen. Jason Pizzo, who a week ago resigned as Senate Democratic Leader and left the party, said Leek was “incredibly magnanimous” when he took the Black Caucus’ concerns into consideration “at perhaps an inconvenient time” and made the “good faith” change.
“You did the right thing, sir,” Pizzo said.
There’s still time for the two chambers to reach an agreement — but not much.
