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Jim RosicaDecember 23, 2016

The state’s leading death penalty opposition group is calling for more than 200 Florida death row inmates to have their sentences reduced to life imprisonment. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) says a Florida Supreme Court decision on convicted killer Mark Asay out Thursday means that many are “entitled to be resentenced.” The court […]

Jim RosicaDecember 22, 2016

Mark Asay will remain on the state’s death row, the Florida Supreme Court decided Thursday, likely to become the “first white person executed for the murder of a black person in this state.” Its 80-page opinion also determined that this year’s U.S. Supreme Court opinion, Hurst v. Florida, requiring Florida juries—not judges—”to (determine) the facts necessary to sentence a defendant […]

Michael MolineDecember 20, 2016

Senate President Joe Negron on Tuesday defended his plan to store runoff from Lake Okeechobee instead of sending it into coastal estuaries where the nutrient-rich water can feed noxious algae blooms. One of the Stuart Republican’s top priorities for 2017 is to spend $2.4 billion to buy 60,000 acres of land south of the lake […]

Joe HendersonDecember 9, 2016

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Convicted murderer Ronald B. Smith reportedly coughed and heaved for 13 minutes Thursday night as the state of Alabama carried out its execution of the condemned murderer. What does this have to do with Florida? Maybe plenty. Florida has applied the death penalty with enthusiasm since it was reinstated here in 1976. The state has […]

Florence SnyderNovember 29, 2016

The death penalty used to be a big story in Florida. Print and broadcast executives gave sustained and thoughtful consideration to coverage decisions. The moral, religious, public safety, and financial dimensions of this irrevocable punishment are vast, and cry out for quality journalism. For years after Gov. Bob Graham signed John Spenkelink‘s death warrant, the beat was […]

Associated PressOctober 22, 2016

Attorney General Pam Bondi, warning that murder trials across the state could be placed in limbo, has asked the Florida Supreme Court to clarify a sweeping death penalty ruling it handed down last week. In two linked cases, the court first concluded that death sentences must require a unanimous jury and then struck down a […]

Jim RosicaOctober 14, 2016

Florida House Speaker-designate Richard Corcoran said he was “profoundly disappointed” by Friday’s state Supreme Court opinion invalidating part of the state’s death penalty. The court ruled 5-2 that death sentences require a unanimous jury, striking down a new law allowing a defendant to be sentenced to death as long as 10 out of 12 jurors recommend it. “Make […]

Associated PressOctober 14, 2016

The fate of convicted killers on Florida’s death row – as well as the fate of people awaiting trial for murder – was put in limbo Friday after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that death sentences require a unanimous jury. By a 5-2 vote the court struck down a newly enacted law allowing a defendant […]

Brendan FarringtonSeptember 9, 2016

The Florida Supreme Court reduced the sentence of a death row inmate Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered it to reconsider his intellectual abilities based on factors other than his IQ. Freddie Lee Hall, 71, will now serve a life sentence for the 1978 murder of a 21-year-old pregnant woman who was abducted while […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 23, 2016

In Duval County, it has taken just 66 minutes in the sentencing phase to decide to impose the death penalty on a murderer. And often, it has been done without a unanimous jury. That stat illustrates why one group believes Duval is among the worst of the worst when it comes to death penalty sentences, […]

Tag: death penalty
Pastel colored tropical townhomes

After Asay decision, anti-death penalty advocates call for commutations

In Mark Asay case, court says death penalty ruling isn’t retroactive

Joe Negron addresses Okeechobee overflow in broad-ranging briefing

Florida’s death penalty, a never-ending fight between state, opponents

In Saint Augustine, a dead priest pleads for the life of his killer

Pam Bondi wants court to clarify death penalty ruling

Reacting to death penalty decision, Richard Corcoran says courts ‘subvert will of the people’

Florida Court: Jury must unanimously agree on death penalty

Death to life: Florida reduces disabled murderer’s sentence

Harvard Law: Duval County among nation’s leaders in death penalty sentences