Supreme Court rules Florida death penalty unconstitutional

That’s at odds with a string of Supreme Court cases which held that facts that add to a defendant’s punishment must be found by a jury.

Timothy Hurst, the man at the center of the case, was implicated in a grisly crime that Sotomayor recounted.

Dissenting alone, Justice Samuel A. Alito said the justices had upheld Florida’s system in the past.

Alabama death penalty cases feature a two-part process, the guilt phase and, if the defendant is convicted, a penalty phase. Tuesday’s ruling will apply to inmates whose appeals are ongoing, which could include dozens of inmates.

Death penalty opponents hailed the decision as progress toward abolition of capital punishment in the US.

Now “every single one of them will bring a Hurst challenge and the lower courts will sort it out in a variety of ways”, said Douglas Berman, a specialist on criminal sentencing who teaches at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.

In an 8-1 ruling, the justices said this judge-driven system violates a defendant’s right to a jury trial.

Florida is one of a few U.S. states that do not require a jury to reach a unanimous verdict when sentencing someone to death.

Assistant State Attorney Ryan Butler said after consulting with the Attorney General’s Office, Tisdale is one of two murder cases from the Treasure Coast that may be affected by Tuesday’s opinion. Even though the jury in Hurst’s case recommended a death sentence, the plaintiff’s argument was with the process and not the particulars of this case.

The jury in Hurst’s case recommended a death sentence by a 7-to-5 margin. She said lower courts could consider the state’s contention that any flaws in its death sentencing system didn’t affect Hurst’s ultimate sentence.

Florida has almost 400 prisoners on death row, the highest number of any state except California. Any Florida inmates sentenced after the Supreme Court’s 2002 decision in Ring could also be eligible for resentencing, Menschel noted.

“Juries across the country have become increasingly reluctant to vote in favor of death”, she said. Lawmakers should respond to the court decision with a vigorous review and smart legislation that would make Florida’s death penalty legally bullet-proof. Notwithstanding this recommendation, Florida law required the judge to hold a separate hearing and determine whether sufficient aggravating circumstances existed to justify imposing the death penalty.

Although the Arizona scheme did not include a jury at all, unlike Florida, the Court saw a difference without a distinction.

The execution last week of serial killer Oscar Ray Bolin, who beat and stabbed to death three Tampa Bay area women, underscored why the death penalty is necessary.

“The Florida Supreme Court has a dozen different directions that it can go in and the only certain thing is that this is going to be litigated for a long time”, he said.