High court: Florida death penalty system is unconstitutional

The majority decision, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, found the state relies too much on judges in deciding death sentences and that the “Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death”. This right required Florida to base Timothy Hurst’s death sentence on a jury’s verdict, not a judge’s fact-finding, said the Court while holding the scheme unconstitutional.

“Florida is going to have to change somewhat the scheme we’ve got right now, but in the long run, I still think we will get as many death penalty cases as we have handled, and we will get as many death penalty recommendations- or now sentences- as we have”, he says.

The 8-1 ruling came in the case of Timothy Lee Hurst, who was convicted of stabbing a coworker to death in 1998 at a Popeye’s restaurant in Pensacola. The jury had voted 7-5 to recommend the death penalty for Hurst. Florida’s solicitor general, Allen Winsor, argued in court in October that the state’s system of having judges and juries go through separate processes offers more, not less, protection for capital defendants.

“The 6th Amendment protects a defendant’s right to an impartial jury”, she said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the way Florida puts people on Death Row is unconstitutional, creating questions on whether numerous 390 people now sentenced to die in Florida might avoid execution. That decision overturned a previous allowance that had given a judge the power to override a jury’s recommendation and impose a death sentence unilaterally.

Sotomayor’s opinion left open the possibility that Florida could make other arguments for sustaining Hurst’s sentence.

Miller said one of the things he would like to see the legislature address is whether future death penalty verdicts will require a unanimous jury, which controversially are required to convict but not to execute.

Florida’s death penalty process is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

A judge sentenced Hurst to death.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was the lone dissenter.

Howard Simon, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, says the ruling validates what advocates have argued for years. “In the interest of bringing this protracted litigation to a close, I would rule on the issue of harmless error and would affirm the decision of the Florida Supreme Court“, Alito wrote. And the judge could consider evidence that the jury did not.

Butler said former Indian River County resident Rodney Lowe, who has twice been sentenced to death, has an appeal pending after a jury in 2012 returned him to death row for the murder of a Sebastian store clerk.

The Miami Herald reports that state lawmakers are already preparing to “fix” what the Supreme Court said is broken.

It seems likely that the ruling will have limited impact outside of Florida, because no other state has exactly the same procedure.