Supreme Court rules juries must determine death sentences in Florida

Tuesday’s ruling leaves several questions to be answered in the coming months: Will inmates now on Death Row be entitled to new sentencing hearings?

The ruling is based on the case of Timothy Lee Hurst, who murdered his manager at a Popeyes restaurant in Pensacola. But that sentence was imposed by a judge after a jury split 7-5 over whether the death penalty was warranted. He defended Florida’s rules in his dissent, writing that Florida’s jurors were intensely involved in sentencing convicted murderers to death even if judges were given the final say.

In Tuesday’s opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote on behalf of the court and deemed Florida’s current sentencing scheme a violation of the Sixth Amendment. “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. But Justice Sotomayor said those earlier decisions had been undercut by a 2002 Supreme Court decision in an Arizona death penalty case.

State Attorney Bill Eddins expressed his disappointment with the Supreme Court opinion, but said he expected that most death penalty cases could continue in some capacity while the state legislature rewrote capital sentencing laws. The judge can also weigh other factors independently.

In Hurst’s case, prosecutors asked the jury to consider two aggravating factors: the murder was committed during a robbery and it was “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel”.

Only once in recent history has a Miami-Dade judge gone against a jury’s recommendation. But it is unclear whether all seven agreed on both, or, for instance, whether four agreed on one and three on the other.

Florida requires juries to make recommendations to judges regarding the death penalty after considering aggravating and mitigating circumstances, with judges ultimately imposing the sentences. “A jury’s mere recommendation is not enough”.

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.

“The Sixth Amendment protects a defendant’s right to an impartial jury”, Sotomayor wrote.

Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said the ruling marked “another blow to the crumbling legal foundation” of the state’s death-penalty system.

“In general, it will not be retroactively applied”, Harper said.

Almost 400 prisoners sit on Florida’s Death row.

“I will work with state lawmakers this legislative session to ensure that those changes comply with the court’s latest decision”, she said.

Until Tuesday, Florida remained a stubborn outlier when it came to sentencing convicted felons to death.

The ruling could impact hundreds of people now on Death Row, including many from Jacksonville. All but one of the court’s conservative judges sided with the liberals in finding Florida’s system flawed.

Justice Samuel Alito was the sole dissenter in Tuesday’s ruling and disagreed that the Sixth Amendment requires juries to make specific findings authorizing a death sentence.

The Seventh Judicial Circuit did not want to comment on the ruling at this time, only saying that they’re reviewing the Supreme Court ruling.