Florida’s Death Penalty System Is Unconstitutional, U.S. Supreme Court Rules

There are 400 prisoners in Florida living on death row, and it’s likely that many will seek appeals in the wake of the justices’ decision.

In 1998, Hurst was a junior worker at a Popeye’s in Pensacola when he attacked Cynthia Harrison, 28, who was only 4ft 7in tall and had battled a number of physical disabilities to rise to the post of assistant manager.

“There’s no way of knowing that”, said Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center on whether the court had Hurst in mind during Bolin’s appeal, “since the case was decided so closely in proximity you’d think they probably were”.

“Florida law required the judge to hold a separate hearing and determine whether sufficient aggravating circumstances existed to justify imposing the death penalty”, Sotomayor wrote.

“It is no surprise that the high court found Florida’s hit-or-miss death sentencing scheme unconstitutional”, Mark Elliott, Director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said in a statement. “This right required Florida to base Timothy Hurst’s death sentence on a jury’s verdict, not a judge’s fact finding”, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the majority opinion.

The Supreme Court ruled the state’s sentencing process is unconstitutional.

Justice Samuel Alito cast the lone dissenting vote, saying Florida juries had more power than the majority was acknowledging. The Florida jury was also told that its recommendation was not binding and that it was up to the judge to make a final decision. Once that is rendered, the judge then independently weighs the evidence and hands down the actual sentence.

In this undated photo made available by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, inmate Timothy Lee Hurst.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida’s system for sentencing people to death is considered unconstitutional.

Despite these uncertainties, Public Defender Stacy Scott said she considers the Supreme Court ruling a wonderful decision. However, unlike most other death-penalty states, Florida doesn’t require unanimity among jurors, and judges don’t have to follow the recommendations.

In Alabama, as in the Florida case where the high court ruled Tuesday, the judge has the last word. No Florida judge has imposed the death penalty against the advice of a jury in more than 15 years, Alito noted.

“Each case will probably have to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to see how it affects them”, Levitt said, “and how their defense attorneys may want to use this case to make a case that the death penalty was wrongfully imposed on them”.

The Supreme Court in 2002 held the Constitution requires that defendants are entitled to a jury finding on any factor that can increase a sentence.

There are now 390 inmates on Florida’s death row.

The Supreme Court heard arguments over the case in October. Neither did Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The death penalty not being an option is only temporary until Florida legislators can draft a new statute.

Crisafulli said House legal experts would begin to review the ruling. And that could have a major impact for convicts on death row, right now. Following Florida trial procedure, that recommendation was sent to the judge, who ultimately affirmed the sentence. Alabama and DE are the two other states that don’t require a unanimous verdict at the penalty phase.