PROSECUTOR’S DECISION REFUELS DEATH PENALTY DEBATE
By DARA KAM
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
©2017 The News Service of Florida. All rights reserved. Posting or forwarding this material without permission is prohibited. You can view the Terms of Use on our website.
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, March 27, 2017……… Florida’s death penalty has been roiled by controversy for decades, marred in the past by botched executions — including one that resulted in the retirement of “Old Sparky” — and, more recently, by court rulings condemning the way defendants were sentenced to death.
It’s been more than a year since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in a case known as Hurst v. Florida, put executions on hold and sent the death penalty into a state of limbo.
The latest controversy over a Central Florida prosecutor’s decision not to seek death sentences in capital cases — and Gov. Rick Scott’s swift removal of her from a high-profile case involving an accused cop-killer — has quickly galvanized longtime opponents of the death penalty.
