FOLLOW US

But with Scott and Republican legislative leaders strongly supporting the death penalty, such a moratorium is unlikely. "There's no doubt, if you look at national trends, that the Florida Legislature's and governor's office insistence place them in a handful of states that are actively trying to devise a system which is going to produce death sentences," said University of Miami law professor Scott Sundby, who has researched the behavior of juries in death penalty cases. The U.S. Supreme Court 8-1 ruling in the Hurst case in January 2016 found that Florida's system of allowing judges to find the facts necessary to impose the death penalty was an unconstitutional violation of the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury. That decision prompted the state Supreme Court to put an indefinite hold on two executions scheduled by Scott and spurred the Legislature last year to hurriedly pass a measure aimed at addressing the constitutional problems. The law also required at least 10 jurors --- instead of the old law's requirement of a simple majority of jurors --- to recommend death. Of the nearly three dozen states with the death penalty, Florida was then one of only three --- including Delaware and Alabama --- that did not require unanimous jury recommendations for the sentence. Delaware has since abandoned the death penalty. The Florida Supreme Court last fall struck down the revised statute, saying that, as in every other type of case, unanimous jury recommendations are required in death-penalty sentencing. Once again, lawmakers rushed to address the court decision during this year's legislative session and sent a measure requiring unanimous jury recommendations --- the first bill to pass both chambers --- to Scott. He signed the legislation on March 13. But, while the governor and the Republican-dominated Legislature may believe the new law resolved Florida's court-related problems, 9th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Aramis Ayala focused a new spotlight on the death penalty when she announced days later that she would not seek death sentences in any cases during her time in office. Ayala, whose circuit includes Orange and Osceola counties and who is the first black state attorney elected in Florida, said she reached her conclusion after deciding that "doing so is not in the best interest of this community or the best interest of justice." She cited research showing death sentences are not a deterrent to crime, are prohibitively costly and do a disservice to victims' families, who may wait decades without seeing those convicted of killing their loved ones finally executed.