Post by Logan on May 10, 2016 5:24:32 GMT -6
A Miami-Dade judge has ruled that Florida's death penalty is unconstitutional because jurors are not required to agree unanimously on execution — a ruling that will add to the ongoing legal debate over Florida's capital punishment system.
Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch on Monday issued the ruling in the case of Karon Gaiter, who is awaiting trial for first-degree murder.
Hirsch wrote that Florida's recently enacted "super majority" system — 10 of 12 juror votes are needed to impose execution as punishment for murder — goes against the long-time sanctity of unanimous verdicts in the U.S. justice system.
"A decedent cannot be more or less dead. An expectant mother cannot be more or less pregnant," he wrote. "And a jury cannot be more or less unanimous. Every verdict in every criminal case in Florida requires the concurrence, not of some, not of most, but of all jurors — every single one of them."
Read more: www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-florida-judge-death-penalty-unconstitutional-20160509-story.html
Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch on Monday issued the ruling in the case of Karon Gaiter, who is awaiting trial for first-degree murder.
Hirsch wrote that Florida's recently enacted "super majority" system — 10 of 12 juror votes are needed to impose execution as punishment for murder — goes against the long-time sanctity of unanimous verdicts in the U.S. justice system.
"A decedent cannot be more or less dead. An expectant mother cannot be more or less pregnant," he wrote. "And a jury cannot be more or less unanimous. Every verdict in every criminal case in Florida requires the concurrence, not of some, not of most, but of all jurors — every single one of them."
Read more: www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-florida-judge-death-penalty-unconstitutional-20160509-story.html