“It’s actually been really eye-opening in that regard, to see that it’s much less of a partisan issue than, say, abortion,” Arnold said. State Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book spearheaded the child sexual assault expansion, citing her own history of child abuse by a caregiver.Īnger over the 2018 Parkland killer of 17 people escaping a death sentence by one juror’s vote also led many Democrats to back needing just eight votes to sentence death, including Book, Sen. Notably, the bills received bipartisan support. “So for Florida to even go further than that … means that we are now the outlier on the death penalty in the nation.” “Alabama’s requirement is at least 10 jurors must agree,” Arnold said. “Alabama is the only other state that does not require jury unanimity when recommending a death sentence,” said Christie Arnold, associate for Social Concerns and Respect Life with the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. The expansion of the death penalty in Florida makes it stand out, even in the South. “He figured whatever good he wanted to achieve in politics would be lost if he didn’t give the people what they wanted.” “Graham made a deal with the devil on the death penalty,” said Miami Herald editor Tom Fiedler, according to Slate. Bill Clinton famously returned from the campaign trail in 1992 to oversee the execution of mentally impaired convict Ricky Ray Rector, while former Graham was nicknamed “Bloody Bob” for increasing executions in election years. That includes providing the drugs used in lethal injection, the requirement that state officials including DeSantis be physically present and on the phone, the presence of witnesses and family members, as well as medical professionals needing to be on hand.įor death warrants, the law requires “a complete exhaustion of remaining appeals and the egregiousness of the crime committed,” Griffin said, adding state emergencies such as hurricanes also delay the process.ĭemocrats have used executions to shore up their “tough-on-crime” credentials in the past. Griffin said the execution procedure “is far more complicated - and involves many more people and resources - than is commonly understood.” “And then we’re trying to get on a more normal pace with some of this.” ‘Far more complicated’ “We said, ‘Let’s just get through the election,’” DeSantis said. The COVID-19 pandemic also led to delays, he said, as well as 2022 being an election year. James Dailey claimed another man confessed to the 1985 murder of a woman in Pinellas County for which he was sentenced to death, but he failed to convince a court in 20 and is still awaiting execution. There are currently 323 people on death row in Florida.Īt an event on May 5, DeSantis explained the rise in executions this year, telling reporters, “This is the law of the land, and we’re going to make sure that it’s followed.”ĭeSantis said executions “slid a little bit” because of legal issues such as the disputed guilt of a death row inmate. 23 execution of Donald David Dillbeck for a slaying in Tallahassee in 1990.ĭillbeck was the first person executed in more than three years, when Gary Ray Bowles was put to death in August 2019 for a 1994 murder in Jacksonville. On May 3, the state executed Darryl Barwick for the 1986 murder of Rebecca Wendt in Panama City, which followed the April 12 execution of Louis Gaskin in the 1989 murders of a couple in Flagler County and the Feb. Owen is scheduled to die by lethal injection on June 15 in the murders of Georgianna Worden and Karen Slattery in 1984 in Boca Raton and Delray Beach.
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