Broward County judge rules that the 8-4 statute applies to new trial.
Broward County Circuit Court Judge Fein granted the State's motion to apply the new statute in a trial that started at the end of April.
The Sun Sentinel reported over the weekend that a Broward County circuit judge has ruled that the new 8-4 statute applies to a capital trial that started at the end of April. The defendant is Clarck Paul, who is on trial for crimes that occurred in 2016.
On April 24, 2023, almost immediately after Governor DeSantis signed the legislation, the State filed a motion to apply the new statute to the upcoming trial:
The next day, after a hearing on April 24, the Court entered an Order granting the State’s motion:
The Court found that it was “required to apply the law in its current form” under Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Unlike the Volusia County case, in which the judge ruled that the old statute would continue to apply, the Court noted that “[t]he trial . . . ha[d] not commenced” as of the date of the Court’s Order.1
The Court also denied the defense’s motion to declare the new statute unconstitutional in a one-sentence, handwritten Order:
