Deceased: Charles Finney

DOC records show that Charles Finney died Tuesday after over 30 years on Florida's death row.

Photo of Charles Finney from the Florida Department of Corrections

According to Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) records, Florida death row prisoner Charles Finney died Tuesday while in DOC custody after serving over 30 years on death row.

Finney was 70 years old at the time of his death. He was sentenced to death for crimes that occurred in Hillsborough County in January 1991.

The cause of Finney’s death is unclear. State policy requires that an autopsy be performed for all deaths; however, those records would only be accessible through a public records request.

---

Background on Finney’s Sentence of Death

In September 1992, Finney was convicted of first-degree murder for crimes that occurred in 1991. The jury recommended death by a vote of 9-3, and the trial court sentenced Finney to death.¹ On direct appeal, in 1995, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed Finney’s sentence of death. His sentence became final in January 2016.

Finney sought postconviction relief on several occasions, all of which were denied.

In 2018, the Florida Supreme Court denied Finney relief under Hurst because his sentence became final before Ring v. Arizona.²

1. Finney v. State, 660 So. 2d 674, 679 (Fla. 1995).

2. Finney v. State, 235 So. 3d 279 (Fla. 2018). For a full explanation of Hurst, see the five-part TFDP series available here.