Fifth petition filed at the Florida Supreme Court challenging application of new statute
On August 31, days before his Hurst resentencing, Renaldo McGirth filed a petition at the Florida Supreme Court challenging the trial court's ruling that the 2023 statute would apply.
On August 31, Renaldo McGirth, through counsel, filed a petition in the Florida Supreme Court requesting relief from the trial court’s ruling that Florida’s 2023 capital sentencing statute will apply to his resentencing proceeding in Marion County, which was granted in light of Hurst.1
McGirth was sentenced to death following a jury’s recommendation for death by a vote of 11-1 for crimes that occurred in 2006. In 2010, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the sentence of death on direct appeal. His sentence became final in April 2011. After Hurst, in 2017, the Florida Supreme Court vacated McGirth’s sentence and ordered a new penalty phase. The new penalty phase was set to start on Tuesday (Sept. 5).
Ahead of McGirth’s new penalty phase, following Gov. DeSantis enacting Florida’s 2023 capital sentencing scheme, the State filed a motion asking the trial court to apply the new statute in the upcoming resentencing. The defense filed a motion seeking to preclude application of the new statute. The trial court ruled that the new statute would apply to the resentencing.
In light of the trial court’s ruling, McGirth filed a petition at the Florida Supreme Court challenging the trial court’s ruling,. The petition presents the following issue:
McGirth’s is the fifth petition filed at the Court in a case in which a death-row prisoner is awaiting a resentencing that was granted after Hurst and the trial court has held that the 2023 capital sentencing statute will apply. The four prior petitions have been in Hertz, Looney, Gonzalez, and Smith. Three of the four previously filed petitions (Looney, Gonzalez, and Smith) remain pending. Hertz’s petition was dismissed with his agreement, and there is an outstanding motion to dismiss in Looney. (The latest on these four prior petitions from TFDP is here.)
In light of McGirth’s petition, on Friday (Sept. 1), the trial court granted a stay of the scheduled penalty phase:
