GUDINAS WARRANT: Petition filed at U.S. Supreme Court
Thomas Gudinas’s execution is scheduled for June 24. He has filed a petition for writ of certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thomas Gudinas’s execution is scheduled for June 24 at 6:00 p.m. As TFDP previously covered, last week, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Gudinas’s claims last week.
On Wednesday, Gudinas filed a petition for writ of certiorari and application for stay of execution at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Gudinas’s petition presents the following questions:
On the first issue, under the Fourteenth Amendment, the petition argues:
Gudinas has a due process right to a fair and legitimate clemency process. Flor-ida’s interest in the timely enforcement of judgments handed down by its courts must be weighed against Gudinas’s continued interest in his life. “Judicial intervention, might, for example, be warranted in the face of a scheme whereby a state official flipped a coin to grant clemency.” The constitutional concerns here are worse than flipping a coin, as one could surmise that a Florida Governor could sign a death warrant on anyone on death row post clemency, for any reason at all, irrespective of the United States Constitution. Hypothetically, a Governor could sign a death warrant every month, on the same attorney’s clients, for any reason all, irrespective of the Constitution. We know that this is not true and would not be constitutional. The time has come for judicial intervention to show that the Governor’s discretion in signing death warrants is not “unfettered,” and that he is not immune from following the United States Constitution.1
Under the Eighth Amendment, the petition argues:
Florida’s Governor has no criteria, procedure, or guidelines in place for selecting who lives and who dies. Granting the Governor unfettered discretion has, in practice, led to a completely arbitrary process for determining who lives and who dies. There are no articulated limits to the executive dis-cretion, there are no guidelines for the selection process, and the entire process is cloaked in secrecy.
On the second issue, the petition argues:
The Governor’s absolute discretion to decide who lives and who dies must be compared with the standards and limits placed upon a sentencing judge’s decision to impose a death sentence. The Governor’s decision to sign a death warrant is just as necessary to carrying out a death sentence as the sentencing judge’s decision to sign his name to a document imposing the death sentence. In Florida, no death sentence can be imposed unless the judge signs the sentencing order imposing a sentence of death. Similarly, no individual who receives a sentence of death will in fact be executed until the Governor exercises his discretion to sign a death warrant. The Eighth Amendment requires there to be a principled way to distinguish between who is executed by a state and who is not and how much time they are afforded to investigate and present their claims under warrant.
Florida has yielded entirely to the EOG. Section 922.052, Florida Statutes, sets a maximum 180-day warrant period, yet here, the Governor afforded Gudinas only thirty-two days to litigate his warrant. Gudinas alerted the circuit court to his need for the EOG records under the unnecessarily expedited and difficult warrant schedule, which were denied. The Florida courts’ abdication violates the separation of powers articulated in Article II, Section 3 of the Florida Constitution and, the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, as applied to Gudinas.
Yesterday, the State filed its brief in opposition to Gudinas’s petition, presenting the following question:
The State argues that the denial of Gudinas’s request for public records is based on state law and, therefore, the Court does not have jurisdiction to grant certiorari. On Gudinas’s constitutional claims, the State argues the claims were not preserved. Further, even if the Court had jurisdiction, the State argues that Gudinas has not presented an issue worthy of the Court’s review.
The State also filed a response to Gudinas’s application for stay.
The filings can be found on the Court’s docket here.
TFDP Prior Coverage of the Gudinas Warrant
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant- and execution-related process.
Citations omitted.
This evil vile savage needs to be to be put down tomorrow
Praying for Justice