House passes capital punishment legislation.
On Thursday night, the Florida House of Representatives passed both pending bills related to capital punishment. Also, two death cases from the Florida Supreme Court and updates on Barwick's case.
Congrats on making it to Friday. Truly. This week was a lot.
I apologize in advance for two posts today, but I wanted to finish up the Hurst series now that the capital sentencing legislation is going to Governor DeSantis (more on that below). So, Part V will be posted shortly.
Legislation Update
The Florida House of Representatives passed HB 555 and HB 1297 in Session yesterday.
Capital Sentencing Bill Headed to DeSantis
After several hours debating the abortion bill (which passed) and a few other bills, the House took up HB 555—the legislation that reduces the standard necessary to impose a sentence of death. For background on this bill, see this post. For the history on this legislation as it’s gone through the process, see these posts:
First Committee hearings
House Justice Appropriations Committee hearing
Senate Rules Committee hearing
Last-minute amendment filed ahead of Senate
Senate began discussing SB 450 (the Senate’s version of this legislation)
Senate approved legislation by a vote of 29-11
Last-minute amendments filed ahead of today
As the debate throughout the legislative process was, the discussion on the floor was full of misinformation and misinterpretation of caselaw.
Undecided: The legislation comports with Hurst v. Florida, which dealt only with the aggravating factor. It’ll be up to a Court to determine whether the law is constitutional, but Hurst made clear that a jury’s recommendation can’t be merely advisory.
True: Data does not support that the death penalty deters crime, including murder. (Reps. Gottlieb and Eskamani)
False: It is settled law that the jury’s vote for death must be unanimous.
The Florida Supreme Court held in 2016 in Hurst II that the jury’s recommendation must be unanimous, but it was overturned in 2019 in Poole. The U.S. Supreme Court has not made that ruling.
False: Poole said that jurors should not weigh aggravation and mitigation (Rep. Gottlieb)
Poole said the jury is not required to unanimously find that the aggravation outweighs the mitigation. Weighing is part of the process the jury conducts before making a recommendation.
False: This bill doesn’t lower the standard for capital sentencing.
That is the point of the bill.
False: Once there is sufficient aggravation, the appropriate sentence is death. (Rep. Jacques)
The U.S. Supreme Court made clear in Furman v. Georgia that mitigation must be considered. The weighing process is the constitutional lynchpin to the capital sentencing process.
The bill passed by a vote of 80-30.
The bill now goes to Governor DeSantis for approval.
Capital Sex Crime Bill
Next, the House took up the capital sex crime bill (HB 1297). For background on this bill, see this post and this article on Slate by Maria DeLiberato and me. For the history on this bill as it’s gone through the process, see these posts:
The first amendment to SB 1342 (the Senate’s version of this legislation)
Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearing on SB 1342
House Criminal Justice Subcommittee hearing on HB 1297
Amendment filed by Rep. Baker to HB 1297
House Judiciary Committee hearing on HB 1297
HB 1297 referred to House Calendar
SB 1342 heads to final Committee hearing
Senate Rules Committee hearing on SB 1342
There was much less debate on the capital sex crime bill, and that’s reflected in the vote.
The debate mostly centered on whether the bill is constitutional in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana. Representative Jessica Baker (the bill’s sponsor) gave answers consistent with what she said throughout the legislative process, including that it is her “hope” that this bill with go to SCOTUS for the Court to overturn Kennedy. She also said that “[t]he Supreme Court is not bound by its prior rulings.”
The bill passed by a vote of 95-14.
The bill now goes to the Senate for approval. It will be heard on April 18.
Barwick Warrant Litigation
The trial court issued its order denying Barwick’s warrant- and execution-related claims on Thursday. (The Order is on the docket but not yet available.) Barwick’s execution is scheduled for May 3, 2023. The original post on his case can be found here.
As per usual, I defer to Florida Court Review for in-depth coverage of Barwick’s claims and the warrant litigation.
As I mentioned the other day, evidentiary hearings are rare. While one was scheduled for Wednesday, the court canceled the evidentiary hearing in an Order entered Monday:1
The full order can be downloaded here.
Florida Supreme Court Decisions
In its regular release of opinions yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court issued two decisions in death penalty cases. They can be accessed here.
As per usual, I defer to
for his wonderful coverage of the Court’s decisions. I will just briefly cover these decisions.
Tundidor v. State
The issue in Tundidor is quite unusual. Tundidor was appealing the trial court’s denial of his motion for disqualification. Tundidor had filed a motion to disqualify the judge on his postconviction claims based on apparent bias in favor of the state attorney. The judge is the same judge who presided over the Parkland trial, who was seen hugging the prosecutor—the same prosecutor on Tundidor’s case.
The Court unanimously quashed the trial court’s order denying the motion for disqualification and directed the trial court to reassign the case.
Wells v. State
Wells was a direct appeal from Wells being sentenced to death for a murder that Wells committed while serving several life sentences in Florida prison for other crimes. The Court affirmed the conviction and sentence of death.
Worth noting about the Wells decision is that it is authored by Justice Jamie Grosshans. Death cases are almost always per curiam (or unauthored) decisions.
UPDATE: This post has been updated and clarified since the original post. Rep. Jacques was correct that the current statute allows the judge to depart from the jury's recommendation for death.