Proposed legislation seeks to add aggravating factors to Florida's capital sentencing scheme

Yesterday, two bills were filed seeking to add aggravating factors to Florida’s capital sentencing scheme.

Yesterday, two bills were filed seeking to add additional aggravating factors to Florida’s capital sentencing scheme.

Photo of Tallahassee with the Florida Capitol in the background from Aerial Tallahassee (@aerialtlh on X)

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Background

Section 921.141, Florida Statutes, sets forth the procedure for imposing a sentence of death in Florida. For the defendant to be eligible for the death penalty, the jury must find unanimously that the State proved at least one aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt. Currently, the statute lists 16 aggravating factors.

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Capital Felonies Against Heads of State

First, a set of identical bills filed in the House and the Senate yesterday—HB 653 and SB 776—seek to add an aggravating factor for capital felonies committed against heads of state:

The proposed legislation says it would go into effect on July 1, 2025.

Senator Ingoglia sponsored the Senate bill, and Representative Holcomb sponsored the House bill.

You can read more about the legislation on the Senate’s website here.

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Capital Felonies at Certain Gatherings

Second, a bill filed in the House (HB 693) yesterday seeks to add an aggravating factor for capital felonies committed at certain gatherings:

The proposed legislation says it would go into effect on October 1, 2025.

Representative Redondo sponsored this bill. No related legislation has been filed in the Senate yet.

You can read more about the legislation on the Senate’s website here.

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TFDP Commentary

Note that the procedural effect of this legislation is different than the recently enacted immigration legislation related to the death penalty. (More on that here.)

The immigration legislation called for a mandatory death penalty once the defendant is convicted of a capital crime and it is established that the defendant is an “unauthorized alien.” However, the legislation is unclear how that process should work. This legislation keeps within Florida’s existing capital sentencing process but adds aggravating factors to the already-long statutory list.

Expanding the aggravating factors in Florida’s capital sentencing scheme is not new. In 1987, the statute had 9 aggravating factors. In 1989, the statute had 11 aggravating factors. By 1998, the statute had 14 aggravating factors. Two more have been added since.

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