Attorney Bill Sheppard said he was “dumbfounded” by a change in the death penalty law made by Florida legislators in March.
Ann Finnell said she didn’t think the change, which required a 10-2 vote of jurors to impose the death penalty, would pass the muster of a U.S. Supreme Court decision months earlier.
And even some Duval County lawmakers who had a hand in the law knew the day would come where it would be changed.
Friday was that day, when the Florida Supreme Court decided the Legislature’s tweak still wasn’t good enough — death penalty cases instead need a unanimous jury decision.
It’s the second time this year the system has been impacted by a court ruling, but many didn’t see it as a big surprise.
“I don’t understand why in the world the Florida Legislature didn’t correct it in the first place,” said Sheppard, of Sheppard, White, Kachergus & DeMaggio.
His career has included defending clients in several death penalty cases, including work for Gary Alvord, who spent more than 30 years on Death Row.
“I think it was a waste,” Sheppard said of the Legislature’s attempt this year.
The law should have been changed to require a unanimous decision, he said.
Two members of the Duval Legislative Delegation who worked on crafting the law both believed unanimity among jurors was the way to go. Yet, like many issues in Tallahassee, there were trade-offs made.
“The choice was either to compromise at 10-2 or we would not have had a fix,” said state Sen. Rob Bradley, who served on the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
Bradley on Friday said he supports the unanimous approach and thought even with the March fix “this day would come sooner rather than later.”
State Sen. Audrey Gibson, vice chair of the criminal justice committee, said she also backed unanimity among juries for the death penalty.
“I’m not surprised,” she said of the Florida Supreme Court’s rulings. “It did seem they were heading that way, anyway.”
Gibson said many states have changed their laws on the “very weighty issue,” but Florida would need to continue to work toward a solution for both victims’ families and those accused.
Both Bradley and Gibson said they expect the issue to come up early when the Legislature reconvenes in March, instead of in a special session that would be called before then.
It creates somewhat of a standstill on the matter, said Finnell, who has handled death penalty cases since the early 1980s.
Finnell, of Finnell, McGuinness, Nezami & Andux, said she suspects many past death penalty cases will get a new chance to seek life in prison.
That would end up creating a strain on the system — prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and others — that will have to dedicate a “tremendous” amount of time and resources on the issue, she said.
“I think we are going to go through a little scrambling here,” Finnell said.
Sheppard agreed.
“Oh my God, it’s going to take an avalanche of resources,” he said, noting it would add to the already exorbitant amount spent on each case.
Long-term, Finnell thinks the court rulings are a positive step.
They bring Florida more into accordance with the rest of the country.
It also could result in prosecutors less frequently filing notices to seek the death penalty, which Finnell said often are used as leverage against defendants.
State Attorney Angela Corey’s office, in a statement about Friday’s rulings, said the decisions by the Florida Supreme Court “will not affect the way we determine whether to seek a death sentence in a case” and the law would be followed when such an outcome is sought.
The office said it expects the Legislature to amend the current death penalty statute to comply with the court’s decision, which would then be applied to all pending cases.
@writerchapman
(904) 356-2466