U.S. Supreme Court Declares Florida’s Death Penalty Scheme Unconstitutional
The United States Supreme Court, in an emphatic ruling Tuesday, declared Florida's death penalty sentencing scheme to be a violation of the Sixth Amendment. The post U.S. Supreme Court Declares...
View ArticleFlorida Lawmakers Urged to Require Unanimous Verdicts in Death Penalty Cases
Florida is the only state in the nation where a simple jury majority is enough for a death penalty recommendation, one of several problems at odds with a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Florida's...
View ArticleFlorida Supreme Court Halts Executions Indefinitely; 389 Death Row Inmates In...
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Florida's death-penalty sentencing scheme on Jan. 12, forcing the state to rewrite its law but also putting in question whether the new law must apply to all 489...
View ArticleToo Many Questions Beg The Answer: End the Death Penalty in Florida
Rick Scott shouldn’t plan on signing any more death warrants soon, if ever, argues Martin Dyckman, even as the Florida House "cured" what the U.S. Supreme Court specifically found wrong with Florida’s...
View ArticlePoll-Tax Redux: Millions Free From Jail Are Barred From Voting By Criminal Debt
Debt from fines starts at sentencing and can grow at interest rates of 12 percent or more while inmates serve their sentences. It continues to grow after they’re released and face the numerous barriers...
View ArticleIn Florida, Court Rules, a 55-Year Prison Sentence For a Juvenile Is Not a...
Anthony Julian Collins was two months shy of 17 when he was committed an attempted second-degree murder, carjacking with a firearm and attempted armed robbery. The post In Florida, Court Rules, a...
View ArticleSouth Florida Judge Declares State’s New Death Penalty Law Unconstitutional
While the decision is not necessarily controlling in Flagler County and the rest of Florida, it again muddies the fate of a law barely eight weeks old, and further sheds a harsh light on Florida's...
View ArticleSharply Split Court Revamps and Complicates Challenges to Solitary and...
Giving more "deference" to the Florida Department of Corrections, a sharply divided appeals court Tuesday approved revamping the legal process for inmates who challenge disciplinary decisions that take...
View ArticleFlorida Supreme Court in Seminal Decision Rules Death Penalty Verdicts Must...
The court's 5-2 decision, which will immediately affect 40 inmates and many of the 385 others on death row, ends Florida's status as an outlier state where non-unanimous death penalty recommendations...
View ArticleLethal Edict: Florida Supremes Rule “Isolated Mishaps” Aren’t Enough to Stop...
Clearing the way for executions by lethal injection, a unanimous Florida Supreme Court ruled invalid death row inmate Manuel Valle's objection to pentobarbital, one of the three drugs used to put...
View ArticleFlorida Professors Still Can’t Travel to Cuba On State’s Dime; Low IQ...
Three Florida cases are the many the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear, which means a ban on Florida university faculty's travel to Cuba stands, as does Florida's authority to execute a Daytona Beach...
View ArticleAs Florida and Other States Privatize Prison Health Services, Care Standards...
Florida and other states, in an attempt to cut costs, are increasingly outsourcing health care for inmates to for-profit companies, but the trend is raising concerns among unions and prisoners’ rights...
View ArticleLawmakers Want to Speed Up Executions of Florida’s 404 Death Row Inmates
The proposed constitutional amendment would shift power from the courts system to lawmakers to set rules about what are known as "post-conviction" appeals in death-penalty cases. The post Lawmakers...
View ArticleThe Death Penalty Comes to Flagler Beach: Saturday Workshop Takes On “Broken...
The workshop between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday, March 23, at Santa Maria Del Mar's Community Hall, will feature former death row inmates Herman Lindsey (exonerated in 2006) and Seth Penalver (2012),...
View ArticleExonerated Death Row Inmates Tell Flagler Beach Group of an Enduring Florida...
In turns moving, startling and informative, a day-long workshop on the death penalty in Flagler Beach, featuring two exonerated men, urged an assembly of 60 to more actively get involved in a movement...
View ArticleBill Speeding Up Executions in Florida Passes Despite Disturbing Rate of...
Florida lawmakers gave final approval to fast-tracking executions and reducing Death Row stays, with supporters saying they want justice for victims' families --- but critics warning about executing...
View ArticleFast-Track Kill Bill Aside, Scott Speeds Death Warrants, Slating 3 Executions...
Gov. Rick Scott is not waiting to sign a bill that would accelerate the pace of capital-punishment executions in Florida. The death warrants he's signed since April lead to the fastest-paced series of...
View ArticleVan Poyck, Third Florida Inmate Executed This Year, Leaves Stark Word Trail...
William van Poyck had spent nearly 26 years on death row after his conviction in 1987 in the murder of a prison guard. He spent many of those years writing books and maintaining a public blog, which...
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