Blaw 210 Discussion

On January 12, 2016 The US Supreme Court reported that the procedure used by the Florida judges to sentence the defendants to death was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court concluded that the action is expected to make it more difficult to issue a death sentence in Florida by requiring a jury. According to Justice Sonia Sotomajor, she stated, “The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death.” During the vote for the Florida’s capital sentencing scheme it concluded with a high court rule of 8 to 1 voting the actions taken unconstitutional. Under Florida’s approach, a jury is required at trial in order to determine if the defendant is guilty. Once the jury has confirmed of the conviction, it moves to the sentencing phase of the trial. This part of the trial is to determine the circumstances that might support or undercut the death sentence. After the sentencing phase it moves to the advisory sentence where the judge takes the juries recommendations and the support towards the punishment and must decide if the criteria met from the recommendation the juries as provided. Without such judge-made findings, the maximum punishment someone in the state of Florida can receive is life in prison without parole. The Supreme Court ruled that the flaw in the Florida’s capital sentencing system was the judge made the final determination and not the jury which is incorrect according to the constitution. The Supreme Court has upheld two cases in the past back in 1984 and 1989, but Justice Sotomayor claimed these decisions were undercut in 2002 Supreme Court decision dealing with an Arizona death penalty case.

Link to article: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2016/0112/US-Supreme-Court-deals-blow-to-death-penalty-in-Florida-case