Florida Court to Hear Argument on Impact of U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Declaring Death Penalty Process Unconstitutional

On May 5, the Florida Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Timothy Hurst, whose death sentence was overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Hurst v. Florida. The state court must determine whether the high court’s ruling, which struck down Florida’s sentencing scheme, entitles Hurst to a new sentencing hearing, reduces his sentence to life without parole, or requires some other outcome. The case may also decide how the Hurst ruling will affect the nearly 400 people on Florida’s death row. Hurst’s attorneys say he should have his death sentence reduced because, “persons previously sentenced to death for a capital felony are entitled to have their now-unconstitutional death sentences replaced by sentences of life without parole.” That position received support in an amicus brief filed by three former chief justices of the Florida Supreme Court, a former state representative, a former prosecutor, and past presidents of the American Bar Association. The justice and legal experts argue that Hurst “held Florida’s death penalty statute unconstitutional,” and that in such circumstances Florida law requires all death sentences imposed under the statute to be reduced to life without parole. The state attorney general’s office has argued that state law requires blanket imposition of new sentences only if the death penalty itself is declared unconstitutional, and that Hurst only declared Florida’s method of imposing the death penalty unconstitutional. Florida has the nation’s second-largest death row, with 396 people as of January 1, 2016, before the state legislature rewrote the sentencing procedure to require a unanimous jury finding of at least one aggravating circumstance, and at least a 10-2 vote to impose a death sentence.

(S. Bousquet, “Three former Florida Supreme Court chief justices urge court to overturn hundreds of death sentences,” Tampa Bay Times, May 3, 2016; M. Berman, “Florida has nearly 400 death-row inmates. Will the state overturn all of their death sentences?” The Washington Post, May 4, 2016; “FLORIDA’S HIGH COURT URGED TO THROW OUT DEATH SENTENCES,” Associated Press, May 3, 2016.) See Sentencing.