Florida Governor Charlie Crist recent­ly chose two death row inmates for exe­cu­tion from among many eli­gi­ble pris­on­ers on the state’s death row, but no rea­sons were giv­en for his choice. He joins a long line of Florida gov­er­nors who made the deci­sion of who lives and who dies with­out expla­na­tion of their selec­tion method. ​“I don’t know how they decide,” said John Marek’s lawyer, Marty McClain, a vet­er­an death-row attor­ney who has defend­ed hun­dreds of inmates. (Marek was one of those giv­en an exe­cu­tion date, but the date was stayed by the courts.) ​“Over the years I have want­ed to know the answer to that ques­tion.” Florida deter­mines the order of exe­cu­tion by the Governor’s dis­cre­tion, where­as oth­er states, such as Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, and California, place the respon­si­bil­i­ty with the court sys­tem. Defense attor­neys have lit­tle grounds to chal­lenge this unreg­u­lat­ed and secre­tive process. ​“It’s the epit­o­me of how arbi­trary it is,” said Elisabeth Semel, direc­tor of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California- Berkeley. 

Attorneys for death row inmates have had to observe the gov­er­nors’ pat­terns to try and dis­cern if their client could be next. Gov. Jeb Bush seemed to lean toward those who had waived their appeals, sign­ing more than 2 dozen death war­rants, of which 21 result­ed in an exe­cu­tion. Gov. Bob Martinez signed more death war­rants than any­one, although they rarely result­ed in an exe­cu­tion. In four years, he set a record with 139 death war­rants, of which only 9 were car­ried out. His approach over­whelmed the court sys­tem, as case after case was delayed since death war­rants were signed for pris­on­ers who hadn’t even filed appeals in fed­er­al court. ​“He want­ed to keep pres­sure on defense attor­neys,” McClain said. ​“It was a real­ly hor­ri­ble expe­ri­ence.” Following in his pre­de­ces­sors’ foot­steps, Crist declined to explain his exe­cu­tion selec­tion process. In the past two-plus years in office, he has signed 5 death war­rants, of which 3 have been car­ried out. Florida has 402 inmates on death row, the sec­ond largest in the coun­try after California.
(S. Lundy, ​“Only Florida’s Governors Can Say How They Pick Execution Order,” Orlando Sentinel, May 19, 2009). See Arbitrariness.

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