---
title: 'News Brief — Florida Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence for Man Who Pled Guilty and Waived Jury'
description: 'NEWS (3/12/20): The Florida Supreme Court on March 12, 2020 denied death-row prisoner Hector Sanchez-Torres’s post-conviction challenge to his conviction…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news-developments-florida-supreme-court-upholds-death-sentence-for-man-who-pled-guilty-and-waived-jury'
section: news
date: '2020-03-12T13:00:00-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T15:04:54-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

! **NEWS (3/12/20):** The **Florida Supreme Court** on March 12, 2020 denied death-row prisoner **[Hector Sanchez-Torres](https://www.floridasupremecourt.org/content/download/631587/7177061/file/sc19-211.pdf)**’s post-conviction challenge to his conviction and death sentence for a 2008 armed robbery and murder. In an unsigned opinion, the court ruled that Sanchez-Torres’s counsel had not been ineffective in advising him to plead guilty to the charges and to waive a sentencing jury based on counsel’s belief that “a Clay County jury would absolutely convict \[him\] of first-degree murder and give him death based on the facts of the case.”