Entries tagged with “Melanie Kalmanson”
Jun 03, 2024
Amicus Briefs Submitted to Florida Supreme Court Describe Non-Unanimous Sentencing Law as a “Quintessential Game of Chance”
In April 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation that lowered the threshold for juries to recommend death sentences from a unanimous vote to a vote of 8 – 4 in favor of death, and experts allege this law has resulted in a “quintessential game of chance” for those awaiting capital resentencing or trial. An amicus brief, or friend-of-the-court brief, submitted to the Florida Supreme Court argues that this change to the state’s death penalty process violates capital defendants’…
Executions
Upcoming Executions
,Aug 14, 2024
Florida’s Governor DeSantis Schedules First Execution of 2024 for Dozier Reform School Survivor After 10-Month Execution Hiatus
On July 29, 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state’s first execution warrant of 2024, scheduling an execution date for Loran Cole (pictured) in just thirty days, on August 29, 2024. Mr. Cole’s execution warrant comes nearly ten months after Florida’s last execution, which was the last of the state’s six executions carried out in 2023. Mr. Cole was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of a Florida State University student in Marion County, Florida. Following the issuance of…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Sentencing Alternatives
,Jan 03, 2024
Overwhelming Percentage of Florida’s Hurst Resentencing Hearings End in Life Sentences
According to new research by the Death Penalty Information Center, 82% of Florida death-sentenced prisoners who completed new sentencing proceedings under Hurst v. Florida (2016) have been resentenced to life in prison without parole. Hurst found Florida’s death penalty scheme unconstitutional, and the Florida Supreme Court subsequently held that new death sentences must be unanimous, necessitating new sentencing hearings. Of the 157 cases DPIC previously identified as…