Entries tagged with “Jonathan Lawrence

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Intellectual Disability

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Representation

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Conditions on Death Row

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Nov 02, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of October 262020

NEWS (10/​30/​20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence of Jonathan Lawrence in an opin­ion that removed yet anoth­er appel­late safe­guard for the state’s death-row prisoners. In the case, the new far-right major­i­ty of the court end­ed the 50-year-old prac­tice of con­duct­ing an inde­pen­dent pro­por­tion­al­i­ty review of a death sen­tence to deter­mine whether the ver­dict was…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Executions Overview

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Nov 02, 2020

Florida Supreme Court Abandons 50-Year-Old Proportionality Safeguard for Capital Defendants

In a con­tin­u­ing diminu­tion of pro­ce­dur­al safe­guards in cap­i­tal cas­es, the Florida Supreme Court has end­ed its long-stand­ing prac­tice of inde­pen­dent­ly review­ing death penal­ty cas­es on appeal to ensure that they are not dis­pro­por­tion­ate to sen­tences imposed in similar…