Entries tagged with “Michael James Jackson”
Jan 12, 2026
Marking a Decade Since Hurst v. Florida
Today is the ten-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hurst v. Florida. Heralded as a watershed ruling for capital defendants, Hurst reaffirmed the principle that the jury alone must find the facts necessary to condemn a person to die — implicating the death sentences of hundreds of prisoners across three states. The Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury…
Dec 16, 2024
Florida Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments Challenging Non-Unanimity Sentencing Standard
Urbantallahassee, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by— sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia…
Jun 03, 2024
Amicus Briefs Submitted to Florida Supreme Court Describe Non-Unanimous Sentencing Law as a “Quintessential Game of Chance”
Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee,…
Issues
Jan 03, 2024
Overwhelming Percentage of Florida’s Hurst Resentencing Hearings End in Life Sentences
#### New Non-Unanimity Law Creates Chaos in Remaining Cases 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…
Issues
Dec 01, 2020
Florida Supreme Court Limits Retroactive Scope of Its Ruling Permitting Death Sentences After Non-Unanimous Jury Votes
In two long-awaited decisions that will alter the landscape of Florida’s death row, the Florida Supreme Court has limited the reach of a landmark ruling that overturned the state’s constitutional prohibition against death sentences imposed after a non-unanimous jury vote for death. The court’s January 2020 decision in State v. Poole had raised the specter that the court might rescind orders that had overturned the death sentences of more than 100 Florida…