Today's Tallahassee Democrat publishes the editorial, "Speed vs. justice: Be cautious in accelerating executions."
Just about the time that many Florida voters again grow tired of the endless appeals and delayed executions of those on Florida’s Death Row, along comes somebody like Clemente Javier “Shorty” Aguirre.
The Legislature passed House Bill 7083, known as the Timely Justice Act, this session in part to speed up the process that leads to an execution. There is no denying that the process can be a long one.
And:
Since 1973, Florida has seen 24 people exonerated after being on Death Row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The Florida Bar has adopted a resolution asking the state to initiate a review of the state’s death penalty process.General debate about the death penalty can wait for another day. But the state must never execute an innocent person.
Speeding up justice is a laudable goal. Speeding up a malfunctioning justice system might not be.
"Protect the Innocent: Florida's Governor Must Veto the 'Timely Justice Act', is by Juan Melendez at Huffington Post. He was exonerated in Florida in 2002, and works with Witness to Innocence. Here's the beginning of this must-read:
When I was arrested for a murder I didn't commit, I had alibi witnesses placing me elsewhere at the time of the crime. There was no physical evidence tying me to the bloody crime scene. The only evidence that the state of Florida presented against me were two questionable witnesses: a paid police informant and another who falsely implicated me and others under the threat of the electric chair. In exchange for his testimony against me, he received two years' probation.
My trial took less than a week. I was sentenced to death. I spent nearly 18 years on death row, a traumatic and heartbreaking time for me and my family.
Although my mother prayed that my innocence would one day be proven and I would be released, she also saved money to take my body home to Puerto Rico and bury me there.
I never stopped fighting for my freedom. After 16 years on death row, the case against me finally fell apart when critical evidence was discovered, including a transcript of a taped confession by the real killer, along with other exculpatory evidence that the prosecutor had withheld from my attorneys.
Shockingly, up until this point, the Florida Supreme Court had upheld my conviction and death sentence three times on appeal. I was saved by the grace of God or, as some would say, "pure luck."
Finally, after almost 18 years on death row, the truth about my innocence came out. I was exonerated, and today I am a free man.
What happened to me has happened to many other people as well. Florida leads the nation in exonerations in death penalty cases. Twenty-four innocent people have been freed from our death row, including myself.
An AP report, previously linked, has been updated and expanded. "Ex-death row inmates: Veto Timely Justice Act," is by Kelli Kennedy, via the Palm Beach Post.
The bill, which was recently passed by the Republican-led Legislature, essentially minimizes the time between sentencing and execution by creating tighter timeframes for appeals and post-conviction motions and by imposing reporting requirements on case progress. The measure also re-establishes a separate agency for north Florida to provide appellate-level legal representation to inmates sentenced to death, and requires them to "pursue all possible remedies in state court."
It would also require a governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of a State Supreme Court review of a capital conviction. The state would be required to execute the defendant within 180 days of the warrant.
The law comes as Florida's capital punishment process has come under intense scrutiny and has been criticized for allowing some condemned inmates to languish for decades on death row. A New York Times editorial published Tuesday said the bill was "grotesquely named."
Florida has exonerated 24 men on death row since 1973, more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Florida now has 405 inmates on death row, more than any other state except California. It takes an average of 13 years for an inmate to move from sentencing to execution.
Salon posts, "Florida law would speed up executions," by Natasha Lennard.
For the past two years in a row, Florida has sentenced more people to death than any other state — owing to a number of issues in the state justice system including the fact that while a judge makes the sentencing decision, Florida is one of only three states that allows non-unanimous jury recommendations in capital sentencing.
The Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Bar have called for reviews of the death penalty process in the state in order to make recommendations to improve it; those studies have yet to be undertaken. In 2009, meanwhile, the American Bar Association did study capital punishment in Florida, none of which have been undertaken either. Capital punishment, especially when exacted through a flawed judicial process like Florida’s, is already barbaric; it needs no acceleration.
Earlier coverage from Florida begins at the link.
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