"Fast-Tracking Executions Proves Slower than Expected Under 'Timely Justice Act'," is by Dara Kam of the News Service of Florida. It's via Flagler Live. Here's the beginning of this lengthy report.
It hasn’t been used in 30 years to commute a death sentence, but executive clemency will still keep more than 100 Death Row inmates from being quickly executed under a law signed in June by Gov. Rick Scott.
Scott on Friday received a list of 132 convicts certified by Florida Supreme Court Clerk Thomas Hall as being at least partially “warrant ready” under the requirements of the “Timely Justice Act,” which was passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature this spring. Some of the state’s most notorious killers are on the list, including Juan Chavez, convicted of killing 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce in Redland 18 years ago.
But only after clemency is complete does the 30-day trigger for Scott to sign a death warrant begin under the new law, and just a fraction of those on the list — between 10 and 20 — are in any stage of the clemency process. And nobody on the list has yet reached the threshold for an execution order because, according to Scott’s lawyers, executive clemency isn’t finalized until the governor actually signs a death warrant.
That means that the new law will not spark a flurry of executions, perhaps dashing some lawmakers’ expectations.
“Most of the cases received from the Supreme Court clerk, pursuant to state law, have not yet begun clemency review. Therefore, only a small fraction of these cases will be eligible for the issuance of a death warrant any time soon,” Scott’s general counsel Pete Antonacci said Thursday.
WFSU-FM reports, "Death Penalty Expert: Timely Justice Act Isn't Working As Intended," by Jessica Palombo. There is audio at the link.
A list of so-called “warrant-ready” death row inmates has been delivered to Florida Gov. Rick Scott as required by the state’s Timely Justice Act. Although the list comprises a third of all death row inmates, one capital punishment expert says they would have been eligible even without the new law. That brings the law’s efficacy into question.
As required by the law, Gov. Scott Friday received a list of 132 death row convicts. The Florida Legislature enacted the Timely Justice Act this year with sponsors saying it would cut down on frivolous appeals and move people through the capital punishment process more quickly. Protesters said it would create a flurry of new death warrants and could lead to innocent people being denied the chance to prove it. But the law does not require the governor to act more quickly.
Mark Schlakman, of Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, says, “The governor decides when clemency can be denied.”
He says, that means the law’s sponsors are not seeing their goal of getting warrants signed more quickly achieved.
Earlier coverage from Florida begins at the link, you can also jump to coverage of the Timely Justice Act.
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