"As death penalty wanes in U.S., Florida executes even more killers." is the Orlando Sentinel report written by Aaron Deslatte. In addition to the lengthy report, there is an infographic at the link.
Robert Lavern Henry is set to be executed this week for killing two women in 1989 by beating them with a hammer and setting them on fire in a Deerfield Beach fabric store.
He would be the 16th prisoner executed under Gov. Rick Scott's watch, more than any other modern Florida governor in a single term.
At a time when other states are curtailing or outlawing executions, Florida is bucking the trend. A swelling number of death sentences handed down in the 1990s are reaching the ends of their appeals. Florida also is experiencing a rare window of relatively few legal challenges, botched executions or political infighting over the issue.
"It seems like the push now in Florida is to move forward with more dates, and that is different than what we see in the rest of the country," said Richard Dieter, director of the nonpartisan Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.
Today's South Florida Sun-Sentinel posts Gary Stein's editorial column, "Should Florida require unanimous jury recommendations for death penalty?" It also contains a non-scientific buzz poll."
Florida remains near the top in one very dubious category.
Executions.
We remain the only state that doesn’t require unanimous jury recommendations for the death penalty. Isn’t that wonderful?
Instead of making sure that innocent people aren’t executed, Florida seems intent on speeding up the process. In a red-blooded, gun-loving, he-man state like Florida, this idea goes over big time.
Too bad we also lead the nation in death sentence exonerations. In other words, Florida is tops in sentencing people to death who don’t deserve it. Luckily, we have exonerated a lot of people. Who knows how many more got executed who shouldn’t have been?
Earlier coverage from Florida begins at the link.
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