Florida To Resume Executions After 18-Month Hiatus

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Florida Gov. Rick Scott is set to resume executions after a hiatus of more than 18 months after the U.S. Supreme Court found Florida's death sentencing procedure was flawed because it allowed judges to reach a different conclusion from juries.

Scott rescheduled the execution of Mark Asay for Aug. 24.

Asay was originally scheduled to be executed on March 17, 2016, for the 1987 murders of Robert Lee Booker and Robert McDowell in Jacksonville. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The execution was put on hold after the U.S. Supreme Court found the state's death penalty law unconstitutional.

The Legislature has since twice changed the law, most recently this year when it required a unanimous jury recommendation for the death penalty.

Asay would be the 24th person executed since Scott took office in 2011.

Photo credit: Wilfredo Lee, Associated Press