Florida's Death Penalty Unconstitutional, Miami Judge Says

MIAMI, FL — Florida’s recently enacted death penalty law, meant to fix legislation deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, doesn’t quite hit the mark.

That’s according to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch. On Monday, Hirsch issued a ruling in in regard to the first-degree murder case of Karon Gaiter. Hirsch found fault with the state’s recently passed “super majority” system requirement in death penalty cases.

The new law, signed by Gov. Rick Scott on March 7, was enacted to address concerns raised by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. That court found that Florida’s death sentencing process violated the U.S. Constitution because it only allowed juries the power to recommend death in capital cases. The ultimate decision was left in the hands of individual judges.

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Florida’s new law, declared unconstitutional by Milton, requires 10 out of 12 jurors to agree to impose a death sentence. The lack of a unanimous requirement is what Milton found unconstitutional.

“A decedent cannot be more or less dead. An expectant mother cannot be more or less pregnant,” the Miami Herald quoted Milton’s ruling as saying. “And a jury cannot be more or less unanimous. Every verdict in every criminal case in Florida requires the concurrence, not of some, not of most, but of all jurors – every single one of them.”

Just what implications Milton’s ruling will have on the new law remains unclear. The U.S. Supreme Court did not specifically address the state’s lack of a unanimous decision requirement in its January ruling that pertained to the death penalty case of Timothy Lee Hurst.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered the majority opinion writing, “We hold this sentencing scheme unconstitutional. The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death. A jury’s mere recommendation is not enough.”

It also remains unclear if the rulings in the Hurst and Gaiter cases will ultimately lead to Florida’s current death row inmates having their sentences commuted to life in prison.

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