Proposal to expand death penalty in Florida now goes to Florida House floor
Joaquin Oliver's sister Andrea Ghersi hugs Assistant State Attorney Nicole Chiappone after the jury rejected a death sentence for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse October 13, 2022. Joaquin Oliver was killed in the 2018 shootings. Cruz previously pleaded guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings. (Photo by Mike Stocker-Pool/Getty Images)
A bill that would add another crime category for a jury to consider when administering the death penalty has passed its second committee in the Florida House and will soon go before the entire chamber for a floor vote.
The Judiciary Committee on Thursday passed the proposal (HB 693), filed by Miami Republican Rep. Mike Redondo, that would provide an additional aggravating factor for sentencing for capital felonies — that the victim was gathered with one or more persons for a school activity, religious activity, or public government meeting.
It is just one of several bills filed for the 2025 legislative session that would expand who could be eligible for execution if found guilty. Others include capital felonies committed against a president, foreign head of state, or governor of Florida or any other state (HB 653/SB 776), and persons convicted of human trafficking of children & mentally incapacitated persons for sex (HB 1283/SB 1804).
The Legislature voted during a special session earlier this year to mandate the death penalty for 'unauthorized aliens' if found guilty of a capital offense, such as murder or rape of a minor.
During Thursday's committee meeting, Orlando Democratic Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis asked Redondo to define what he means by 'religious activity.' Redondo said his bill does not define the term but that capitol offenses that occur in a church, synagogue, or mosque would be 'very clear examples.'
What about a bible-study or a prayer meeting at someone's home, Bracy Davis inquired.
A jury could likely think that was the case, Redondo said.
Joe Harman of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops said that his organization agrees that the crimes the legislation would target are 'gravely evil,' but opposes expansion of the death penalty, saying there is good reason to doubt the measure would have any deterrent effect.
'We urge that death is not a good tool of justice in our society,' Harman said. 'Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is already a severe punishment, which also protects the public.'
Sitting on the Judiciary Committee, Broward County Democratic Rep. Dan Daley referenced the fact that he was a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland who rushed to the campus in the immediate aftermath of the February 2018 mass shooting that killed 17 people.
Daley mentioned the anger he and others in the community felt when a jury voted that Nikolas Cruz, the gunman, should be sentenced to life in prison without parole and not face the death penalty.
'The fact that he'll get to his live out his life in a jail cell when 17 lives were taken viciously in that case blows my mind, and hurts,' he said, adding that he thought the bill was a 'step in the right direction.'
The committee voted unanimously to move the measure forward. Bracy Davis said that while she personally opposes the death penalty, the state of Florida provides for it, and that's why she was voting yes.
Redondo said he understood that some lawmakers fundamentally oppose capital punishment.
However: 'If we are going to have it, we should make sure that juries should have all of the tools necessary to make the right decision in capital cases,' he said. 'That's really the intent of the bill.'
The Senate version (SB 984), sponsored by Sarasota Republican Joe Gruters, has yet to be heard in any committee.
Meanwhile, Edward James, 63, convicted of murdering a woman and raping and killing her 8-year-old-granddaughter in Seminole County in 1993, is set to be executed next week at Florida State Prison. If that execution takes place, it will be the second in Florida this year. Last month, James Dennis Ford was put to death for the murder of a couple in 1997 in Charlotte County.
Another execution is scheduled on April 8 after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant earlier this week for Michael Tanzi, 48, convicted of kidnapping a woman in Miami and strangling her to death.
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