08-04-2025
House closer to setting death sentence in cases of human trafficking of kids
U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)
Prosecutors could seek the death penalty for people convicted of trafficking a child aged 12 or younger or someone with a severe mental disability under a bill heading to the House floor.
Seminole Republican Rep. Berny Jacques told lawmakers Tuesday that previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings declaring such punishment unconstitutional shouldn't persuade them to vote against HB 1283. Most agreed, with only two Democrats voting against the proposal during its third and final hearing in the Judiciary Committee.
Jacques labeled the 2008 ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana — the 5-4 decision declaring that a Louisiana law allowing for the death penalty in cases of child rape violated Eighth Amendment — 'vile.'
'Some of the most horrendous Supreme Court cases in our nation's history was well-settled law,' Jacques said. 'I think of Plessy v. Ferguson; I think of the Dred Scott decision. Those were all well-settled law. Thank goodness they were overturned.'
In 2023, Florida lawmakers also set out to challenge the court with a law that established the death penalty for rape of minors under 12. Similar to the 2023 measure, under Jacques' proposal only eight out of 12 jurors would need to recommend the death sentence.
Democratic Reps. LaVon Bracy Davis of Ocoee and Michael Gottlieb of Davie opposed the bill Tuesday.
'I will say, in a case like this with someone that has participated in sex trafficking with a minor, that life in prison may be the better charge as opposed to death, and I think that person perhaps would be punished more egregiously with having to spend their life incarcerated,' Bracy Davis said.
Riverview Republican Rep. Danny Alvarez said that children's lives should matter more than what the Supreme Court thinks.
'We tell the Supreme Court what's coming, and if they want to overrule us, that's fine,' he said. 'Let them look them in the eyes, but I will not stand here and allow children to be hurt and then make the excuse that we're just gonna vote down because the Supreme Court said.'
The Senate companion, SB 1804, needs approval from two more committees before reaching the floor.
The Legislature's trend of challenging the Supreme Court on the death penalty continued during one of this year's special sessions on immigration. Lawmakers moved to establish a mandatory death penalty for immigrants without legal status who are convicted of murder or child rape. The Supreme Court deemed mandatory death penalties unconstitutional in the 5-4 decision of Woodson v. North Carolina in 1976.
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