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| Fla. Court Hears Death Law Case |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/23/2002 |
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The state Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on whether a defendant's right to a jury trial is violated by the partial role Florida judges play in handing down death sentences. The U.S. Supreme Court in June said Arizona's capital punishment law violated the Sixth Amendment by giving a judge rather than a jury the power to decide facts used to warrant the death penalty. In Florida, juries recommend a sentence of death or life in prison, but the judge makes the final decision and can consider facts not presented to the jury. If the state Supreme Court rules that its death penalty law also is unconstitutional, the sentences of 372 death row inmates could be invalidated. Attorneys for the state argued Florida's death penalty law is different from Arizona's and the juries' role is substantial. 'What we're seeing in comparing Arizona and Florida is the difficulty in trying to read constitutional tea leaves ... because the statutes are different,' said Ken Nunnelley, a senior assistant attorney general. Attorneys for two Florida inmates argued their death sentences are invalid under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. 'You have a large number - a finite number but a large number - of resentencings that would have to occur in order to comply,' inmate attorney Tim Ford told the justices. Inmates Amos King and Linroy Bottoson were scheduled for execution twice this year but received reprieves because of the challenge to the Arizona law. King, 48, slipped away from a work-release prison in 1977, and raped, stabbed and beat Natalie Brady, 68, in her home. The jury unanimously recommended the death penalty. Bottoson, 63, robbed postmistress Catherine Alexander and held her captive for days before stabbing her and running a car over her in 1979. The jury recommended death by a vote of 10-2. The hearing was attended by relatives of Brady and Alexander, as well as family members of victims in unrelated cases who fear the court could invalidate other death sentences. The court gave no indication when it would rule. |
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