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| Condemned Death Row Inmates Appeal to Supreme Court Over Sentencing Law |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/26/2002 |
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Two death row inmates set for execution next month asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Florida's death sentencing law, saying it is similar to an Arizona law the court found unconstitutional. Amos Lee King is scheduled to be executed Dec. 2, four days before Linroy Bottoson. The men were convicted of two separate murders in the 1970s, and both filed petitions with the court on November 20. In June, the Supreme Court found that Arizona's death penalty law violated the Sixth Amendment because a judge, not a jury, decided facts used to warrant a death sentence. In Florida, juries recommend whether convicted killers should be executed or sentenced to life in prison, but judges have the final say. The nation's high court granted King and Bottoson stays of execution while it considered the Arizona case. It lifted the stays days after the June ruling, saying nothing about Florida's law. The state rescheduled the executions, and the Florida Supreme Court upheld the sentences last month. |
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