TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Thursday that will no longer require unanimous jury recommendations for judges to impose death-penalty sentences.
The new measure, Senate Bill 450, allows inmates to receive the death penalty with a jury recommendation of at least 8-4 in favor of execution.
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DeSantis pointed to the case of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz. Three of 12 jurors voted to recommend a life sentence with no parole instead of death for Cruz.
DeSantis addressed the issue during a visit to Jacksonville last month.
“Nikolas Cruz was somebody everybody knew was guilty,” DeSantis said. “He’s entitled to process, but he admitted it. So, then they go for the penalty phase, and you kill 17 people. What other penalty can you get other than the ultimate penalty?”
DeSantis was joined by some parents of the victims of the Parkland mass murder on Thursday to sign SB 450.
“Once a defendant in a capital case is found guilty by a unanimous jury, one juror should not be able to veto a capital sentence,” DeSantis announced Thursday in a press release. “I’m proud to sign legislation that will prevent families from having to endure what the Parkland families have and ensure proper justice will be served in the state of Florida.”
Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina Montalto was killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School five years ago, was thankful for the hard work that lawmakers put into the bill.
“This bill is about victims’ rights, plain and simple. It allows the victims of heinous crimes a chance to get justice and have the perpetrators punished to the full extent of the law,” Montalto said Thursday in a press release. “Thank you to everyone who worked so hard on this bill.”
“Today’s change in Florida law will hopefully save other families from the injustices we have suffered,” Ryan Petty, the father of murdered Parkland student Alaina Petty, said in a statement released by the governor’s office.
Florida will now have the lowest death penalty threshold in the U.S. and will join Alabama as the only other state that doesn’t require a unanimous jury vote.
Read SB 450 below: