Capital punishment in Florida
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Capital punishment is legal in U.S. state of Florida. Florida was the first state to reintroduce the death penalty after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down all statutes in the country in the 1972 Furman v. Georgia decision, and the first to perform a post-Furman involuntary execution in 1979. The only person until then who had been executed during the post-Furman period was Gary Gilmore, who volunteered to be executed, in 1977, effectively ending the national moratorium on the death penalty which had been in effect since 1967.
Since Furman, not including the voluntary execution of Gary Gilmore, 64 people have been executed by the State of Florida, all at Florida State Prison, which possesses the state's sole remaining death chamber. 397 are currently awaiting execution, with one death warrant, for Mark Dean Schwab, pending.
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[edit] Crimes punishable to death
In the pre-Furman period, murder was not the only capital crime. People were also sentenced and executed for rape (until the end of the pre-Furman period), and in earlier years also for aiding runaway slaves[1].
Currently, Florida's capital crimes are:[2]
- First-degree murder
- Felony murder
- Capital drug trafficking
- Capital sexual battery
Due to the Supreme Court case Coker v. Georgia in 1977, only those convicted of murder may receive the death penalty. Florida however is watching Kennedy v. Louisiana, a pending case where the state of Louisiana seeks to execute a man convicted of raping an eight-year-old child.
[edit] Method of executions
Florida used public hanging under a local jurisdiction, oversaw and performed by the sheriffs of the counties where the crimes took place. However, in 1923, the Florida Legislature passed a law replacing hanging with the electric chair and stated that all future execution will be preformed under a state jurisdiction inside prisons.[3][4]
A total of 223 people were electrocuted through 1964[5], all of whom were men. Before that, 117 were hanged. 44 were electrocuted after 1979.
Until 1941, sheriffs of the counties where the crimes were committed would perform the executions. Later, a black-hooded executioner, a private citizen who is paid $150 per execution, took over. This gave anonymity to the actual executioner.[6][7]
[edit] Florida's response to Furman
Florida preformed its last pre-Furman execution in 1964 (Sie Dawson). After the Supreme Court of the United States struck down all states' death penalty procedures in the Furman v. Georgia ruling, essentially ruling the imposition of the death penalty at the same time as a guilty verdict unconstitutional, Florida was the first state to draft a newly-written statute on August 12, 1972.[8] This statute mandates a separate penalty phase in cases where prosecutors seek the death penalty. Due to the Furman ruling, the death sentences of 95 men and one woman were commuted.[9]
Today, the only death chamber in Florida is located at Florida State Prison in Starke. When sentenced, male convicts who receive the death penalty are incarcerated at Union Correctional Institution next door to Florida State Prison, while female convicts who are sentenced to death are incarcerated at Lowell Correctional Institution north of Ocala. Inmates are moved to the Death Row at Florida State Prison when their death warrant is signed.
Florida preformed the first involuntary execution after the Supreme Court, in the 1976 case Gregg v. Georgia, permitted the death penalty once more. John Arthur Spenkelink was electrocuted on May 25, 1979.[10]
[edit] Transition of execution methods
The electric chair became a subject of strong controversy in the 1990s after three botched executions (Jesse Tafero in 1990, Pedro Medina in 1997, and Allen Lee Davis in 1999). While most of states switched to the lethal injection, many politicians in Florida opposed giving up "Old Sparky", seeing it as a deterrent[11][12]. After Medina's execution, the Florida Senate voted unamiously to keep the chair, and the Florida House of Representatives concurred with only a few opposing votes, despite Governor Lawton Chiles and Attorney General Bob Butterworth suggestions to introduce injection.[13] Lethal injection was introduced as a backup method if chair be ever found unconstitutional.
Finally, after Davis execution, lethal injection became the primary method.[14] Inmates, however, may still choose electrocution.[15]
[edit] Clemency
The Governor of Florida has the right to commute the death penalty, but only with positive recommendation of clemency From a Board, where he or she sits.[16]
Since 1979, six commutations have been granted, all under administration of Governor Bob Graham.[17]
[edit] Women
Two women have been executed in Florida, both post-Furman. The first to be executed was Judy Buenoano, executed in 1998 for killing, at different times, her husband (1971) and son (1980). The second was Aileen Wuornos, a serial killer who was executed in 2002 for seven murders committed in 1989 and 1990.
[edit] Controversy
Like many other states with capital punishment, there is concern about the execution of innocent persons, especially since the advent of DNA-based evidence has made it possible to re-examine evidence in older cases with blood and tissue evidence still intact. Some believe that Jesse Tafero, Leo Alexander Jones and Pedro Medina may have been wrongly executed, but their cases were not re-examined prior to their executions.[18]
[edit] List of individuals executed since 1979
Executed person | Date of execution | Method | Victim(s) | Under Governor | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | John Arthur Spenkelink | 25 May 1979 | electric chair | Joseph J. Szymnkiewicz | Bob Graham |
2 | Robert Austin Sullivan[19] | 30 November 1983 | electric chair | Donald Schmidt | Bob Graham |
3 | Anthony Antone[19] | 26 January 1984 | electric chair | Richard Cloud | Bob Graham |
4 | Arthur Frederick Goode III[19] | 5 April 1984 | electric chair | Jason Verdow | Bob Graham |
5 | James Adams[19] | 10 April 1984 | electric chair | Edgar Brown | Bob Graham |
6 | Carl Shriner[19] | 20 June 1984 | electric chair | Judith Ann Carter | Bob Graham |
7 | David Leroy Washington[19] | 13 July 1984 | electric chair | Daniel Pridgen, Frank Meli, and Katrina Birk | Bob Graham |
8 | Ernest John Dobbert, Jr.[19] | 7 September 1984 | electric chair | Kelley Dobbert and Ryder Dobbert | Bob Graham |
9 | James Dupree Henry[19] | 20 September 1984 | electric chair | Zelie L. Riley | Bob Graham |
10 | Timothy Charles Palmes[19] | 8 November 1984 | electric chair | James Stone | Bob Graham |
11 | James David Raulerson[19] | 30 January 1985 | electric chair | Mike Stewart | Bob Graham |
12 | Johnny Paul Witt[19] | 4 March 1985 | electric chair | Jonathan Kushner | Bob Graham |
13 | Marvin Francois[19] | 29 May 1985 | electric chair | Livingston Stocker, Henry Clayton, Randolph Holmes, Charles Stinson, Gilbert Williams, and Michael Miller | Bob Graham |
14 | Daniel Morris Thomas[19] | 15 April 1986 | electric chair | Charles Anderson | Bob Graham |
15 | David Livingston Funchess[19] | 22 April 1986 | electric chair | Anna Waldrop and Clayton Ragen | Bob Graham |
16 | Ronald John Michael Straight[19] | 20 May 1986 | electric chair | James Stone | Bob Graham |
17 | Beauford White[19] | 28 August 1987 | electric chair | Livingston Stocker, Henry Clayton, Randolph Holms, Charles Stinson, Gilbert Williams, and Michael Miller | Bob Martinez |
18 | Willie Jasper Darden[19] | 15 March 1988 | electric chair | James Turman | Bob Martinez |
19 | Jeffrey Josepth Daughtery[19] | 7 November 1988 | electric chair | Lavonne Sailer, Betty Campbell, Carmen Abrams, and Elizabeth Shanks | Bob Martinez |
20 | Ted Bundy | 24 January 1989 | electric chair | Kimberly Leach, Lisa Levy, Margaret Bowman, and others | Bob Martinez |
21 | Aubrey Dennis Adams, Jr.[19] | 4 May 1989 | electric chair | Trisa Gail Thomley | Bob Martinez |
22 | Jesse Tafero | 4 May 1990 | electric chair | FHP Trooper Phillip Black and RCMP Constable Donald Irwin | Bob Martinez |
23 | Anthony Bertolotti[19] | 27 July 1990 | electric chair | Carol Ward | Bob Martinez |
24 | James William Hamblen[19] | 21 September 1990 | electric chair | Laureen Jean Edwards | Bob Martinez |
25 | Raymond Robert Clark[19] | 19 November 1990 | electric chair | David Drake | Bob Martinez |
26 | Roy Allen Harich[19] | 24 April 1991 | electric chair | Carlene Kelly | Lawton Chiles |
27 | Bobby Marion Francis[19] | 25 June 1991 | electric chair | Titus Walters | Lawton Chiles |
28 | Nollie Lee Martin[19] | 12 May 1992 | electric chair | Patricia Greenfield | Lawton Chiles |
29 | Edward Dean Kennedy[19] | 21 July 1992 | electric chair | Floyd Cone, Jr. and Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Robert McDernon,Sr. | Lawton Chiles |
30 | Robert Dale Henderson, Sr.[19] | 21 April 1993 | electric chair | Murray Ferderber, Dorothy Wilkerson, Ivan Barnett, Marie Barnett, and Clifford Barnett | Lawton Chiles |
31 | Larry Joe Johnson[19] | 5 May 1993 | electric chair | James Hadden | Lawton Chiles |
32 | Michael Alan Durocher[19] | 25 August 1993 | electric chair | Joshua Durocher, Grace Reed, and Candice Reed | Lawton Chiles |
33 | Roy Allen Stewart[19] | 22 April 1994 | electric chair | Margaret Haizlip | Lawton Chiles |
34 | Bernard Bolander[19] | 18 July 1995 | electric chair | Rudolfi Ayan, Sr., Nico Hernandez, John Merino, and Scott Bennett | Lawton Chiles |
35 | Jerry White | 4 December 1995 | electric chair | James Melson | Lawton Chiles |
36 | Phillip Alexander Atkins[19] | 5 December 1995 | electric chair | Antonio Castillo | Lawton Chiles |
37 | John Earl Bush[19] | 21 October 1996 | electric chair | Frances Julia Slater | Lawton Chiles |
38 | John Mills, Jr.[19] | 6 December 1996 | electric chair | Les Lawhon | Lawton Chiles |
39 | Pedro Medina | 25 March 1997 | electric chair | Cindy Rounseville | Lawton Chiles |
40 | Gerald Stano | 23 March 1998 | electric chair | Cathy Lee Scharf | Lawton Chiles |
41 | Leo Alexander Jones | 24 March 1998 | electric chair | Thomas Szarfranski | Lawton Chiles |
42 | Judy Buenoano | 30 March 1998 | electric chair | James Goodyear | Lawton Chiles |
43 | Daniel Eugene Remeta[20][19] | 31 March 1998 | electric chair | Mearle Reeder, Linda Marvin, Larry McFarland, and Glenn Moore | Lawton Chiles |
44 | Allen Lee Davis | 8 July 1999 | electric chair | Nancy Weiler, Kristina Weiler, and Katherine Weiler | Jeb Bush |
45 | Terry Melvin Sims[21][19] | 23 February 2000 | lethal injection | George Pfeil | Jeb Bush |
46 | Anthony Braden Bryan[22][19] | 24 February 2000 | lethal injection | George Wilson | Jeb Bush |
47 | Bennie Eddie Demps[23][19] | 7 June 2000 | lethal injection | Alfred Sturgis, Celia Puhlick, and R.N. Brinkworth | Jeb Bush |
48 | Thomas Harrison Provenzano | 21 June 2000 | lethal injection | William Wilkerson | Jeb Bush |
49 | Dan Patrick Hauser[24][19] | 25 August 2000 | lethal injection | Melanie Rodrigues | Jeb Bush |
50 | Edward Castro[25][19] | 7 December 2000 | lethal injection | Austin Carter Scott | Jeb Bush |
51 | Robert Dewey Glock, II[26][19] | 11 January 2001 | lethal injection | Sharilyn Ritchie | Jeb Bush |
52 | Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco[27][19] | 2 October 2002 | lethal injection | Katixa Ecenarro | Jeb Bush |
53 | Aileen Wuornos | 9 October 2002 | lethal injection | Richard Mallory, Dick Humphreys, Charles Carskaddon, Troy Burress, Peter Siems, Walter Jeno Antonio, and David Spears | Jeb Bush |
54 | Linroy Bottoson[28][19] | 9 December 2002 | lethal injection | Catherine Alexander | Jeb Bush |
55 | Amos Lee King, Jr.[29][19] | 26 February 2003 | lethal injection | Natalie Brady | Jeb Bush |
56 | Newton Carlton Slawson[30][19] | 16 May 2003 | lethal injection | Gerald Wood, Peggy Wood, Jennifer Wood, and Glendon Wood | Jeb Bush |
57 | Paul Jennings Hill | 3 September 2003 | lethal injection | John Bayard Britton and James Herman Barrett | Jeb Bush |
58 | Johnny Leartice Robinson | 4 February 2004 | lethal injection | Beverly St. George | Jeb Bush |
59 | John Richard Blackwelder | 26 May 2004 | lethal injection | Raymond D. Wigley | Jeb Bush |
60 | Glen James Ocha | 5 April 2005 | lethal injection | Carol Skjerva | Jeb Bush |
61 | Clarence Hill | 20 September 2006 | lethal injection | Stephen Taylor | Jeb Bush |
62 | Arthur Dennis Rutherford[31][32] | 19 October 2006 | lethal injection | Stella Salamon | Jeb Bush |
63 | Danny Rolling | 25 October 2006 | lethal injection | Sonja Larson, Christina Powell, Christa Hoyt, Manuel R. Taboada, and Tracy Inez Paules | Jeb Bush |
64 | Ángel Nieves Díaz | 13 December 2006 | lethal injection | Joseph Nagy | Jeb Bush |
[edit] References
- ^ http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/FLORIDA.htm
- ^ Crimes Punishable by the Death Penalty
- ^ Timeline: 1922-1924 - A History of Corrections in Florida
- ^ Espy files (to download at http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
- ^ Regional Studies The South
- ^ Death Row Fact Sheet - Florida Department of Corrections
- ^ State: The story of Old Sparky
- ^ Death Penalty Information Center
- ^ Death Row Fact Sheet - Florida Department of Corrections
- ^ At Issue: Crime and Punishment - TIME
- ^ State: The story of Old Sparky
- ^ http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1997/vp970412/04120007.htm
- ^ CNN - Botched execution prompts more electric-chair scrutiny - Mar. 26, 1997
- ^ Timeline: 1999 - A History of Corrections in Florida
- ^ Methods of Execution
- ^ Clemency
- ^ Clemency
- ^ Executed Innocents
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as Florida Has Executed 56 Inmates Since 1979 - from Tampa Bay Online
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 102704. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 032827. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 102476. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 030970. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 538283. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 110488. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 093836. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 088795. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 078079. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 036275. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 119658. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
- ^ Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 105314. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
- ^ US executes Australian widow's murderer - Breaking News - World - Breaking News
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