Loading ...Death Penalty Resumed in Florida 30 Years Ago
Most Americans spent Memorial Day remembering lost loved ones and military heroes. But May 25, 2009 was a remarkable date in Florida for another reason. It was the 30th anniversary of the nation’s first involuntary execution after a four year suspension of executions by virtue of a U.S. Supreme Court case. In 1976, though, the United States Supreme Court approved of a bifurcated guilt/punishment process for capital cases. In 1977, Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in Utah – but he did not appeal his conviction or sentence.
No other executions were carried out until two years later. On May 25, 1979, John Spenkelink was executed in a Florida prison by the electric chair. His case traveled to the U.S. Supreme Court five times prior to his death. Spenkelink had rejected a plea offer from prosecutors to plead guilty to a charge of second-degree murder and receive a long prison sentence.
Since then, the state has executed another 64 men and two women. In 2000, Florida changed its execution method from the electric chair to lethal injection. Governor Jeb Bush imposed a yearlong moratorium on executions in Florida due to complications which arose in a 2006 execution. Procedures were changed and executions resumed.
Today, Florida has 392 death row inmates, compared to 134 in 1979. Many people believe that Florida’s death penalty is unfairly applied – with race, gender and socio-economic class bearing more weight than the facts of the case. Many also argue that the quality of a defendant’s capital murder defense attorney and the resources available to that attorney have great bearing on the ultimate penalty.
A 2006 American Bar Association study of Florida’s death penalty system concluded that the state needed to make drastic changes in attempt to make it fairer and reduce the chance that an innocent person could be executed. The ABA also recommended that Florida should take steps to ensure that defendants facing a possible death sentence have qualified capital murder defense attorneys.
The study noted that Florida has released more people from death row than other state, suggesting that the system has serious problems. Twenty-two death row inmates have been exonerated since 1973 in Florida. To date, the ABA’s recommendations have not been implemented in Florida.
There are currently 27 men on death row for Hillsborough County murders. Twenty-six men await execution for Pinellas County homicides. Only one man from either county has actually been executed since 1979.