Time to get death penalty law right

This time, let’s hope Florida lawmakers get the message about the death penalty. But don’t hold your breath. The Florida Legislature is way too enamored with the death penalty to do the sensible thing, which is to get rid of it, and instead impose life in prison without parole.

In trying to keep sentencing people to death, our lawmakers keep messing it up.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Florida’s death penalty statute was unconstitutional because judges, rather than juries, were allowed to decide if the death penalty was warranted.

So in the spring, the Legislature went to work, sort of, and drafted a fix. In making that course correction, they also agreed to increase the number of jurors whose votes are needed to impose the death penalty.

Until recently, Florida was the only state that allowed a simple majority vote — 7 of 12 jurors — to impose the death penalty. But in trying to draft a viable death penalty law last spring, legislators agreed to increase that threshold to 10 of 12 jurors.

Last week, the Florida Supreme Court ordered lawmakers to go back and try again.

The court said that before a judge can impose the death penalty, juries must unanimously agree.

Who doesn’t agree such a requirement makes sense when government imposes the ultimate penalty?

“In no sense — morally, ethically or logically — was it correct what the Legislature tried to do in passing a hastily put-together bill,” Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said.

“Because they love the death penalty so much, they couldn’t see the writing on the wall.”

After all, it takes a unanimous jury to convict someone of a felony. Why should a lesser standard be allowed to sentence someone to death?

It isn’t yet clear if the Florida Supreme Court ruling will apply retroactively. Florida has 385 convicted killers on death row, including 21 from Broward County and seven from Palm Beach County. The death penalty has been on hiatus here since that U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January. Many of those facing execution might soon be filing appeals.

Also, Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked the Florida court for clarification, particularly to see how the law applies to cases already underway.

Incoming Senate President Joe Negron, R-Jupiter, told the Jacksonville Daily Record that lawmakers will work on redoing the death penalty law when they meet next spring.

“There’s no gray area” in the ruling, he said. “There’s no confusion. It’s very clear. I think we should pass a constitutional statute.”

Expect blowback from lawmakers who believe our death penalty law is just fine, no matter the constitutional stumbles and the incredible cost of maintaining the apparatus that surrounds it.

It’s believed Florida could save $90 million a year by instead punishing all firstdegree murderers with life in prison without parole. A 2000 report by the Palm Beach Post found that to execute 44 people, the state spent about $24 million each.

Plus, Florida has gotten it wrong too many times, with 26 exonerations of people sentenced to death since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s. No other state has more than 20.

Incoming Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Pasco County, condemned the state court ruling, saying the court subverted the will of the people and usurped the role of the Legislature.

But the Legislature has had numerous chances to get it right, but continues to flub it. Nineteen states have done away with the death penalty. As we’ve said before, Florida should follow their lead.

No one wants to coddle condemned murders, but many argue that life without hope of parole is a fate worse than death.

Until enlightened time comes, we can only hope our lawmakers figure out how to write a death penalty law that passes constitutional muster.