Scott signs death penalty bill

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s death penalty is now legally sound, after Gov. Rick Scott approved a bill Monday requiring juries to be unanimous to render capital punishment.

Scott, who has signed more death warrants than any Governor since 1976, made no comment in signing SB 280. The bill paves the way for more executions, which have been on hold since January 2016, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida’s capital punishment scheme unconstitutional. Florida allowed judges to issue death sentences based on a simple majority recommendation of a jury, a violation of the Sixth Amendment, the ruling stated.

Lawmakers passed a bill last year requiring a 10-2 vote by juries for capital punishment sentences but the Florida Supreme Court ruled in October that unanimous juries are required.

Some legislators, however, are concerned they’ll have to return to clear up confusion surrounding the death penalty again next year. The Florida Supreme Court’s ruling only applies to cases dating after 2002, the date of an important U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring juries, not judges, to issue death sentences.

Many murder trials involving possible death sentences were put on hold while the death penalty was in limbo, but the Florida Supreme Court ruled last month trials could proceed under the assumption unanimous juries were required.