3 death sentences are vacated in Orange; 7 more in question

Orange County prosecutors gave few answers Friday during the first death-penalty hearings since State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced that her office will no longer be seeking capital punishment for defendants.

During the hearings, three judges vacated the death sentences of three men who were sentenced to death years ago without unanimous jury decisions: Derrick McLean, Sean Smith and David Frances.

“Those will be assessed on a case-by-case basis,” Assistant State Attorney Ken Nunnelley said Friday, when Judge Bob LeBlanc asked whether his office intends to seek the death penalty again for Frances.

Since the three men were sentenced, courts have ruled that Florida’s former practice of requiring only a majority of jurors to recommend the death penalty is unconstitutional.

Jurors now have to be unanimously in favor of sending defendants to death row.

Courts across the state have been vacating non-unanimous capital punishment sentences and preparing to give deathrow inmates new proceedings in front of new juries, which will decide whether the defendants should be put to death or get life in prison.

However, those proceedings require prosecutors — and it is not clear whether the attorneys from Ayala’s office will push again for capital punishment.

Last week, Ayala was vague about how her office will handle the cases of 10 people sent to death row by non-unanimous juries.

“I have absolutely no guidance on that issue,” Nunnelley said Friday, when Judge Julie O’Kane asked what his office plans to do in McLean’s case.

In Smith’s case, Judge Marc Lubet cautioned prosecutors not to wait too long to come to a decision.

“I don’t think I can allow the state to wait until the last minute,” he said.

All three cases are scheduled for another status hearing in early May.