U.S. Supreme Court,
Criminal
Feb. 3, 2016
Conservative and liberal justices unite in Florida death penalty case
In Hurst v. Florida, the court held that Florida's death penalty scheme, which it has repeatedly upheld since 1976, was constitutionally deficient because of the statute's minimization of the jury's role.
Karen M. Gottlieb
FIU College of LawKaren M. Gottlieb is co-director of the Florida Center for Capital Representation at FIU College of Law. She filed an amicus brief in Hurst v. Florida.
In the U.S. Supreme Court's Jan. 12 decision in Hurst v. Florida, 14-7505, the conservative and liberal justices united in holding that Florida's death-penalty statute violates the core constitutional protection of a trial by jury. Florida's death-penalty scheme, which the court has repeatedly upheld since 1976, was found deficient because of the statute's minimization of the jury's role.
Timothy Hurst was convicted of killing his restaurant co-worker in 1998 by repeatedly s...
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