Florida lawmakers accepted two payments this week that might permit for the execution of kid rapists.
The Florida Home handed HB1297, a invoice that enables for the dying penalty for rapists of kids below the age of 12 with out jury unanimity, by a 95-14 vote on late Thursday.
The proposed measure, sponsored by Rep. Jessica Baker, R – Fl., would require the vote of solely 8 jurors out of 12 to be able to approve capital punishment for individuals who commit sexual battery on kids.
If fewer than eight jurors advocate the dying penalty, defendants could be sentenced to life imprisonment with out the opportunity of parole.
The Senate is slated to vote on its model of the invoice, SB 1342, on Tuesday.
The laws would change the precedent that requires unanimous verdicts for executions and would make Florida the fourth state to not require jury unanimity.
The Florida Home passes a invoice enacting dying penalty for little one rape pic.twitter.com/spZxEEScOu
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) April 14, 2023
The proposed measures comply with longstanding US Supreme Courtroom and Florida Supreme Courtroom rulings that outlaw the execution of defendants in rape instances, together with a 2008 US Supreme Courtroom choice in a Louisana case.
Rep. Baker mentioned she hopes the invoice will provoke the US Supreme Courtroom to rethink its stance on the problem and allow the execution of defendants discovered responsible of kid rape.
“The rape of a kid is a deliberate, methodical act,” she mentioned. “It doesn’t occur by chance.”
Sen. Lauren E book, a survivor of kid sexual assault, detailed her wrestle with the trauma she endured a long time in the past throughout a passionate speech throughout Thursday’s committee listening to.
“There isn’t a statute of limitations {that a} sufferer suffers. It is a life sentence that’s handed all the way down to younger kids,” E book mentioned. “We’re speaking concerning the youngest of the younger on this invoice. I used to be a type of children.”
The measure is headed now headed to the complete Senate.
Florida could have the bottom dying penalty threshold within the nation upon Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature of the laws.