Melanie Kalmanson Comments on Outlook for Florida Capital Cases in Law360 Story About 2024 Florida Cases to Watch
Quarles & Brady attorney Melanie Kalmanson, a member of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group in the firm’s Tampa office, shared her insight about the potential implication of a new state law regarding capital cases in a Law360 story about Florida cases to watch in 2024.
The law enacted in 2023 changes the requirement for a capital conviction from a unanimous jury vote to an eight-person majority. Kalmanson, who does extensive pro bono work related to capital cases, including serving on the steering committee for the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project, noted the uncertainly surrounding application of the new law.
An excerpt from the article:
Following a jury recommendation in late 2022 of life imprisonment instead of the death sentence for Nikolas Cruz, the man who killed 17 people in the Parkland high school shooting, the Florida legislature lowered the requirement for a death sentence from a unanimous jury to an 8-4 majority.
What that means for defendants in capital cases who have resentencings or new trials pending is unclear, according to Melanie Kalmanson, a litigator at Quarles & Brady LLP who does pro bono work on capital cases. The courts have not yet determined whether the old standards or the new law applies when a case is being retried.
"Now you have chaos across the state as to how this new statute should apply," Melanie Kalmanson, a litigator at Quarles & Brady LLP, said.