Melanie Kalmanson Writes Article Detailing Constitutional Issues with Florida’s Capital Punishment Statute
Litigation & Dispute Resolution attorney Melanie Kalmanson wrote an article for the Florida Law Review Forum that addresses constitutional issues arising from legislation passed in Florida that lowers the jury vote necessary to impose a death sentence to the lowest in the country. She predicts that the Eighth Amendment will be a primary player in conversations about this statute.
An excerpt:
Enacting the new legislation, Florida plunges itself into another constitutional crisis in capital punishment just seven years after Hurst v. Florida turned the state’s then-outlier capital sentencing system upside down. The effect of the new statute on capital sentencing proceedings across the state—especially those cases in which a Hurst resentencing was pending or underway—is unclear. Litigation on these issues has already begun and will likely continue until the full impact of the new legislation has been determined. For Hurst, that took years.