FLORIDA: JURIES TO REACH UNANIMOUS RECOMMENDATION FOR DEATH PENALTY

Gov. Rick Scott has signed into law a bill that requires Florida capital sentencing juries to reach a unanimous recommendation for death before a judge may impose the death penalty against a capital defendant. The state's action leaves Alabama as the only remaining state in which a judge may impose a death sentence based upon a non-unanimous advisory recommendation by a jury. Three other states do not require a unanimous jury vote before a death sentence may be imposed. Indiana requires a judge to impose the jury's sentence when it has reached a unanimous verdict but empowers the judge to independently determine the sentence when the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict. Montana and Nebraska exclude the jury altogether from the final sentencing determination, providing for judge sentencing in capital cases after the jury unanimously finds at least one aggravating circumstance that makes the defendant eligible for the death penalty.