USA - Florida. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to pass a bill requiring a 10-2 vote for a death sentence

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 12-6 to pass SB 7068 that in future capital cases, a defendant cannot be sentenced to death unless at least 10 or 12 jurors agree to recommend that punishment. The committee's approval of the measure virtually guaranteed that lawmakers will send a bill to Gov. Rick Scott before the end of the legislative session March. 11. Of the 31 states with the death penalty, Florida is 1 of only 3 that do not require unanimous jury recommendations for death to be imposed. The other 2 states are Alabama and Delaware. A death sentence in Florida now requires a simple majority. Florida prosecutors support the 10-2 compromise but public defenders oppose it, arguing that Florida should follow most other states and require that juries be unanimous in recommending a death sentence. Public Defender Rex Dimmig of Polk County predicted Florida's "outlier" status as a 10-2 sentencing state would trigger a flood of new lawsuits by death row inmates. A 3rd state, Delaware, allows a jury recommendation of death by a simple majority, but that state has suspended use of the death penalty pending a full legal review. Executions in Florida have been on hold following the Jan. 12 decision in the case of Hurst vs. Florida.