19 May 2021 :
new sentencing hearing for 5 death row prisoners
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered new hearings for Joseph Smith, David Sylvester Frances, Pinkney W. Carter, Gerald Delane Murray and Brandon Lee Bradley. Those rulings came after a series of complicated death penalty developments that began in early 2016 when the U.S. Supreme Court found Florida’s death penalty system unconstitutional because it gave too much authority to judges, instead of juries, in imposing death sentences. The attorney general’s office in March also acknowledged the need for new sentencing hearings for several other convicted murderers.
(Source: Sarsota Herald-Tribune, 14/05/2021)
