20 February 2017 :

Prosecutors on Friday announced they will no longer seek the death penalty against Ana Maria Cardona for the 1990 torture and murder of her son Lazaro Figueroa, 3-year-old. The case is known as "Baby Lollipops". The decision was made 1 year after the Florida Supreme Court, for the 2nd time, threw out Cardona's death sentence and conviction, granting her a new trial. Cardona, 55, now faces life in prison if convicted of 1st-degree murder at a 3rd trial. In January 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Florida's capital sentencing system violated the Constitution because judges, not juries, meted out the ultimate punishment. For decades, Florida jurors had only had to give a majority recommendation on the death penalty. The Legislature quickly passed a new law that required 10 of 12 jurors to agree on a death sentence. But the Florida Supreme Court soon overturned the law, saying it violated a defendant's right to a unanimous jury verdict. In Cardona’s first trial, jurors recommended death by an 8-4 vote. In her 2010 trial, only seven of 12 jurors agreed on the death penalty. But Cardona's sentence was overturned on February 18 (see) for a different reason. Justices ruled that while there was plenty of evidence to convict Cardona, a prosecutor went overboard during her closing argument by repeatedly calling for "justice for Lazaro," arguments that "improperly inflamed the minds and passions of the jurors."