18 September 2017 :

The Florida Supreme Court today ordered a new sentencing hearing for Dennis Glover. Justices upheld the 1st-degree murder conviction of Glover in the 2012 slaying of a neighbor, Sandra Allen, but pointing to the lack of a unanimous jury recommendation, vacated his death sentence. The ruling, like numerous others in recent months, was rooted in a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a case known as Hurst v. Florida and a subsequent Florida Supreme Court decision. The 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling found Florida's death-penalty sentencing system was unconstitutional because it gave too much authority to judges, instead of juries. The subsequent Florida Supreme Court ruling said juries must unanimously agree on critical findings before judges can impose death sentences and must unanimously recommend the death penalty. In Glover's case, the jury recommended the death penalty in a 10-2 vote.