JURY REFORM

DeSantis Wants to Make It Easier to Execute Prisoners in Florida

His proposed legislation would allow those convicted of certain crimes to be executed even if there are a few holdouts on a death penalty jury.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he’ll push for legislative reform to end the state’s constitutional requirement that juries must be unanimous when deciding to sentence someone to death. The push comes three months after Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, escaped the death penalty because of a couple of holdouts on his death penalty jury. The outcome enraged some victims’ parents as well as DeSantis. He mentioned the Cruz trial again at a press conference Thursday, saying, “One juror should not be able to veto that.” He said he’ll push for legislation that requires just eight jurors out of 12 to be in favor of execution. DeSantis also announced that he plans to push for capital punishment in sex crimes cases involving children in Florida—something that was barred by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana in 2008.