This week, seven Florida capital cases were decided by the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) as the High Court issued its orders denying future consideration of requests made by Florida Death Row inmates.
All of these cases ask SCOTUS to review decisions made by the Florida Supreme Court as it applies the SCOTUS decision in Hurst v. Florida.
We’ve discussed Hurst before; in sum, SCOTUS found the Florida death penalty statute was unconstitutional because juries did not decide whether or not there were sufficient aggravating factors to impose death (under the law, the judge decided on capital punishment). When Hurst came down, it meant that Florida Death Row inmates who were sentenced to death under an unconstitutional process were due new sentencing trials. They began filing appeals, among them these seven whose writs were denied this Tuesday.
See:
- CCourt Ruleson Post-Hurst Sentencing Hearings; and
- What Does the New Hurst Decision Mean for Florida Death Penalty?
Specifically, the seven Florida capital cases are as follows (linked to their respective SCOTUS Docket pages):
Franklin v. Florida, 18-5228
11-13-18 Order: Petition DENIED. Justice Thomas, concurring in the denial of certiorari: I concur for the reasons set out in Reynolds v. Florida, 586 U. S. ___ (2018) (Thomas, J., concurring). Justice Sotomayor, dissenting from the denial of certiorari: I dissent for the reasons set out in Reynolds v. Florida, 586 U. S. ___ (2018) (Sotomayor, J., dissenting).
Grim v. Florida, 18-5518
11-13-18 Order: Petition DENIED. Justice Thomas, concurring in the denial of certiorari: I concur for the reasons set out in Reynolds v. Florida, 586 U. S. ___ (2018) (Thomas, J., concurring). Justice Sotomayor, dissenting from the denial of certiorari: I dissent for the reasons set out in Reynolds v. Florida, 586 U. S. ___ (2018) (Sotomayor, J., dissenting).
Guardado v. Florida, 17-9284
11-13-18 Order: Petition DENIED. Justice Thomas, concurring in the denial of certiorari: I concur for the reasons set out in Reynolds v. Florida, 586 U. S. ___ (2018) (Thomas, J., concurring). Justice Sotomayor, dissenting from the denial of certiorari: I dissent for the reasons set out in Reynolds v. Florida, 586 U. S. ___ (2018) (Sotomayor, J., dissenting).
Johnston v. Florida, 18-5793
11-13-18 Order: Petition DENIED. Justice Thomas, concurring in the denial of certiorari: I concur for the reasons set out in Reynolds v. Florida, 586 U. S. ___ (2018) (Thomas, J., concurring). Justice Sotomayor, dissenting from the denial of certiorari: I dissent for the reasons set out in Reynolds v. Florida, 586 U. S. ___ (2018) (Sotomayor, J., dissenting).
Philmore v. Florida, 17-9556
11-13-18 Order: Petition DENIED. Justice Thomas, concurring in the denial of certiorari: I concur...
