September 18, 2006

FADP CONTACTS:
Mark Elliott: 727-215-9646

WITH ANOTHER EXECUTION SET FOR WEDNESDAY, ABA REPORT FINDS FLORIDA DEATH PENALTY BROKEN

A blue-ribbon assessment panel appointed by the American Bar Association (ABA) yesterday announced that Florida's capital punishment policies fail to meet basic standards established by the ABA, findings that capital punishment critics - including Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty - say underscore the need for a moratorium on executions.

This comprehensive review by some of our state's best legal minds confirms that Florida's Death Penalty system is plagued by problems such as inadequate representation, racial and geographic disparities, and the disturbing prospect of executing an innocent person,” said Mark Elliott, Spokesman for Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, “This is a wake-up call for our state. It is time for Florida to call a time-out on executions while these biases and inaccuracies are addressed.”

The ABA review is the first of its kind in Florida and is part of a national series of death penalty statute reviews spearheaded by the ABA's Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project. Using the ABA's protocols for examining the administration of capital punishment, the nine-member Florida assessment team extensively researched the state's capital punishment laws and closely examined eight key areas of death penalty administration, including defense services, jury instructions, procedural restrictions and limitations on habeas corpus, clemency proceedings, and independent judiciary, racial and ethnic minorities, juvenile offenders, and the mentally retarded and mentally ill.

Among the ABA appointed panel's key findings were the following:

• Florida does not have adequate procedures in place to prevent the possibility of executing an innocent person. Since 1973, 123 people, including 22 from Florida, have been released from death row after evidence proved their innocence. Florida's criminal justice system is plagued with problems that can lead to wrongful convictions, such as access to DNA testing, the preservation of evidence, eye witness identification procedures, including lineups, and interrogation procedures that increase the likelihood of false confessions.

• Death penalty lawyers are untrained and under funded. The performance of appointed lawyers in Florida has been criticized on numerous occasions, including by the Florida Supreme Court. Some lawyers have little or no experience in death penalty cases and do not raise the correct issues in trials. Even worse, once a defendant is convicted, he/she does not have the right to argue that his/her lawyer is ineffective or incompetent. Florida also does not provide enough money for lawyers to do thorough work and proper investigation in capital trials. Lawyers who ask for extra money to do a specific type of investigation for their client's case can even be punished.

• Florida's process prevents jurors from being fully engaged in carrying out their duties. Many jurors find the instructions given to them at trial unclear and do not understand their role when deciding whether to impost a death sentence. Many believe they are required to impose death when, in fact, they are not. Moreover, Florida is the only state in the country that doesn't require a jury to be unanimous in recommending death, which may reduce the thoroughness of the deliberations. Based on the report's findings, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty are urging lawmakers to suspend executions in Florida's a policy which a majority of Americans consistently support.