All you really need to say at this time is something like this:

"Look, it really does not matter if you support or oppose the idea of the death penalty.  If you are for the death penalty, it does not move fast enough, and sometimes we convict the wrong person - which leaves the real criminal out on the street.  We all agree that it's bad when that happens, right?  So, let's look at the legislative agenda for this new session..."


#1 - I ask you sponsor a bill that puts a moratorium on the death penalty in Florida and provides funding for a full and fair review of Florida's death penalty system.
If you feel comfortable with it, add something like:

"We really need you to be a leader on this issue.  Even if you support the death penalty, let's have a "time out" to address problems like:

• Racism in the application of the death penalty
• The need for availability of DNA testing and other newly-developed scientific methods of examining case evidence
• The sentencing of teenagers to death
• Inadequate funding for death row defense counsel
• The need for a method to hold police and prosecutors accountable when evidence favorable to the defense is withheld
• Limitation of court access to death-sentenced persons
• The need for a unanimous jury recommendation for death to be imposed
• The recent enactment of a perjury statute that punishes recanting defense witnesses
• The lack of standards to determine which cases are death-eligible