Thursday, January 23, the newly-constituted Florida Supreme Court struck down the Court’s 2016 ruling requiring a unanimous jury recommendation for a sentence of death. It is too early to know the full effects of this. Among the significant dangers is the pressure on legislators to change the current statute in order to make death sentences easier to obtain. Keep in mind that Florida led the nation last year in new death sentences (7) and leads all states in the number of innocent people wrongfully convicted, exonerated, and released from Death Row (29). Please stay tuned for more and what you can do.
Clemente Aguirre, the 28th exonerated Florida Death Row survivor, spent 14 years behind bars, including more than a decade on Florida’s Death Row, for a crime he did not commit. The state should be accountable for what they did to him. Clemente has gotten nothing, not even an apology. FL Rep. Anna Eskamani has filed Claims Bill HB 6523 that would provide some compensation to him for his ordeal. Please thank her and Sen. Victor Torres, Senate sponsor for SB24.
Chair of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Ingrid Delgado adds, “Clemente Aguirre was wrongly incarcerated for over 14 years, almost 11 of them on death row, before his exoneration in 2018. We are thankful to Representative Eskamani for filing a relief bill that would both recognize the harm done to Mr. Aguirre through his wrongful incarceration and support him in reestablishing his new life as a free man.”
Rep. Anna Eskamani
House Bill 6523 Relief of Clemente Aguirre
(850) 717-5047
anna.eskamani@myfloridahouse.gov
Sen. Victor Torres, Jr.
Senate Bill 24 Relief of Clemente Aguirre
850-487-5015
torres.victor@flsenate.gov
Please contact Gov. Ron DeSantis: Email: ron.desantis@eog.myflorida.com. Call: 850-488-7146 (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm ET). or Email the governor. Urge him NOT to schedule a new execution date for James Dailey to allow new hearings to take place and conduct a thorough review so ALL the evidence can be heard. It is never too late to review a condemned man’s case for innocence.