Clearwater criminal defense lawyers

Capital Punishment

Florida is one of multiple states that still allow the death penalty, or capital punishment. In Florida, the death penalty is allowable in crimes involving first-degree murder, felony murder (murder which is committed while a felony is being committed as well), capital sexual battery (sexual battery where the victim is under twelve), and capital drug trafficking.

The state of Florida gives inmates the choice if choosing between lethal injection and the electric chair to carry out their sentence. However, unlike the majority of states that switched to lethal injection in the 1990s, Florida waited until 2000 to make lethal injection an alternate means of execution in 2000.

The chair that is used for the electric chair was constructed in 1998. It is made of oak and was assembled by Department of Corrections personnel. The chair which it replaced had been in use since 1923. That chair was also made of oak and was constructed by inmates.

Prior to 1923, hanging was the official means of execution and was carried out county by county. Executions were still conducted by county sheriffs until the early 1940s. Since then, all executions have been carried out by the state at one location.

In 1972, following the decision of Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court struck down all capital punishment statutes. Florida, in an effort to be prepared should the Supreme Court ever re-allow capital punishment, re-wrote its capital punishment statutes. The new statutes were the first in the country. When the Supreme Court re-instated the death penalty in 1976, Florida was then the first state to put someone to death after the death penalty was re-allowed.

Coker v. Georgia in 1977 made it unacceptable to put anyone to death who was not convicted of murder. Because of this, Florida has not executed anyone for any crime not related to murder, although some non-murder crimes are technically eligible for the death penalty.

If you have been accused of a serious crime, your freedom and your life could rest on your defense. For an experienced criminal defense lawyer, contact the Clearwater criminal defense lawyers of the Law Offices of Tragos & Sartes at 727-441-9030.