WUFT News News and Public Media for North Central Florida from the University of Florida in Gainesville
Rejecting arguments by Second Amendment supporters, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a longstanding state ban on people openly carrying firearms in public.
Read More »Committee Backs Unanimous Juries In Florida Death Cases
Florida's House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved a measure (HB 527) that would replace a law requiring at least 10 of 12 jurors to recommend death with the requirement that juries instead be unanimous.
Read More »Temporary Injunction For Mandatory Delay Law For Abortions Upheld
A Gainesville women's center was part of party that filed a suit against the state of Florida regarding a law that required a 24-hour wait period before a woman could get an abortion. Florida's Supreme Court found that the state would have to provide extra proof when defending any laws regarding privacy rights, while also suggesting the law was likely unconstitutional.
Read More »Death Penalty Cases Allowed To Move Forward
The Florida Supreme Court on Monday ordered that death penalty cases can proceed, even with an unconstitutional law, which requires only 10 members of the 12-person jury to recommend the death penalty, still on the books.
Read More »Liquor, Self-Defense Bills Moving In Senate
Controversial proposals that would allow liquor to be sold in grocery stores and shift the burden of proof in "stand your ground" self-defense cases were set up Thursday to be among the first items the Senate could approve when the annual legislative session begins next month. The Rules Committee voted 7-4 for a proposal (SB 106) that would end a Depression-era law requiring liquor stores and bars to be separated from groceries and other retail goods, an issue commonly referred to as the "liquor wall."
Read More »Lawmakers Back Unanimous Juries in Death Cases
Florida juries would have to unanimously agree that defendants should be condemned to death for the sentence to be imposed, under a proposal given swift and overwhelming approval at its first Senate committee Monday
Read More »Proposal Could Resolve Key Death Penalty Issue
In response to a Florida Supreme Court ruling last October, lawmakers today filed a measure that would require unanimous jury recommendations for death sentences to be imposed.
Read More »Fla. Chamber Supports Scott’s $85M Incentive Proposal
The Florida Chamber of Commerce offered support Thursday for Gov. Rick Scott's proposal to set aside $85 million for incentives next year.
Read More »2016 Roundup: Kind of Weird, Huh?
In 2016, Donald Trump was elected to the White House. The Cubs won the World Series. And Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In other words, it was the kind of year that seemed designed to make Florida news look normal.
Read More »Exiting Justice Rails On “Discriminatory” Death Penalty
Justice James E.C. Perry on Thursday rendered a blistering analysis of the manner in which the death penalty is carried out in Florida.
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