GAINESVILLE, Fla. – With Florida making it easier for juries to impose the death sentence, two formerly condemned inmates who are still behind bars are warning that the change gives too much power over life and death to elected prosecutors. Their concerns are at odds with some families of murder …
Read More »Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. The stories near you • WUFT News Special Report: Nay’loni Fairley: Jacksonville father recalls losing his ‘Dazzling Doll.’ “‘I just hope it gets better, because we’re all suffering, and it doesn’t get better,’ he said. ‘As the …
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ROSEWOOD, Fla. – Lizzie Robinson Jenkins’s living room walls are covered in neat rows and columns of early 1900s history. Tables are littered with artifacts from her aunt, including frayed handkerchiefs and a metal coin purse — family heirlooms almost lost to hate. The 84-year-old’s expression changed as she remembered …
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Former Florida congressional candidate and fired pandemic health manager Rebekah Jones agreed in a court document to admit she was guilty of a hacking-related felony. But she now disputes prosecutors’ claims that she illegally used a government messaging service to send mass texts criticizing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handling of the …
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A Marion County judge is working with experts around the country to aid veterans in Ukraine. For 20 years, Judge Jim McCune has served on the bench in Marion County. His effort to help veterans in the court system has had a positive impact on the local community and is now reaching the global scale. McCune and a team around the country are working to provide a Veterans Treatment Court (VTC) for soldiers in Ukraine.
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Alachua County made the joint-effort of state attorney Brian Kramer and public defender Stacy Scott a historic reality: Florida’s Eighth Judicial Circuit will become Florida’s first judicial circuit to integrate equitable sentencing software as an official part of its case management system and plea-bargaining process. Roughly 95% of cases are settled in plea negotiations. Known as the Equity in Sentencing Analysis System (ESAS), this fairly new software provides legal practitioners with a searchable database of statewide sentencing data from the Florida Department of Corrections going back to 1998.
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is facing sharp criticism following her decision this week to grant a request by former President Donald Trump’s legal team for an independent arbiter to review documents obtained during an FBI search of his Florida property last month. Cannon on Monday authorized an outside …
Read More »State Rep. Ralph Massullo told a newspaper of the plan on Wednesday.
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While her experiences unfolded within north central Florida justice systems and Lowell prison, the filmmakers say this is a nationwide issue.
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National suicide prevention hotlines are bracing for an influx of calls when the new, shorter number – 988 – launches. Some advocates are asking whether the hotline will be ready to serve people with autism.
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WUFT News News and Public Media for North Central Florida from the University of Florida in Gainesville