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 …
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TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a bill eliminating a requirement for unanimous jury recommendations before judges can impose death sentences. The new law took effect immediately and represents a major change in Florida’s death-penalty system. Lawmakers moved forward with the issue after Nikolas Cruz was sentenced to …
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The Institute of Public Safety at Santa Fe College is hosting crisis response dog training. Training is presented by HOPE-Animal Assisted Crisis Response, an organization that has provided its services nationwide for free since 2001. “Once a year we do a workshop,” said HOPE-AACR Florida area coordinator Terry Biehl, “where …
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Republican Florida House of Representatives Bobby Payne, Palatka, and Tyler Sirois, Merritt Island, are cosponsoring HB 1543, which proposes to reduce the minimum age at which a person may purchase, sell or transfer a firearm from 21 to 18. The measure is headed to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee for discussion March 13.
Read More »Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. The stories near you • Fresh Take Florida: Former UF quarterback faces years in prison, sex offender status if convicted. “Even for someone with a previously clean record, no one who was convicted of five counts of …
Read More »Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. The stories near you • WUFT News: Ryan Chamberlin secures bid to general election for Florida House District 24 seat in crowded primary election. “Republican candidate Ryan Chamberlin won the primary election for the Florida House District …
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Schoolchildren, teachers, anti-death penalty advocates and attorneys gathered across the street from the Florida State Prison in Raiford Thursday protesting the execution of David Dillbeck, a convicted murderer.
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Gina Montalto lost her life five years ago during the Majory Stoneman Douglas school shooting. Her father, Tony, said on Tuesday during the five-year memorial of the event that she was loving, caring, kind and compassionate. She was a straight-A student, a girl scout, and a member of the color …
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It’s been five years, but memories of her peers’ screams ringing through the halls of her high school still echo in Rachel Taylor’s mind. Fire alarms blared. Police stormed the school. Lives in Parkland, Florida, changed. While people worldwide celebrated Feb. 14 — the day dedicated to love — Taylor, …
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After a jury couldn’t agree on the death penalty in Florida’s deadliest school shooting, Republican lawmakers in Tallahassee are proposing to make it easier to send condemned convicts to death row. The changes – which would allow a jury to recommend the death penalty even when only eight of 12 …
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