DeSantis just proved to the nation that he can KILL someone on Main Street

[Ferrets are Cool]

and get away with it. Or can he?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/florida-executes-donald-dillbeck_n_63f7c0ace4b04ff5b488d4cf

Florida on Thursday executed 59-year-old Donald Dillbeck, who was sentenced to death 32 years ago by a non-unanimous jury under a death penalty statute that has since been found unconstitutional.

Dillbeck, who was killed as punishment for fatally stabbing a woman named Faye Vann, was the first person executed in Florida since 2019.

The timing of his execution appears to be part of a push by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to bring back death sentences by non-unanimous juries. DeSantis, who is expected to run for president, signed Dillbeck’s death warrant last month on the same day that he floated changing state law to allow non-unanimous juries to impose death sentences. “Maybe eight out of 12 have to agree or something,” DeSantis suggested at a Florida Sheriffs Association conference, just before ordering the execution of a man with that exact jury split.

[3Hotdogs]

1. 12 to convict ya.

But only 8 to vote to wack ya.

[Ferrets are Cool]

2. From what I can understand, it's unconstitutional, but hell, they trample on that document

daily.

[Baitball Blogger]

20. This is exactly how Florida operates all the time.

De Santis is just skipping steps.

[Dustlawyer]

3. Civil juries in Texas is 10-2 to still win for the plaintiff.

So you need less than that to sentence someone to death. Given how many exonerations the Innocence Project has achieved we are still going backwards. Repug politicians don’t care if they have to kill people to get elected, they will do ANYTHING!!!

[LiberalArkie]

13. They execute people to win votes.

The thought of executing an innocent person did not bother my father, we said "They probably killed someone before". He always voted to convict a person when he had jury duty for about the same reason. The person would not have been arrested if they were innocent. That thought still seems to be the prevailing thought pattern here in the south.

[Dustlawyer]

18. This is why settlements are much lower now than 32 years ago.

Juries now don’t want to award money because they think their rates will go up. Also because they have been programmed not to see anyone get anything that they don’t get.

[ecstatic]

4. He'll do anything for power.

Yuck! His actions have been so disgusting, between the illegal busing of refugees to now killing people for political points. I pray that his karma will be swift and harsh.

[CTriverYankee]

5. Not surprising

He's pro life as long as you stay in the womb.

[Ohioboy]

6. My local right-wing radio station is reporting this without giving the reason

They are just making it sound like criminals are against DeSantis.

[LexVegas]

7. Dillbeck shot a sherrif's deputy dead with his own gun, escaped from prison...

and stabbed a woman to death in her car in a mall parking lot. She was waiting in the car while her sons and grandchild returned clothing inside.

[jaxexpat]

10. That seems to be the whole truth according to 8 of 12 jurors.

What's with those 4, eh? I mean, did he do it or not? What sort of extenuating circumstances can cloud such facts?

[LexVegas]

14. What seems to be the whole truth? He committed the murders.

[jaxexpat]

16. Open and shut? If so what's with the 1/3 of jurors who disagreed?

That's the whole point of the outrage, you see. Or perhaps you don't see that?

[Sympthsical]

19. His conviction isn't the question

What wasn't unanimous was deciding his crime deserved the death penalty. It's the penalty phase that wasn't unanimous.

I think that issue is getting confused, and the article doesn't mind it if people conflate the issues it seems, because it seems almost willfully written to obscure what is being discussed.

Even the guy's lawyers admit he committed the crimes. No one's questioning that. It's whether or not that deserved death.

I'm against the death penalty, full stop. But I'm also against dishonest reporting, which seems to be the case happening here.

[Ferrets are Cool]

23. Yes, this discussion should be about the death penalty, not whether he is guilty.

[jaxexpat]

30. In a very real way, it is a discussion about the essence of the death penalty discussion.

Whereas "guilt" is not the question (I'd always presumed it wasn't the point of contention).

The concept of "guilty enough to deserve execution" is the issue. That is where 1/3 of the jury thought differently than the majority. For whatever rationale, some jurors chose to remain in disagreement with their fellows.

It's a twist on the old adage, “We must all hang together or we will all hang separately”.

[Buckeyeblue]

28. I'm against the death penalty because it's crazy expensive and our judicial system is racist

But the people who commit these crimes are a piece of shit. I just don't think punishing them with death solves anything. I'm also a hipocrit when it comes to crimes against children. I'm probably not going to say much when those people get put down.

[Ms. Toad]

36. The article also seems to imply that the execution was unconstitutional

But it appears that imposing the death penalty without a unanimous jury as to the sentence was briefly unconstitutional under the Florida constitution, but that the current Supreme Court said the prior court was wrong when it declared jury unanimity was constitutionally required.

Way too many details omitted from the article to know what was going on there.

[Polybius]

31. The other 4 wanted him to serve life in prison

All 12 convicted him, and he admitted to the killings.

[jaxexpat]

33. I figured that was the case. For me, the subject is the prestige of unanimity.

[MayReasonRule]

11. I Despise DeSamtis

DeSantis and the deceased murderer are two peas in the same pod.

Darwin's impatiently tapping his foot in the wings..

[uponit7771]

27. 4 people out of 12 didn't think he deserved death for this. Seems unconstitutional to override that

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Abolish the death penalty.

[CaptainTruth]

25. And abolish DeSantis!

[MayReasonRule]

32. Inequity defines the issue.

Unanimous verdicts should be required.

40% of those incarcerated in our country are there because of violent crimes against other members of our society.

I agree that inequity of administration is pervasive.

I disagree that eliminating tha death penalty in it's entirety is the most reasoned way forward.

I'm in Caddo Parish, LA where our violent crime rates exceed that of 99 out of a 100 of similar size.

Our incidence of violent crime per capita exceeds that of Chicago.

Those that commit murder will always be a murderer. It forever defines what they are.

In my book, there is no other just recompense for murder.
Those that take a life unjustly, are no longer worthy of their own.

Perhaps all murder cases ought to be tried on the federal level.

May reason rule.

[jaxexpat]

9. DeSantis is showing who he is in neon lights.

He has taken it upon himself to execute a human being, basically on a whim and to prove a point he thinks is important. THAT HE CAN!

He will kill people anytime he wants. Constitution be damned. Rule of law be damned. If it's how he sees it, it will go down his way and legal precedent or respect for human rights will weigh nothing against his decision. He has corralled a posse of energized enforcers, many of whom have no way to extricate themselves safely from the chaos into which he's embroiled them. There's not a dime's worth of sanity in the whole lot of them to start with. They claim to have taken on the mantle of righteousness which gives them courage, but it is only the translucent veil behind which most bullies hide their internal shame and terror, the breeding ground of their psychoses.

DeSantis is not merely a Putin look alike or wannabe. He's the unvarnished and unapologetic epitome of ruthlessness which the nation has not beheld in such high political position since EVER. If he takes control of the military as CIC the world will have never seen such since J. Stalin whom he will easily eclipse.

[niyad]

12. May he, and his enablers, receive everything they deserve.

[Chainfire]

15. The victim of the state's killing was a political prop for a Nazi wannabe President.

I guess someone had to make the sacrifice for DeSatan.

I wonder how that worked in practice? "Go find me someone convicted of murder without a unanimous verdict, to kill."

[NoMoreRepugs]

17. DuhhSantis and his wife want to be King and Queen so badly.

[IronLionZion]

21. They don't call him Ron DeathSentence for nothing

As DeathSentence sinks Florida deeper until it drowns in blood, maybe there's hope for improvements in some of our newer blue states like Georgia or Arizona.

[TheRickles]

22. If 8/4 is good enough, why not 7/5? Or 6/6 with the judge as tie-breaker? Etc.

[lame54]

34. A coin flip would be cheaper

[TheRickles]

35. Touche! (for some reason, the accent over the "e" keeps getting deleted)

[CaptainTruth]

24. We must ALL work to stop DeFascist.

It's not just up to us in FL, he's a menace to the whole country.

[lostnfound]

26. Party of death. Party of immorality. Party of revenge. Greed. Treason. Mockery. Secret perversions.

Violence.

They seem so proud of these things.

[mathematic]

29. Ron DeSantis is not the state of Florida.

Folks, I know this is tough to keep track of but we're a republic. The government's exercising the authority of the people, not a monarch or a dictator.

[Ferrets are Cool]

37. I'm kinda confused by your post.

So, if the majority of people in Florida wanted to bring slavery back and DeSantis and the legistature enacted a law making it legal, it would be ok?

Because that is basically what he has done here. It is, in my limited knowledge, illegal for him to do what he did here, but he still did it.