DeSantis to Seek Change in Florida's Death Penalty

Governor Ron DeSantis has signaled that the Republican-led state legislature could address the 2017 death penalty law that requires a unanimous jury to find that a criminal defendant should be put to death.

During a campaign rally in Coral Springs, Florida, Gov. DeSantis called the recent jury decision to recommend Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz a life sentence instead of death, a “miscarriage of justice.”

“That was a miscarriage of justice. That did not honor the victims and the families and all that the went through. I think we’ll be able to do something legislatively,” said DeSantis.

Shortly after the jury recommendation came down, DeSantis criticized the legal system, saying that "we're 4 and a half years after these killings, and we're just now getting this?" Instead, he said that Cruz could've "been executed in 6 months. He's guilty, everybody knew that from the beginning, and yet it takes years and years in this legal system that is not serving the interests of victims."

Usually what DeSantis suggests or wants to see happen legislatively, is addressed by the pro-DeSantis state legislature

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter was killed during the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, stumped for DeSantis and praised DeSantis’s past accomplishments of holding Democratic officials “accountable” for their actions.

“What he did for my family, I couldn’t get done by myself,” said Pollack before listing issues like school choice that DeSantis addressed during the 2022 legislative session.

“He got rid of the critical race theory bulls--t,” Pollack added.

Could legislators also bring back the electric chair or firing squad as options for carrying out a death sentence?

Several state legislators have suggested that options to the lethal injection needed to be offered.