Jury's Precedence

Jury's Precedence

Capital punishment--Florida.

Protest movements--United States.

Capital punishment--Florida--Public opinion.

The Miami Herald

HIST 298, University of Mary Washington

1984-11-07

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Florida

SUPPOSE trial judges were free to dispatch a criminal defendant to prison even after a jury of his peers had declared him not guilty. Unthinkable? Of course it is. Yet that's precisely how the death sentence is administered in Florida, where judges are empowered to condemn a convicted murderer to death even if the jury unanimously recommends a life prison sentence.

Aldebert Rivers was convicted of first-degree murder in 1982 for his role in the shooting death of a North Miami waitress. Nine men and three women deliberated only an hour before returning their guilty verdict. Later, after another hour of deliberation, the same jury recommended that Rivers be sentenced to life in prison.

Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Morphonios accepted the jury's finding of guilt but rejected its recommendation for mercy, arguing that the aggravating circumstances of Rivers's crime compelled his execution. Last week, in a unanimous ruling, the Florida Supreme Court rebuked Judge Morphonios for defying the jury's recommendation and ordered Rivers's sentence commuted to life in prison.

Of the 38 states that permit capital punishment, only three allow trial judges to override a jury's recommendation for mercy. Judges in Alabama and Indiana have invoked that authority sparingly. But in Florida, already home of the nation's largest condemned-inmate population, trial judges have imposed the death penalty over the jury's objections 87 times since capital punishment was restored in 1972.

The state supreme court wisely has declared that judges who overrule a jury's recommendation of life will be sustained only when the facts suggesting a sentence of death are "so clear and convincing that virtually no reasonable person could differ" with the judge's decision. After reviewing 62 cases in which a judge imposed the death penalty over the jury's objections, the high court has upheld only 19 death sentences. Seven of the 19 subsequently were overturned by Federal appellate courts.

Capital punishment is the state's proper prerogative, but there is great folly and danger inherent in a system that allows a single judge to override the collective wisdom of 12 ordinary citizens. Florida juries have showed no reluctance to recommend the ultimate penalty when the circumstances of a particular murder compel it. The customary practice of excluding from first-degree murder juries those who acknowledge an unalterable opposition to the death penalty should endow a jury's recommendation of mercy with even greater weight.

State legislators have ducked several opportunities to bring Florida into step with the vast majority of states who have circumscribed the judge's sentencing authority in capital cases. Judge Morphonios's overzealousness in the Aldebert Rivers case underlines the need to reassert the jury's role as the community's conscience. Oh, Danny! THERE'S probably no truth to the rumor that the residents of San Marino Island along the Venetian Causeway, with an eye toward the Don Shula Expressway to the west, are considering changing the name of their winning surroundings to Dan Marino Island. On the other hand, if the NFL's Wunderkind leads the Dolphins to a 16-0 season, he may well qualify for sainthood - and make the name change unnecessary.

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Huffman, Suzanne

Williams, Megan