Panel: Jurors Should Decide the Fate of Killers
Dublin Core
Title
Panel: Jurors Should Decide the Fate of Killers
Subject
Jury--United States--Decision making.
Description
An article in support of juries having the final say in death penalty cases. Says that judges should not have the ability to overrule a jury decision.
Source
Tallahassee Democrat
Publisher
HIST 298, University of Mary Washington
Date
1986-01-11
Rights
The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source.
Format
1 jpg
300 dpi
Language
English
Coverage
Tallahassee, Florida
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
ORLANDO- Juries, not judges, should decide whether convicted killers are sentenced to death, the Florida Bar’s board of governors said in voting its support for a bill that would take away judges’ power to override juries.
“Juries are better than judges as yardsticks of community outrage in deciding whom to execute,” said Michael Mello, an attorney who is paid by the state to defend Death Row inmates.
The board voted 21 to 7 Thursday to urge Legislature to change a 1972 law that lets trial judges impose a death sentence for first-degree murder even if the jury recommends life in prison with no parole for 25 years.
Since the law took effect, trial judges have ignored jury recommendations for life sentences and sentenced convicted murderers to death in 92 cases.
The change would force judges to accept juries’ recommendations against the death penalty. The bill making the change has been proposed in the past two legislative sessions but was opposed by prosecutors and judges.
Mello said juries seem to recommend life sentences when they have “a lingering doubt about the defendant’s guilt.”
In a 1975 case, a circuit court jury convicted motorcycle gang member Joseph Spaziano of the murder and mutilation of a woman near Orlando, but only after twice telling the judge they couldn’t reach a verdict.
The jury voted 9-3 for life imprisonment. But Circuit Judge Robert McGregor sentenced Spaziano to death, and reimposed the penalty after the state Supreme Court asked him to reconsider it.
One of the jurors in the case said the panel favored the life sentence because of doubts about Spaziano’s guilt.
The sentence was the upheld by state and U.S Supreme Court justices, but U.S. Justice John Paul Stevens said the law which lets judges override jury recommendations is defective.
The board of governors consists of 39 attorneys elected by lawyers in the state’s 20 judicial circuits. The board’s vote Thursday was the first time it has taken a position on the bill.
According to a bar study, most of the judges’ overrides of jury recommendations were later reversed by the state Supreme Court. In Florida, 221 murders have been sentenced to death and 13 have been executed since 1997.
Only one Death Row inmate, Ernest Dobber, has been executed against a jury’s will. A jury recommended life in prison on a 10-2 vote, but Dobbert was electrocuted in 1984 for the slayings of his 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.
“Juries are better than judges as yardsticks of community outrage in deciding whom to execute,” said Michael Mello, an attorney who is paid by the state to defend Death Row inmates.
The board voted 21 to 7 Thursday to urge Legislature to change a 1972 law that lets trial judges impose a death sentence for first-degree murder even if the jury recommends life in prison with no parole for 25 years.
Since the law took effect, trial judges have ignored jury recommendations for life sentences and sentenced convicted murderers to death in 92 cases.
The change would force judges to accept juries’ recommendations against the death penalty. The bill making the change has been proposed in the past two legislative sessions but was opposed by prosecutors and judges.
Mello said juries seem to recommend life sentences when they have “a lingering doubt about the defendant’s guilt.”
In a 1975 case, a circuit court jury convicted motorcycle gang member Joseph Spaziano of the murder and mutilation of a woman near Orlando, but only after twice telling the judge they couldn’t reach a verdict.
The jury voted 9-3 for life imprisonment. But Circuit Judge Robert McGregor sentenced Spaziano to death, and reimposed the penalty after the state Supreme Court asked him to reconsider it.
One of the jurors in the case said the panel favored the life sentence because of doubts about Spaziano’s guilt.
The sentence was the upheld by state and U.S Supreme Court justices, but U.S. Justice John Paul Stevens said the law which lets judges override jury recommendations is defective.
The board of governors consists of 39 attorneys elected by lawyers in the state’s 20 judicial circuits. The board’s vote Thursday was the first time it has taken a position on the bill.
According to a bar study, most of the judges’ overrides of jury recommendations were later reversed by the state Supreme Court. In Florida, 221 murders have been sentenced to death and 13 have been executed since 1997.
Only one Death Row inmate, Ernest Dobber, has been executed against a jury’s will. A jury recommended life in prison on a 10-2 vote, but Dobbert was electrocuted in 1984 for the slayings of his 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.
Original Format
Newspaper Article
Contributor of the Digital Item
Scanlon, Heidi
Student Editor of the Digital Item
Williams, Megan
Files
Citation
“Panel: Jurors Should Decide the Fate of Killers,” HIST299, accessed March 12, 2026, https://hist299.umwhistory.org/items/show/95.