JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida lawmakers may be changing the laws surrounding the state's death penalty -- again.
Florida's law changed in 2016, when a U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidated Florida's death penalty. The court ruled that offenders can only be sentenced to the death penalty if the jury makes that decision unanimously.
Florida Rep. Berny Jacques (R-Seminole) filed House Bill 555 Tuesday and Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill) filed an identical bill (SB 450) on Monday, seeking to change the law again. If passed, this legislation would make it so the jury can recommend capital punishment if eight out of 12 jurors vote for death.
The issue has gained traction in Florida after Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people in the Parkland mass shooting in 2018, was sentenced to life in prison in November.
A jury foreman told the press that three jurors voted to spare Cruz's life, with one being a "hard no" on the death penalty.
At the time, Gov. DeSantis condemned the decision and has since backed legislation to get rid of the unanimity requirement.
If this proposed legislation was in place at that time, Cruz would have been put to death.
Since the law changed, the state has been forced to revisit all death sentences since 2002 that came from non-unanimous juries. Prosecutors must either settle for life in prison or take the case back before a jury for resentencing.
In Duval, several re-sentencings have ended with offenders getting off of death row, including serial killer Paul Dorousseau, who killed five Jacksonville women and Alan Wade, who buried an elderly couple alive.
Read our full report on death penalty re-sentencings, Life after Death, here.