In yet another example of taking actions to preserve law and order, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told the Miami Police Benevolent Association that he would take steps to change the criminal justice laws, specifically one law making child rapists eligible for the death penalty.
DeSantis compared the “Parkland Massacre” to his new proposal in which the school shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was found guilty but was given a life sentence because the jury couldn’t unanimously decide to sentence him to death.
The Governor said, “Cruz was obviously guilty, but you have, like, one juror that did not want to do capital punishment. And that requirement was really based off an old Florida Supreme Court decision that has since been overturned.”
“One juror should not be able to veto that,” the Governor said. “I don’t think justice was served in that case. If you’re going to have capital [punishment], you have to administer it to the worst of the worst crimes. So we’re going to be working with the legislature to reform that statute so that, yes, it should be the vast majority, super majority, but you don’t want to have where one jerk… [gets] on the jury if they oppose capital [punishment]… and maybe scuttle it.”
DeSantis adamantly explained his desire for convicted child rapists to receive a minimum of life in prison and make them eligible for the death penalty.
The Governor was also very concerned about the fentanyl crisis and how criminals who traffic “rainbow” fentanyl, which looks similar to colored candies obviously targeted to children, should face a more serious punishment.
“In just two days in August, Customs and Border Patrol seized more than a quarter of a million multi-colored fentanyl pills, and we’re going to take action against this, because this is really targeting our youngest and most vulnerable kids,” he said and proposed Florida would “make it a first-degree felony to possess, sell, or manufacture fentanyl or other controlled substances to look like candy.”
“We just want to make sure in Florida that we understand how important it is to have safe communities,” DeSantis said. “We understand the policies need to be strong support for local law enforcement, but we’ve got to do what we can to continue to build off the success.”