FLORIDA PLANS TO KEEP OLD "SPARKY"
A plan to keep Florida's 74-year-old electric chair in use despite a foot-long
flame that erupted during the last electrocution won its first committee
approval in the House. Rep. Victor Crist said that "If we were to change
our mode of execution, it would cause aditional appeals, additional delays."
The House Crime and Punishment Committee voted 7-2 to keep the electric
chair.
The legislation (CS-HB 3033) spells out that execution in Florida will be
by electrocution unless the courts rule it unconstitutional. If so, execution
would then be by lethal injection; if that method is barred, execution would
be carried out by any lawful method.
The bill also spells out that no death sentence is to be commuted because
a method of execution is found to be invalid. Florida has over 380 condemned
people on death row.
The State Supreme Court upheld use of the electric chair by a 4-3 vote last
fall, but 5 of the justices urged lawmakers to consider an alternative method
of execution to avoid "a constitutional train wreck" if the chair
is ever barred. A similar appeal is now pending before a federal judge in
Tallahassee.
Spring 1998-- N.C.Xpress
-- Archives -- Electrons
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