Dear Gov. DeSantis: Florida’s death penalty is broken

Your Turn
Shirley Poore, Guest columnist
Tallahassee Democrat, 7/20/2019




Gov. Ron DeSantis has issued a death warrant for the execution of Gary Bowles on Aug. 22. This is the second warrant in less than a year by our new governor.

Since 1988, I have opposed the death penalty. I corresponded with Willie Darden, who was executed after 15 years on Florida’s death row. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun said of that case: “If ever a man received an unfair trial, Darden did. He may be guilty, I don’t know, but he got a runaround in that courtroom.”

There are so many reasons to stop the death penalty in Florida. Currently, one in five new death sentences napenalty tionwide originate in our state. Also, Florida has one of the highest exoneration rates in the country. So far, 29 people have been freed from our death row after evidence of innocence came to light.

Florida also displays some of the most alarming practices when it comes to the trial and execution of the mentally ill. It has chosen to ignore nationally applied standards of mental incompetency – that is, when the accused have no rational understanding of why they are being executed.

Mostly, the death penalty affects the poor. Almost all death row inmates are unable to afford their own attorney at trial. Court-appointed attorneys often lack the experience necessary. Capital punishment means, essentially, them without the capital get the punishment.

Furthermore, the cost of the death is exorbitant. Over a dozen states have found that capital cases are up to 10 times more expensive than comparable non-death-penalty cases. These taxpayer dollars could be spent tending the needs of crime victims and addressing why people commit crimes in the first place.

Florida does not need the death penalty to maintain public safety. Life in prison without possibility of parole is a better sentence — and costs less. Capital punishment is a broken, inhumane and unjust system. It doesn’t even necessarily bring healing to victims’ families. The governor needs to call a moratorium.

It is up to us, the people of Florida, to contact the governor and tell him: not in my name!

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Shirley Poore is a member of Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty.