In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Furman v. Georgia, which declared all of the death penalty statutes in the United States, including the Federal death penalty, unconstitutional as violating the guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment from in the Eighth Amendment. Since then, 31 states, including Florida, have enacted new death penalty statutes. In 1979, Florida resumed executing persons under its Death Penalty Statute, Florida Statute Section 921.141.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court has declared this statute unconstitutional in the case of Hurst v. Florida. The ramifications of the Hurst decision both on pending capital cases and persons currently on Florida’s Death Row is uncertain. Charles G. White will be at the forefront seeking to use the Hurst decision to get his clients off Death Row.
When a person is found guilty of first-degree murder, and sentenced to death, his case is automatically appealed to the Florida Supreme Court. If the Florida Supreme Court affirms the conviction and sentence of death, the defendant has one year to file a Motion for Post-Conviction Relief Pursuant to Rule 3.851 of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure. Rule 3.851 is entitled “collateral relief after a death sentence has been imposed and affirmed on direct appeal.” Floridaa law has enacted a procedure, including the appointment of counsel, to gather records, investigate the case and fully research the law to enable the Death Row inmate to challenge his conviction for first-degree murder and death sentence within the one-year deadline. The Capital Collateral Commission was formed in 1996 to ensure that Death Row inmates had representation to challenge their conviction and death sentences.
Charles G. White has been defending Death Row inmates for over 15 years. His qualifications have earned him a position on Florida’s Capital Collateral Commission Registry as an attorney qualified to represent Death Row inmates seeking habeas relief. He would be in the forefront of the legal battle to shape this litigation of death penalty cases in the years to come.
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