TALLAHASSEE -While other states move to abolish capital punishment, Florida lawmakers are taking an entirely different approach — trying to speed up executions for death row inmates.
The Republican-controlled legislature has sent a bill to Gov. Rick Scott that, if signed, would require the governor to sign execution warrants 30 days after the state Supreme Court reviews cases. It would require the state to execute a prisoner within 180 days of a warrant being signed.
The legislation also sets new deadlines for death row appeals.
The bill arrives on Scott’s desk just days after Maryland became the sixth state in as many years — and the 18th state overall — to abolish the death penalty. Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the bill Thursday, ending what supporters said was decades of racial and socio-economic disparity in death penalty sentencing.
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