To: Governor Ron DeSantis
FL NAACP Supports FL State Atty Aramis Decision to Not Seek the Death Penalty
We call on Governor Rick Scott of Florida to immediately rescind his executive order reassigning the Markeith Lloyd case and to leave decisions about the pursuit of the death penalty in the Ninth Judicial Circuit to its duly elected prosecutor because the death penalty is an expensive, unnecessary, unreliable, and racially-biased punishment.
Why is this important?
Members, Supporters and Partners of The Florida State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are calling on Governor Rick Scott to rescind his decision to remove State Attorney Aramis Ayala from the Markeith Lloyd case.
State Attorney Ayala made a sensible decision about the use of prosecutorial resources in her jurisdiction. After a detailed review, she announced that she would no longer seek the death penalty in future cases. She had ample reason to come to this decision because the death penalty is an expensive, unnecessary, unreliable, and racially-biased punishment.
The death penalty wastes prosecutorial, defense, judicial, and correctional resources. Pursuing the death penalty requires additional resources given the literal life-and-death stakes of the prosecution. A death penalty case necessitates additional procedural protections, lengthy jury selection, an involved sentencing phase, and an intricate appeals process. Even the possibility of the death penalty raises costs because of additional pre-trial preparation and investigation in potentially capital cases. These costs continue in prison with the need for a separate death row and the costs of execution. Given this reality, it is unsurprising that Florida spends an estimated $51 million a year on the death penalty. Florida taxpayers pay approximately $3.2 million to prosecute, convict, and execute a single person. And what for? There is no reliable evidence that the death penalty makes communities any safer. In fact, the Florida communities that do not impose death sentences have lower crime rates that those that do.
Even with the additional procedures instituted in death penalty cases, Florida’s death penalty system has proven unreliable in determining who is guilty, which crimes are the worst-of-the-worst, and in complying with constitutional standards. With 26 death row exonerees, Florida leads the nation in the number of innocent people freed from death row. The courts have reduced the death sentences of hundreds of Florida death row inmates to life sentences, and Florida’s death penalty has been repeatedly found unconstitutional.
The racially-biased application of Florida’s death penalty is another compelling reason not to pursue it. The death penalty is inextricably intertwined with a history of mob violence against Black people. In Florida, there is clear bias in the way the race of a defendant and the race of a homicide victim affect outcomes. Homicides involving white female victims are 6.5 times more likely to result in an execution than those involving Black male victims, and no white person has been executed in Florida for a homicide involving a Black victim.
These facts provided State Attorney Ayala with a host of reasons to determine that pursuing life sentences instead of the death penalty was in the interest of justice in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. Yet, you took the extraordinary step of reassigning a case because of your personal opinion about how justice should be delivered. Numerous counties, 19 states, and 102 countries are able to provide justice without administering the death penalty. There was no “good and sufficient reason” to remove her from the Loyd case. Your decision to interfere with an elected prosecutor’s determination of local priorities is even more serious given the fact that State Attorney Ayala is the first Black State Attorney in Florida history. When 95% of elected prosecutors nationwide are white, State Attorney Ayala’s voice and leadership are important for the future of the criminal justice system. The Florida State Conference of the NAACP is deeply troubled by this unprovoked interference with her proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
We call on you to immediately rescind your executive order reassigning the Markeith Lloyd case and to leave decisions about the pursuit of the death penalty in the Ninth Judicial Circuit to its duly elected prosecutor.
State Attorney Ayala made a sensible decision about the use of prosecutorial resources in her jurisdiction. After a detailed review, she announced that she would no longer seek the death penalty in future cases. She had ample reason to come to this decision because the death penalty is an expensive, unnecessary, unreliable, and racially-biased punishment.
The death penalty wastes prosecutorial, defense, judicial, and correctional resources. Pursuing the death penalty requires additional resources given the literal life-and-death stakes of the prosecution. A death penalty case necessitates additional procedural protections, lengthy jury selection, an involved sentencing phase, and an intricate appeals process. Even the possibility of the death penalty raises costs because of additional pre-trial preparation and investigation in potentially capital cases. These costs continue in prison with the need for a separate death row and the costs of execution. Given this reality, it is unsurprising that Florida spends an estimated $51 million a year on the death penalty. Florida taxpayers pay approximately $3.2 million to prosecute, convict, and execute a single person. And what for? There is no reliable evidence that the death penalty makes communities any safer. In fact, the Florida communities that do not impose death sentences have lower crime rates that those that do.
Even with the additional procedures instituted in death penalty cases, Florida’s death penalty system has proven unreliable in determining who is guilty, which crimes are the worst-of-the-worst, and in complying with constitutional standards. With 26 death row exonerees, Florida leads the nation in the number of innocent people freed from death row. The courts have reduced the death sentences of hundreds of Florida death row inmates to life sentences, and Florida’s death penalty has been repeatedly found unconstitutional.
The racially-biased application of Florida’s death penalty is another compelling reason not to pursue it. The death penalty is inextricably intertwined with a history of mob violence against Black people. In Florida, there is clear bias in the way the race of a defendant and the race of a homicide victim affect outcomes. Homicides involving white female victims are 6.5 times more likely to result in an execution than those involving Black male victims, and no white person has been executed in Florida for a homicide involving a Black victim.
These facts provided State Attorney Ayala with a host of reasons to determine that pursuing life sentences instead of the death penalty was in the interest of justice in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. Yet, you took the extraordinary step of reassigning a case because of your personal opinion about how justice should be delivered. Numerous counties, 19 states, and 102 countries are able to provide justice without administering the death penalty. There was no “good and sufficient reason” to remove her from the Loyd case. Your decision to interfere with an elected prosecutor’s determination of local priorities is even more serious given the fact that State Attorney Ayala is the first Black State Attorney in Florida history. When 95% of elected prosecutors nationwide are white, State Attorney Ayala’s voice and leadership are important for the future of the criminal justice system. The Florida State Conference of the NAACP is deeply troubled by this unprovoked interference with her proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
We call on you to immediately rescind your executive order reassigning the Markeith Lloyd case and to leave decisions about the pursuit of the death penalty in the Ninth Judicial Circuit to its duly elected prosecutor.