[/caption]Carol Forsloff - Florida leads the nation on the number of death penalty exonerations, and perhaps it is this fact that gives juries pause when they have to make a decision about guilt or innocence in a first degree murder case.
Tonight as people rattle the cage of justice, seeking answers for their disappointment about the Casey Anthony verdict of not guilty, the facts are these about Florida. Since 1973 Florida has the record of the number of people found guilty of murder who were later exonerated, according to the Death Penalty project.
Florida with 23 exonerations is followed by Illinois with 20, Texas with 12, Oklahoma with 10 and Louisiana and Arizona each with 8.
In addition there is now forensic evidence that Texas executed an innocent man. Cameron Willingham was convicted of the 1991 act of setting fire to his house and killing his three children, for which he was executed in 2004. After receiving a report from a national arson expert, the Texas Forensic Science Commission, determined that the original investigation of Willingham had been flawed and that it could not conclude arson caused the fire. The New Yorker substantially covered this finding in 2009.
138 people have been freed from death row since 1973. Florida’s record is high in comparison with the rest of the states.
In the meantime, some conservative criminal experts wonder about Florida’s justice system and its unfairness in relationship of drug abuse sentences in relationship to more serious crimes. The problem is the state’s mandatory minimum sentencing law. The Orlando Weekly wrote about Scott Earle, a prisoner in Florida who got a minimum 25-year sentence for possession of more than 28 grams of Percoset, a prescription drug. He had no previous criminal history and was given a life sentence, similar to what is given to those who commit first-degree murder.
