More than 200 inmates on Florida's death row may be entitled to new sentencing hearings after the state's Supreme Court issued two rulings that recodify how the death penalty is applied in convictions.
The Florida Supreme Court issued rulings Thursday that solidify death penalties for inmates sentenced before June 2002 while offering a chance for more than half the inmates on death row to potentially be resentenced to life in prison.
The lives of death row inmates in Florida were put in limbo in January when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida's death penalty is unconstitutional five days after the execution of Oscar Ray Bolin.
The ruling, based on the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court case Ring vs. Arizona that questioned laws allowing a judge to outweigh the decision of a jury during sentencing, determined Florida's death penalty -- which allowed judges to overrule juries during sentencing -- violates the Sixth Amendment.