Jones v. Butterworth, 90231
| Decision Date | 10 April 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 90231,90231 |
| Citation | 691 So.2d 481 |
| Parties | 22 Fla. L. Weekly S192 Leo Alexander JONES, Petitioner, v. Robert BUTTERWORTH, etc., et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Martin J. McClain, Litigation Director, Office of the Capital Collateral Representative, Tallahassee, for Petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Richard B. Martell, Chief, Capital Appeals and Curtis M. French, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Respondents.
We address the Petition Seeking to Invoke this Court's All Writs Jurisdiction as follows:
1. The claim that execution by electrocution is unconstitutional per se is hereby denied as procedurally barred as it could have been raised in previous petitions for relief. Even if the claim were not procedurally barred, we would deny it on the merits.
2. Due to the fact that flames have erupted on two occasions during electrocutions conducted in Florida's electric chair, we hereby relinquish jurisdiction to the trial court which is presiding over petitioner's postconviction proceedings to conduct an evidentiary hearing on the petitioner's claim that electrocution in Florida's electric chair in its present condition is cruel or unusual punishment. The court may receive the testimony of engineering and medical experts and such other witnesses as may be presented by the parties, and shall make its decision as expeditiously as possible.
3. In order to provide the time necessary for such hearing, petitioner's execution is hereby stayed until April 18, 1997, at 7 a.m. In the event additional time is required to reasonably conduct said hearing and render the decision, the trial court may further stay petitioner's execution. If at the conclusion of the hearing the court shall find by the greater weight of the evidence that electrocution in Florida's electric chair in its present condition is cruel or unusual punishment, the court shall further stay the execution; otherwise, the court shall deny the claim and dissolve any stay that court may have previously entered.
4. The hearing shall be de novo rather than a review of any determination which may be made by the Governor. However, in the event the Governor stays the execution, the hearing shall be postponed until the execution is rescheduled.
NO MOTION FOR REHEARING WILL BE ALLOWED.
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Provenzano v. Moore
...per se is hereby denied as procedurally barred as it could have been raised in previous petitions for relief. Jones v. Butterworth, 691 So.2d 481, 482 (Fla.1997) (emphasis In light of continuing malfunctions and mishaps with this method of execution in Florida, I am convinced that the time ......
-
Schwab v. State
...744 So.2d 413 (Fla.1999); Provenzano v. State, 739 So.2d 1150 (Fla.1999); Jones v. State, 701 So.2d 76 (Fla.1997); and Jones v. Butterworth, 691 So.2d 481 (Fla.1997)). Nevertheless, the postconviction court's error is harmless because this Court considered all of the evidence presented in L......
-
Stano v. State, 92614
...Stano's execution until May 30, 1997, and consolidated Stano's case with the litigation concerning the electric chair in Jones v. Butterworth, 691 So.2d 481 (Fla.1997). This Court directed CCR to file in the trial court any postconviction motions available to Stano by May 9, 1997. Stano v. ......
-
Sims v. State
...744 So.2d 413 (Fla.1999), Provenzano v. State, 739 So.2d 1150 (Fla.1999), Jones v. State, 701 So.2d 76 (Fla.1997), and Jones v. Butterworth, 691 So.2d 481 (Fla.1997), concerning the constitutionality of the electric chair. By order dated October 20, 1999, this Court granted Sims' motion to ......