Florida Reconsiders 400 Death Sentences

The Florida Supreme Court has heard arguments in a case that could see nearly 400 death-row prisoners having their sentences commuted to life terms.

In January, the US Supreme Court struck down Florida's system of imposing death sentences as unconstitutional, because it let judges rather than juries hand down the sentences.

The state then changed its death penalty law to comply with the ruling, but the fate of the 396 death row inmates sentenced under the now-unconstitutional provision has gone in front of the state's high court.

On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court heard legal argument over the case of Timothy Hurst, 37, who was convicted of murdering his co-worker in 1998.

According to court records, Cynthia Harrison's body was found bound, gagged and stabbed more than 60 times at a Popeyes restaurant in Pensacola, where she worked with Hurst.

Lawyers for Hurst have said that under the now struck down state law, he must be given a new sentencing hearing and be handed down a life term in prison.

They argue that "persons previously sentenced to death for a capital felony are entitled to have their now-unconstitutional death sentences replaced by sentences of life without parole".

That argument has been backed by three former chief justices of the Florida Supreme Court.

Florida has America's second-largest death row, with 396 people as of 1 January, 2016. California has the most, with 743.

The state legislature rewrote the sentencing procedure after the US Supreme Court overturned Hurst's death sentence. It now requires a unanimous jury finding of at least one aggravating circumstance and at least a 10-2 vote to impose a death sentence.

Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told the Washington Post that if all of Florida's death sentences are overturned, it would be the biggest reversal since 1972 when the US Supreme Court struck down the death penalty.

Since the Hurst ruling, Florida has halted several scheduled executions.

The state supreme court is expected to take months to reach a decision.