Death Penalty

The first good night's sleep in years for the daughter of a murdered couple came the night Florida executed her parents' killer earlier this month, she says in a new interview.“There’s a weight that’s been lifted off of us,” said Maranda Malnory, 29, of Cape Coral, in a phone conversation from her home. “We can move forward. We’re never going to move past it, but it’s not looming there all the time.”Malnory, 29, was less than one month away from her 2nd birthday when James Ford murdered her parents, Greg and Kim Malnory, in rural Charlotte County in southwest Florida. Malnory was left to the elements in a car seat in her father’s blue pickup after her parents’ murders, and police found her and her parents’ bodies the next morning.

A Florida man convicted of killing a husband and wife at a remote farm as the couple’s toddler looked on was put to death Thursday in the state’s first execution of the year.James Dennis Ford, 64, was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, state officials said.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by Florida Death Row inmate James Ford, setting the stage for his execution Thursday in the 1997 murders of a couple in Charlotte County.The Supreme Court declined to issue a stay of execution or to take up an appeal by Ford. As is common, the Supreme Court did not explain its reasons.

Less than a week before convicted murderer James Ford is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection, the Florida Supreme Court on Friday unanimously rejected an appeal aimed at blocking the execution.The Supreme Court issued a 22-page opinion upholding a Jan. 23 decision by Charlotte County Circuit Judge Lisa Porter, who turned down arguments by Ford’s attorneys. Ford is scheduled to be executed Thursday at Florida State Prison in the 1997 murders of Greg and Kimberly Malnory at a Charlotte County sod farm.

A new state law lowering the number of jurors required to recommend death sentences has spurred a rash of litigation, triggered conflicting judicial rulings and infused an additional level of uncertainty in capital cases.

Extended summary: With Florida making it easier for juries to impose the death sentence, two formerly condemned inmates who are still behind bars are warning that the change gives too much power over life and death to elected prosecutors. Their concerns are at odds with some families of murder victims. The two killers were sentenced to life in prison after juries couldn’t unanimously agree to condemn them. Gov. Ron DeSantis last month signed into law a bill permitting the death penalty even in cases where only eight of 12 jurors approve. The state previously required all 12 jurors to agree. The law took effect immediately.

A death penalty for child rape bill (HB 1297) signed by Florida's governor Monday conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court precedents that have barred death sentences for rapists, including a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The new death penalty law took effect immediately and represents a major change in Florida’s death-penalty system. Lawmakers moved forward with the issue after Nikolas Cruz was sentenced to life in prison last year in the 2018 shooting deaths of 17 students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The life sentence came after a jury did not unanimously recommend death.

The proposal comes after decades of U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court rulings that have said it is unconstitutional to execute defendants in rape cases. A Senate staff analysis said nobody has been executed for a non-murder crime in the United States since 1964.

Florida lawmakers Wednesday reached the halfway point in this year’s 60-day legislative session. The House and Senate have passed high-profile bills involving issues such as affordable housing and school vouchers, but major issues remain to be resolved.