Unanimous death penalty votes
McDowell v. Florida
In brief
- Where it stands
- Petition Pending
Awaiting an order on the petition
- What it’s about
- Patrick McDowell asks the U.S.
- What's at stake
- McDowell’s challenges to Florida’s sentencing rules and their use in his case remain unresolved.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
Supreme Court to review whether Florida’s capital-sentencing system is constitutional, arguing that it does not adequately limit who can receive the death penalty or meaningfully review death sentences, and permits juries to recommend death without unanimity. He also argues Florida cannot apply its nonunanimity rule to crimes committed when unanimous jury decisions were required.
McDowell challenges Florida’s rules on who may receive a death sentence, jury unanimity, and review of death sentences on appeal.
Question presented
1. Whether Florida’s capital sentencing system – which does not narrow death eligibility to a small sub-class of persons convicted of first-degree murder, which does not require death unanimity of the jury’s recommendation of death, which does not review death sentences on appeal for their proportionality or relative culpability amongst co-defendants, and in which appellate review has become all but a rubber stamp – passes constitutional muster. 2. Whether the Ex Post Facto Clause forbids applying Florida’s nonunanimity rule retroactively to individuals whose crimes were committed when state law required such jury determinations to be unanimous.
What happens next
The Court must decide whether to hear the case. No oral argument or decision date has been set.
Documents
Docket activity
New analysis added
AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata
Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
Brief added: Petition
Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.