Jeb Bush says he regrets not revamping the death penalty when he was Florida governor

Backroom Briefing: Weekly political notes from The News Service of Florida
By Dara Kam and Jim Turner ©2024 The News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — It’s been nearly two decades, but former Gov. Jeb Bush regrets not having time when he was in office to reform Florida’s death penalty process.

Bush, who signed 21 death warrants that were carried out during his eight years as governor, said he’d still like to see the process focus on people who commit the most “atrocious” crimes and to have a reduced appeals process.

“Figuring out a way to reform the system, given the existing laws that we have now, I think would be appropriate,” Bush said in a July appearance on The News Service of Florida’s “Deeper Dive With Dara Kam” podcast. “And my last year, I certainly considered it. I kind of ran out of time to do it.”

Bush said drawn-out appeals have lessened the death penalty as a deterrent, and he supports requiring unanimous jury recommendations for death sentences rather than majority votes, as was the case when he was in office. He also said he understands the arguments of people who oppose the death penalty and said a focus should be on giving victims’ families quicker finality.

“If you’re going to have the death penalty, make sure it’s not 25 years or 30 years,” said Bush, who was first elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2002.

Florida lawmakers in 2023 eliminated a requirement of unanimous jury recommendations before judges can impose death sentences, with the state now requiring recommendations from at least eight of 12 jurors.

Florida had long allowed judges to impose death sentences based on majority jury recommendations, but that changed after 2016 rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court. The 2023 reversion followed Nikolas Cruz being sentenced to life in prison in the 2018 shooting deaths of 17 students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when the jury didn’t unanimously recommend death.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed nine death warrants since taking office in 2019, including one this week.

IN THE WEEDS

State Sen. Joe Gruters, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, lent his support this week to Amendment 3, which if approved in November by 60 percent of voters would allow recreational use of marijuana.

“By legalizing recreational marijuana for adults, we can give Floridians access to safe products, generate significant revenue for critical public services and create new job opportunities for Floridians,” Gruters, R-Sarasota, said in a news release issued by the Smart & Safe Florida political committee, which is leading efforts to pass the initiative.

Gruters, who is running for state chief financial officer in 2026, was one of few lawmakers who backed former president Donald Trump when DeSantis unsuccessfully ran for president.

And Gruters’ endorsement of the marijuana initiative puts him directly at odds with the governor, who has harshly criticized the proposed amendment. It also came a day after the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida Police Chiefs Association voiced their opposition to the initiative.

“The well-being and health of the citizens of Florida are threatened through the legalization and normalization of recreational marijuana,” sheriffs’ association President Bill Prummell, the Charlotte County sheriff, said in a statement.

A University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab poll released Tuesday said 64 percent of voters support Amendment 3, while 31 percent oppose it. A similar poll conducted in fall 2023 had the yes vote at 67 percent.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR?

DeSantis said he might support President Joe Biden’s longshot pitch to replace lifetime appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court if congressional term limits were also put on the table.

“If they’re willing to support term limits for members of Congress, that would be a trade that I would make,” DeSantis said during an appearance Monday in Tampa.

But DeSantis said Democrats could come to regret Biden’s proposal if it passed. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority.

“They don’t like the court now because they’re on the wrong side of rulings,” DeSantis said. “When these things happen, you think you’re doing it because you think it’ll help generate more liberal jurisprudence. And in reality, a lot of times it backfires. It may end up, if you had 18 years (terms), that it would force liberals off the bench.”

In addition to allowing presidents to appoint one new justice every two years, Biden’s proposed constitutional changes would ban presidential immunity and establish ethics rules for Supreme Court justices.

TAKING NOTICE

Ruth’s List CEO Christina Diamond credited Trump running mate J.D. Vance’s disparagement of “childless cat ladies” and Vice President Kamala Harris’s entry to the 2024 presidential race for creating enthusiasm for Florida Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.

“All that is making women take notice and is super-offensive,” Diamond told The News Service of Florida. “It’s not just about the childless cat ladies, but it’s attacks on her (Harris) as well. What they’re saying is the only way that women can be successful is if they’re sleeping their way to the top or they got that position because they needed more women or women of color in that organization. And it just continues to layer on and layer on. I just think people are really unhappy about those comments.”

But Republicans have dismissed enthusiasm for Harris as artificial.

“Is it possible to completely manufacture a cultural phenomenon by taking a vapid, leftist San Francisco Democrat and turning her into something that she’s not through nonstop gaslighting? Corporate media is certainly trying to make ‘fetch’ happen…” DeSantis tweeted Monday.

SOCIAL MEDIA POST OF THE WEEK

“The world is better off with these terrorist leaders dead.” — U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. (@SenMarcoRubio) on the deaths of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr.