Court amends rules when the state seeks the death penalty
Court amends rules when the state seeks the death penalty
A criminal procedure rule setting notice standards for the defense when a state attorney intends to seek the death penalty in a capital case was recently approved by the Florida Supreme Court.
The court also approved amendments —proposed by the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee — to conform other parts of the rule with the new section and on depositions of sensitive witnesses.
The changes conform the rules to statutory changes made by the Legislature earlier this year.
“Consistent with the statutory requirements, new rule 3.181 requires the prosecutor to give the defendant notice of intent to seek the death penalty and to file the notice with the court within 45 days after arraignment. The notice must contain a list of the aggravating factors the prosecutor intends to prove,” the court said in its per curiam opinion.
The court accepted amendments to conform Rules 3.202(a) and 3.780(a) to the new rule.
Also approved was an amendment to Rule 3.220(h)(4) increasing the age of sensitive witnesses in depositions whose testimony must be videotaped from 16 to 18 and adding witnesses with mental disabilities to those who qualify as sensitive witnesses.
The court acted September 15 in In re: Amendments to the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, case no. SC16-1453. The amendments were immediately effective, but because they had not been published before adoption, the court has allowed 60 days for comment from the date of the opinion (see Notice, here).
