TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A convicted killer who once again faces the prospect of execution asked the Florida Supreme Court not to lift a stay put in place while the U.S. Supreme Court considered a challenge to the three-drug cocktail used in Florida and several other states.
The federal court rejected that challenge Monday, saying that Oklahoma prisoners failed to prove that the use of the drug midazolam, the first of the three-drug lethal cocktail used also used in Florida, "entails a substantial risk of severe pain."
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That prompted Attorney General Pam Bondi to quickly ask the Florida justices to allow the state to move forward with the execution of Jerry William Correll. But in a filing Tuesday, Correll's attorneys pointed to another case before the U.S. Supreme Court that deals specifically with Florida's death penalty.
That case focuses heavily on Florida's lack of a requirement that juries be unanimous in recommending imposition of the death penalty. The appeal also focuses on Florida not requiring juries to be unanimous in finding what are known as "aggravators" that justify death sentences.
"If this Court vacates the stay of execution that is in place, Correll may be executed and later found to have been sentenced under an unconstitutional death penalty sentencing scheme," says the Tuesday filing by Correll's attorneys.
The lawyers also argue that the stay should remain in place until the time has expired for the Oklahoma inmates to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to rehear their case.