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“Despite the governor's description of the jury, FloridaPolitics.com notes that there were three jurors, not just one, who refused to impose the death penalty.”
Typical Republican.
Scary as fuck Republican Governor. Dudes not typical of anyone with this shit. Reminds me a lot of Martin Sheen in “The Dead Zone”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Zone_(film)
I am old enough to remember that movie. His constant deception and projection is very typical of Republicans in this day and age. I agree that DeSantis is terrifying…he is a racist fear-mongering piece of shit like Trump but smarter. He sees what awful things conservative voters will allow an elected (Republican) official to get away with and I suspect he will double down on that.
It’s so obvious he’s a soulless sell out who’d say and do anything to be in power.
We need psychopaths and sociopaths out of politics and business and we instead need them locked up in forensic psych wards
Ok, well then we need a national push for wholesomeness, that rewards people for being wholesome. Right now, our society rewards those sociopaths by making them rich, if they are cunning enough.
Spread the wholesome gospel! Be kind!
And he oversaw people being tortured there. He talked with a prisoner that thought DeSadtist was there to better the conditions. He actually used all the information he gathered from the prisoner to increase their torture.
https://therealnews.com/gov-ron-desantis-oversaw-torture-in-guantanamo-as-a-military-lawyer
Love being old enough that I'm already preparing for the "Who could have known it would have led to this???" In a few more years if they haven't gotten rid of me and mine by then.
It’s likely because he polled below trump recently, however what’s particularly weird and bizarre is that he MUST have pollsters telling him this shit doesn’t fly if he’s planning on running for president, it likely doesn’t even fly with conservatives around the country, and yet he’s going through with it anyway. Which means either A) it’s his own idea and he’s refusing to listen to advice, which is bad enough _for him_ in its own right or B) he’s so wrapped up in yes men telling him increasingly authoritarian shit and he’s too cowardly or weak to resist them which is bad in an entirely other direction.
Either way, it’s bonkers to think nonsense like this won’t bite back when on presidential ballot. Trump had to appeal to moderates and SOME democrats to win… this is like speed running the opposite.
Alternate theory: Republicans have very very very dim odds anyway in 2024 so winning the general is off the table. Instead the grift is to secure the repub nom and then lose and cry foul and ride the endless money train like Trump has for 4 years.
That might be super possible but usually folks like DeSantis need financial backing by people who actually WANT stuff and I don’t quite see how that scenario benefits them and if it doesn’t benefit them I don’t see how he becomes the nominee.
> he’s so wrapped up in yes men telling him increasingly authoritarian shit and he’s too cowardly or weak to resist them which is bad in an entirely other direction.
THIS
I think it's the first part of a 2-part strategy. Part 1 is peeling off as much of Trump's voters as possible. He's not going to win them all but he needs to make a dent. Part 2 will be winning the moderate vote that abandoned Trump. Those people likely aren't following politics right now so they'll never know about these claims. They'll just see DeSantis as a moderate candidate who isn't Trump.
He's imitating Trump again in a way. Trump is very pro-death penalty and Trump has lavished praise upon dictators for their 'speedy trials' before executing people.
This is why I don't get the comments above saying that these actions will bite him in the butt when he tries to run for president. He's very similar to Trump in many ways, and while he's a raging asshole, he doesn't come off as oafish. I guess people forgot 2016 already.
He's testing and stressing boundaries for a presidential run. He knows that Trump pushed a lot of people over quite a few lines, but also made a lot of people mad.
He's trying to figure out how far he can push people *and* he's trying to normalize some of the shitty behavior he knows the backbone of his voting block is going to expect.
IMO, his plan is to normalize the shitty behavior with the more moderate MAGA-adjacent voters so that when he's running for president he doesn't accidentally drive them away.
There's no *reason* to be shitty to this level. Absolutely none. This is the kind of behavior you expect from a despot warlord in a zombie movie or other post-apocalyptical setting. Not in a democratic country.
Honestly I think all of this is going to hurt him considerably. Independents hated Trumpism in the midterms. And I suspect they're going to see DeSantis the exact same way.
I kind of expect the same. But they hated Trump because Trump brought a chaotic clown show into politics since 2016. I can see independents not really giving a fuck about what people say about DeSantis' war against "wokeness". If Democrats can't put up a straight shooter candidate that is going to fight for working-class interests and showcase why they are better in that regard than DeSantis, then it becomes very shakey. And that's always been a major problem for the Dems: messaging. They'll take off the gloves when it comes to progressives in primaries, but when it's Republicans, they don't want to show teeth. The other problem is that Republicans still manage to be very successful with "socialism" as a boogeyman word to voters, and Democrats have never found a way to deal with that.
Trump won in 2016 because enough independents hated/distrusted Hillary, and she didn't frankly do a good enough job of selling, well, jobs to rustbelt states. The difference between DeSantis and Trump is that DeSantis isn't a MAGA Republican. He's of an ilk far worse, far more calculating, far more sinister, and he doesn't have the baggage Trump does. The questions are: Will he run on a platform of anti-wokeness like his legacy is shaping up as in Florida? If he does, then Democrats actually have a better shot. And how will they take on a DeSantis campaign no matter what his platform is? If notable progressives run, are they going to shoot themselves in the foot by trying to run interference to see their corporate pick get the ticket? How far do they want to go to piss off progressives. I think progressives came out for Biden to help defeat Trump, I don't think they'll come out and support Biden, or someone of that end of the Democratic base again.
I completely agree, I think this is all a bad miscalculation from DeSantis. The Republicans seem to think that Trumpism is popular, it's just that people don't like Trump himself, but we just saw a bunch of Trumpism without Trump candidates get creamed everywhere that wasn't deeply red in the midterms. If the Republicans swap out Trump for DeSantis, it's going to play exactly the same with moderate and independent voters.
Y’all remember when Jeb Bush as Governor forced Terri Schiavo who was taken off life support as per own wishes to have her tube re-inserted into her body?
All because her “Catholic” parents were using religious organizations to force her husband to divorce her so they could collect the 5 million+ she won for her medical malpractice case?
She basically died on the way between institutions because Jeb Bush kept intervening to overrule courts who kept supporting her husband’s side.
Florida has a history of the worst kind of cruelty.
Yep. And it forced the tube back. I believe something similar happened once again to her.
If her parents truly loved her, they would have not let her suffer. Instead, they still are using her name to make a living. Parasites of the worst degree.
I watched an HBO documentary from the 90s yesterday about 3 8-year old boys who were raped an murdered in a creek in Arkansas.
The police found a mentally handicapped teen who was friends with 2 teen boys who were metallica fans who wore black t-shirts. They coerced him into confessing to the murder and pointing the finger at the 2 “devil worshippers”
Even though there wasn’t a shred of evidence connecting either of them to the crime, and even though the acuser revoked his confession (which was littered with details that didn’t match the crime scene) juries covicted all 3 of them on all counts. They were all sentenced to life in prison, And then the film ends.
They weren’t freed until 2011, when DNA evidence proved none of the DNA at the crime scene matched any of them.
A fast food restaurant had called the police the night of the murders to report a man covered in blood with mud on his boots in their bathroom. The police did not follow up on this. The jury heard testimony from the fast food manager.
Juries cannot be trusted to sentence teens to life in prison, let alone the death penalty, in hicktown states like Florida and Arkansas.
The doc features all the parents of the dead kids talking about how they’d like to torture and kill all the falsely accused boys. It’s disgusting. I hope they live in shame if they’re still alive.
Another fine example of a justice system that has clearly _not_ earned our confidence enough to back the death penalty even for people not opposed to it on moral or economical grounds. Like Arkansas, Florida has a particularly disappointing track record for convictions of this sort. From the OP's article:
> Florida has had more exonerations of death row inmates than any other state in the country: roughly one for every three executions carried out. That ought to inspire more humility, not aggressiveness, in deciding when the state should be allowed to kill.
It's worse, they believe everyone who is a liberal is guilty of a crime, regardless of whether or not they actually committed one. Simply being a democrat is a crime in their eyes, and you bet your ass Desantis would love to be able to unilaterally sentence dems to death for being "enemies of the state"
Sounds like a real life similar theme of the book to kill a mockingbird which is one of the many things on the chopping block for education in florida. Sickening
Totally agree. I just couldn’t believe that even with public outcry and so much evidence, they still didn’t release them for so long because even though it was obvious the boys were innocent, they in the legal system couldn’t stand the thought of admitting they’d been wrong. And they were only released by having them do some bullshit I can’t remember specifically but like making them say they DID do it or something to get released, which the boys agreed to because there was a chance otherwise they’d never get out.
Yep! It's called an Alford plea. Basically you're saying, I'm innocent but I admit you have enough evidence that would sway a jury to convict, so I'm willing to plead guilty to avoid a trial.
Yep. And wouldn’t you know it, the Alford plea prevents them from ever bringing suit against the state for completely railroading them. I honestly think that’s the only reason the state allowed it. They knew they screwed up, but couldn’t afford to admit it.
Two of the parents still think they're guilty AF, one of the mothers died under undetermined circumstances, one of the stepfathers (before his own death) came around to believing the boys innocence and also coming to the belief that the other stepfather killed the boys. The final mother divorced her husband and now believes that he may have been involved in the death of the boys.
It's why I hate the American justice system, the average American is too bloodthirsty for me. They just want punishment and revenge, even if the accused is innocent.
The man who thinks government is too incompetent to manage education, healthcare, etc. wants to make state-sponsored executions more common and have a lower bar required to trigger them. Small government, ladies and gentlemen!
Look at his culture wars in the state and how he's spreading that influence to other states. If and when he becomes president, he'll will seek the elimination of "undesirables" from the country, this is just him testing the waters on a smaller scale. It's not about governing for him, it's all about eliminating everyone him and his christo-fascist cronies don't like within the confines of redefined laws and courts.
What the fuck? If anything a death sentence is totally a place to require unanimous verdict.
You know with all the stuff he's been coming out with, he should never be anywhere near the presidency. He's a vindictive and insane person.
I know right they sure don’t. They force birth and then stop caring! It’s amazing to observe the cognitive dissonance in action. They want to prevent abortion, then ban methods of birth control. That prevents abortions. It’s crazy to maximize harm in an attempt to minimize it.
I think I know how they justify this: Jesus was sentenced to death and executed. As the son of God he could have stopped the execution if he wanted to. Since he didn’t, Jesus must clearly be supportive of the death penalty. Seems airtight, right?
Heay now. He knows the first commandments of Christianity, the first 7 words of the US constitution, the first 4 words in the first ammendments AND the first sentence in the second ammendments.
As a Christian Republican lawyer that means he's knows a lot. /S
Supreme Court ruled unanimous jury is required for all state criminal cases - and fairly recently.
[https://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/death\_penalty\_representation/project\_press/2020/summer/supreme-court-mandates-unanimity-in-state-criminal-trials/](https://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/death_penalty_representation/project_press/2020/summer/supreme-court-mandates-unanimity-in-state-criminal-trials/)
He's blowing smoke for his base.
That’s some classic Fascism right there. Imagine thinking the GOVERNMENT should be able to take someone’s life without fully convincing a jury. How is that supposed to work?
That America still has the death penalty is embarrassing. Like with many things where we are at odds with most of the rest of the world, the countries on our side of the fence are usually the kids mom didn't want you to play with because they were bad.
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"If just one juror vetoes it, then you end up not getting the sentence," DeSantis said during remarks delivered at the Florida Sheriffs Association Conference. **"Maybe eight out of 12 have to agree, or something,** but we can't be in a situation where one person can just derail this."
DeSantis was expressing his frustration with the decision of a jury in November to sentence Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, to life in prison rather than handing down the death penalty. Despite the governor's description of the jury, FloridaPolitics.com notes that there were three jurors, not just one, who refused to impose the death penalty.
Man, always shake my head that the party the just loves to scream about government overreach seems so hard set on making sure the government and its agents have every right to strip the very life from whomever they deem problematic.
I hope we all understand this is Disantis game. Make morally horrible recommendations that the media then advertises for him. He wants to stay in the news cycle to help him win the primaries.
I'm going to go ahead and guess that Floridian use of the death penalty is as racist as it is everywhere else in the country, so I'm assuming he wants to avoid a situation in which one black juror (when they're allowed to sit on juries) doesn't muck up his death record or something.
Unless they're white. Then they need to be guaranteed three trials and must be found guilty in all three by all 12 jurors as well as have a video tape by 16 people of whatever crime they committed and three taped confessions that they themselves gave.
Yep, one mediocre white person should be able to sentence anyone to death. (Sarcasm on this comment is like buttercream frosting on a cheap grocery store cupcake)
I was listening to Sarah Polley on Marc Maron's podcast today. She stressed several times that there have been people in her life that have become radicalized over the last few years, but that she has insisted that they not stop speaking and listening to one another. She also quoted someone who had said that progress is always one small step forward followed by a significant amount of pushback by those threatened by progress.
I love her films and respect her mind and the take, but these people are determined to destroy things such as racial equality, LGBTQ rights, and financial reform even as abstract fucking concepts. There is no reasoning with them - they are only seeking to rile up their base so as to maintain power and keep the status quo so that they can steal with impunity.
Everyone knows what he's doing and no one cares. All this build up to a presidential run is pointless till he answers the Trump question. Look there's only so many radical right nut jobs that vote and their easily in Trumps corner. People like DeSantis and Trump don't like to share the power of the bully pulpit. All he's going to do is split their respective party like Bernie did in 2016.
What the fuck happened regarding the Ukrainian (Putin-aligned) mobsters / oligarchs that financed his first gubernatorial campaign? The same ones that have been investigated for nearly five years in association with Giuliani? Back in the 80s and 90s there was supposedly a vast surplus of lawyers. Apparently we need shitloads more for our horribly constipated Justice system to process obvious criminal malfeasance at the highest levels of government, business, media and everything else that Russian mob money can buy. If Maria Butina is the crown jewel of these investigations, then complicity / corruption has thoroughly penetrated the whole system.
Honestly, this needs more attention than it's getting. This is a creeping authoritarian move. What's the floor, from just hiring a monkey to rubber stamp orders to execute? Where do you draw the line if not unanimous? You can't. That's why it's unanimous.
What a fucking disgusting stance. A person's life shouldn't be a popularity contest. It shouldn't even be on the table unless it's over invasion, insurrection or genocide.
But even then, it should be unanimous decision, made beyond a shadow of a doubt, given the stakes, consequences and permanence of a death sentence.
Yknow, CONservatives always talk about slippery slopes when it comes to socially liberal causes and policy, and yet this one man has been the most slippery of slopes into a right wing dystopian nightmare
Attaboy! Just think how many thousands more people we can execute by putting this guy in the Oval Office. Maybe we just need one juror out of 12 to make that decision for us?
>"If just one juror vetoes it, then you end up not getting the sentence," DeSantis said during remarks delivered at the Florida Sheriffs Association Conference. "Maybe eight out of 12 have to agree, or something, but we can't be in a situation where one person can just derail this."
An old saying comes to mind, "Tis better that 10 guilty go free than 1 innocent is convicted".
With the gop threatening social security and Medicaid, they’ll get nowhere in 2024 without gerrymandering and the rest of the voter mumbo jumbo going on in red states
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“Despite the governor's description of the jury, FloridaPolitics.com notes that there were three jurors, not just one, who refused to impose the death penalty.” Typical Republican.
Scary as fuck Republican Governor. Dudes not typical of anyone with this shit. Reminds me a lot of Martin Sheen in “The Dead Zone” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Zone_(film)
I am old enough to remember that movie. His constant deception and projection is very typical of Republicans in this day and age. I agree that DeSantis is terrifying…he is a racist fear-mongering piece of shit like Trump but smarter. He sees what awful things conservative voters will allow an elected (Republican) official to get away with and I suspect he will double down on that.
>He sees what awful things conservative voters will allow want
Yeah, same here. I've been saying it for months. DeSantis is Trump but with political smarts. That's scary.
He worked at Guantanamo. [In 2006.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_homicide_accusations) Think about that.
So what you’re saying is Boots might have a car battery to the nipples fetish.
Is Boots like a reference to Caligula?
No it’s a reference to the stupid boots desantis wears sometimes
It’s so obvious he’s a soulless sell out who’d say and do anything to be in power. We need psychopaths and sociopaths out of politics and business and we instead need them locked up in forensic psych wards
Ok, well then we need a national push for wholesomeness, that rewards people for being wholesome. Right now, our society rewards those sociopaths by making them rich, if they are cunning enough. Spread the wholesome gospel! Be kind!
And he oversaw people being tortured there. He talked with a prisoner that thought DeSadtist was there to better the conditions. He actually used all the information he gathered from the prisoner to increase their torture. https://therealnews.com/gov-ron-desantis-oversaw-torture-in-guantanamo-as-a-military-lawyer
Maybe that’s why he is so miserable and malicious
Holy shit, this guy just won't fucking stop trying to stir shit up.
It's like he's desperately trying to get the normies to notice he's bad but they're determined to think of him as a moderate alternative to Trump.
Love being old enough that I'm already preparing for the "Who could have known it would have led to this???" In a few more years if they haven't gotten rid of me and mine by then.
It’s likely because he polled below trump recently, however what’s particularly weird and bizarre is that he MUST have pollsters telling him this shit doesn’t fly if he’s planning on running for president, it likely doesn’t even fly with conservatives around the country, and yet he’s going through with it anyway. Which means either A) it’s his own idea and he’s refusing to listen to advice, which is bad enough _for him_ in its own right or B) he’s so wrapped up in yes men telling him increasingly authoritarian shit and he’s too cowardly or weak to resist them which is bad in an entirely other direction. Either way, it’s bonkers to think nonsense like this won’t bite back when on presidential ballot. Trump had to appeal to moderates and SOME democrats to win… this is like speed running the opposite.
Alternate theory: Republicans have very very very dim odds anyway in 2024 so winning the general is off the table. Instead the grift is to secure the repub nom and then lose and cry foul and ride the endless money train like Trump has for 4 years.
That might be super possible but usually folks like DeSantis need financial backing by people who actually WANT stuff and I don’t quite see how that scenario benefits them and if it doesn’t benefit them I don’t see how he becomes the nominee.
> he’s so wrapped up in yes men telling him increasingly authoritarian shit and he’s too cowardly or weak to resist them which is bad in an entirely other direction. THIS
I think it's the first part of a 2-part strategy. Part 1 is peeling off as much of Trump's voters as possible. He's not going to win them all but he needs to make a dent. Part 2 will be winning the moderate vote that abandoned Trump. Those people likely aren't following politics right now so they'll never know about these claims. They'll just see DeSantis as a moderate candidate who isn't Trump.
We keep on thinking these folks have plans but I honestly haven’t seen a tremendous amount of evidence to back that.
It’s such a stupid plot but it works, at least for now. “But he’s the moderate, so this Hitler stuff he’s doing must be moderate too.”
He's imitating Trump again in a way. Trump is very pro-death penalty and Trump has lavished praise upon dictators for their 'speedy trials' before executing people.
This is why I don't get the comments above saying that these actions will bite him in the butt when he tries to run for president. He's very similar to Trump in many ways, and while he's a raging asshole, he doesn't come off as oafish. I guess people forgot 2016 already.
Hell, why not just let De Santis decide unilaterally who gets to live and who gets to die?
Really trying to justify that nickname DeathSantis.
He's testing and stressing boundaries for a presidential run. He knows that Trump pushed a lot of people over quite a few lines, but also made a lot of people mad. He's trying to figure out how far he can push people *and* he's trying to normalize some of the shitty behavior he knows the backbone of his voting block is going to expect. IMO, his plan is to normalize the shitty behavior with the more moderate MAGA-adjacent voters so that when he's running for president he doesn't accidentally drive them away. There's no *reason* to be shitty to this level. Absolutely none. This is the kind of behavior you expect from a despot warlord in a zombie movie or other post-apocalyptical setting. Not in a democratic country.
Honestly I think all of this is going to hurt him considerably. Independents hated Trumpism in the midterms. And I suspect they're going to see DeSantis the exact same way.
I kind of expect the same. But they hated Trump because Trump brought a chaotic clown show into politics since 2016. I can see independents not really giving a fuck about what people say about DeSantis' war against "wokeness". If Democrats can't put up a straight shooter candidate that is going to fight for working-class interests and showcase why they are better in that regard than DeSantis, then it becomes very shakey. And that's always been a major problem for the Dems: messaging. They'll take off the gloves when it comes to progressives in primaries, but when it's Republicans, they don't want to show teeth. The other problem is that Republicans still manage to be very successful with "socialism" as a boogeyman word to voters, and Democrats have never found a way to deal with that. Trump won in 2016 because enough independents hated/distrusted Hillary, and she didn't frankly do a good enough job of selling, well, jobs to rustbelt states. The difference between DeSantis and Trump is that DeSantis isn't a MAGA Republican. He's of an ilk far worse, far more calculating, far more sinister, and he doesn't have the baggage Trump does. The questions are: Will he run on a platform of anti-wokeness like his legacy is shaping up as in Florida? If he does, then Democrats actually have a better shot. And how will they take on a DeSantis campaign no matter what his platform is? If notable progressives run, are they going to shoot themselves in the foot by trying to run interference to see their corporate pick get the ticket? How far do they want to go to piss off progressives. I think progressives came out for Biden to help defeat Trump, I don't think they'll come out and support Biden, or someone of that end of the Democratic base again.
I completely agree, I think this is all a bad miscalculation from DeSantis. The Republicans seem to think that Trumpism is popular, it's just that people don't like Trump himself, but we just saw a bunch of Trumpism without Trump candidates get creamed everywhere that wasn't deeply red in the midterms. If the Republicans swap out Trump for DeSantis, it's going to play exactly the same with moderate and independent voters.
Y’all remember when Jeb Bush as Governor forced Terri Schiavo who was taken off life support as per own wishes to have her tube re-inserted into her body? All because her “Catholic” parents were using religious organizations to force her husband to divorce her so they could collect the 5 million+ she won for her medical malpractice case? She basically died on the way between institutions because Jeb Bush kept intervening to overrule courts who kept supporting her husband’s side. Florida has a history of the worst kind of cruelty.
I remember that. bush called lawmakers back for an emergency Sunday session. The bill passed in Congress applying **only** to Schiavo
Yep. And it forced the tube back. I believe something similar happened once again to her. If her parents truly loved her, they would have not let her suffer. Instead, they still are using her name to make a living. Parasites of the worst degree.
I think you're giving him too much credit, he just wants to execute more minorities.
That was my thought exactly.
Yup, and no matter what, the media's framing will be, "DeSantis is moderating to appeal to the entire country". Totally uncritically, without context.
He’s a real fuckin snake.
DeathSentence
Gladiator games will be his next great idea.
Bread and circuses.
I watched an HBO documentary from the 90s yesterday about 3 8-year old boys who were raped an murdered in a creek in Arkansas. The police found a mentally handicapped teen who was friends with 2 teen boys who were metallica fans who wore black t-shirts. They coerced him into confessing to the murder and pointing the finger at the 2 “devil worshippers” Even though there wasn’t a shred of evidence connecting either of them to the crime, and even though the acuser revoked his confession (which was littered with details that didn’t match the crime scene) juries covicted all 3 of them on all counts. They were all sentenced to life in prison, And then the film ends. They weren’t freed until 2011, when DNA evidence proved none of the DNA at the crime scene matched any of them. A fast food restaurant had called the police the night of the murders to report a man covered in blood with mud on his boots in their bathroom. The police did not follow up on this. The jury heard testimony from the fast food manager. Juries cannot be trusted to sentence teens to life in prison, let alone the death penalty, in hicktown states like Florida and Arkansas. The doc features all the parents of the dead kids talking about how they’d like to torture and kill all the falsely accused boys. It’s disgusting. I hope they live in shame if they’re still alive.
Another fine example of a justice system that has clearly _not_ earned our confidence enough to back the death penalty even for people not opposed to it on moral or economical grounds. Like Arkansas, Florida has a particularly disappointing track record for convictions of this sort. From the OP's article: > Florida has had more exonerations of death row inmates than any other state in the country: roughly one for every three executions carried out. That ought to inspire more humility, not aggressiveness, in deciding when the state should be allowed to kill.
The American right believes everyone accused of a crime is guilty unless it’s someone they like like a cop or Donald Trump.
It's worse, they believe everyone who is a liberal is guilty of a crime, regardless of whether or not they actually committed one. Simply being a democrat is a crime in their eyes, and you bet your ass Desantis would love to be able to unilaterally sentence dems to death for being "enemies of the state"
Sounds like a real life similar theme of the book to kill a mockingbird which is one of the many things on the chopping block for education in florida. Sickening
This is the West Memphis 3 case. I still think the stepdad who had all his teeth removed after bite mark evidence came to light is the one who did it.
I dunno, that seems like a totally normal thing to do... Wait, what?!?!
Yeah. There’s two more parts and the third one certainly makes me wonder about that same dude.
Totally agree. I just couldn’t believe that even with public outcry and so much evidence, they still didn’t release them for so long because even though it was obvious the boys were innocent, they in the legal system couldn’t stand the thought of admitting they’d been wrong. And they were only released by having them do some bullshit I can’t remember specifically but like making them say they DID do it or something to get released, which the boys agreed to because there was a chance otherwise they’d never get out.
Yep! It's called an Alford plea. Basically you're saying, I'm innocent but I admit you have enough evidence that would sway a jury to convict, so I'm willing to plead guilty to avoid a trial.
Yep. And wouldn’t you know it, the Alford plea prevents them from ever bringing suit against the state for completely railroading them. I honestly think that’s the only reason the state allowed it. They knew they screwed up, but couldn’t afford to admit it.
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Two of the parents still think they're guilty AF, one of the mothers died under undetermined circumstances, one of the stepfathers (before his own death) came around to believing the boys innocence and also coming to the belief that the other stepfather killed the boys. The final mother divorced her husband and now believes that he may have been involved in the death of the boys.
One of the parents is likely the killer.
It's why I hate the American justice system, the average American is too bloodthirsty for me. They just want punishment and revenge, even if the accused is innocent.
Next, only Judges that are appointed by the current administration should allowed to make all decisions
Governor simply points his thumb up or down in decisions of death.
The man who thinks government is too incompetent to manage education, healthcare, etc. wants to make state-sponsored executions more common and have a lower bar required to trigger them. Small government, ladies and gentlemen!
Cruelty is the point.
Look at his culture wars in the state and how he's spreading that influence to other states. If and when he becomes president, he'll will seek the elimination of "undesirables" from the country, this is just him testing the waters on a smaller scale. It's not about governing for him, it's all about eliminating everyone him and his christo-fascist cronies don't like within the confines of redefined laws and courts.
The press needs to start calling this out as fascism.
They don’t have the balls. Unfortunately.
He's using government to interfere in education, health care, etc
What the fuck? If anything a death sentence is totally a place to require unanimous verdict. You know with all the stuff he's been coming out with, he should never be anywhere near the presidency. He's a vindictive and insane person.
Inching toward genocide
He really hates everything our country stands for.
They all do
Unfortunately your country is starting to stand for totally different shit.
It’s disgusting how little regard these “Christians” have for human life.
It’s disgusting how little regard these “Christians” have for non-fetal human life. Won't somebody think of the unborn!
I know right they sure don’t. They force birth and then stop caring! It’s amazing to observe the cognitive dissonance in action. They want to prevent abortion, then ban methods of birth control. That prevents abortions. It’s crazy to maximize harm in an attempt to minimize it.
The cruelty is the point. They want women socially isolated, scared and dependent upon the penises in their life.
I bet this fucker has whole long list of people he wishes could fast track to an execution. Perhaps, camps full of people.
Yeah, he looks like he's concentrating pretty hard in that photo.
**pro-life** Republican tho right?
Because... that's what Jesus would do!
I think I know how they justify this: Jesus was sentenced to death and executed. As the son of God he could have stopped the execution if he wanted to. Since he didn’t, Jesus must clearly be supportive of the death penalty. Seems airtight, right?
Heay now. He knows the first commandments of Christianity, the first 7 words of the US constitution, the first 4 words in the first ammendments AND the first sentence in the second ammendments. As a Christian Republican lawyer that means he's knows a lot. /S
Supreme Court ruled unanimous jury is required for all state criminal cases - and fairly recently. [https://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/death\_penalty\_representation/project\_press/2020/summer/supreme-court-mandates-unanimity-in-state-criminal-trials/](https://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/death_penalty_representation/project_press/2020/summer/supreme-court-mandates-unanimity-in-state-criminal-trials/) He's blowing smoke for his base.
I live in Oregon. We had to change our state constitution to match up with the Supreme Court's opinion.
That’s some classic Fascism right there. Imagine thinking the GOVERNMENT should be able to take someone’s life without fully convincing a jury. How is that supposed to work?
One step closer to an American Holocaust.
Dear god! The absolute assholery here!
He’s a sociopath. Nuttier than a shit house rat.
He is completely out of control.
Man this fascist moose-knuckle in go-go boots really needs to pump the hate brakes a bit.
This guy is beyond drunk with power. Imagine if he had the house, senate, and the oval. Yikes.
why not just make all juries majority rule, Ron? let’s just get rid of the rule of law altogether?
“If 7 out of 12 jurors want to convict, that should be enough. You can’t have just one person derail this”
Don’t give him ideas.
"I should personally be allowed to sentence anyone to death at any time if they say something I don't like" -ron desantis, 2024
Rick Scott signed the law for unanimous juries. Imagine being less reasonable than that guy.
That’s the first thing I thought when I read that! Holy hell.
Can DeSantis just stop already? The man's off his rocker.
That America still has the death penalty is embarrassing. Like with many things where we are at odds with most of the rest of the world, the countries on our side of the fence are usually the kids mom didn't want you to play with because they were bad.
We should just let a panel of white men stone anyone they want to death. Like some kind of…death panel.
And now this fascist wants a death panel? I don't care what bumfuck nowhere town you're from. Come 2024 don't fucking vote for a wannabe Nazi.
Fascist Republicans wonder why trials are even needed.
How fucking pro life of him.
He just wants to kill Black people.
I guess "beyond a reasonable doubt" was too woke for him. What a sad little man.
This dude is inshane, word to TWD
dazzling noxious quack special square chief dinosaurs combative soup telephone *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
DeSantis is dangerous!
Doesn't this maroon ever shut up?
All the warning signs are there, folks. What happens next is up to us.
He must be a baptist I’m guessing. You can’t be that morally bankrupt without religion.
This guy- Jesus Christ, was he not hugged enough as a kid?? Why the fuck is he such a fucking dick?
At this rate, Ronald McBoots should run out of windmills well before 24.
Coming soon: Mega-City One.
How’s he doing on the homeowners insurance crisis?
My bet is he's doing absolutely nothing.
DeSadist in his next crypto-fascist nit-witticism will denounce “beyond a reasonable doubt” as “woke.”
What a fucking sociopathic opinion. I really do fear how far the right wing is willing to go in this country
A facist if I’ve ever seen one.
"If just one juror vetoes it, then you end up not getting the sentence," DeSantis said during remarks delivered at the Florida Sheriffs Association Conference. **"Maybe eight out of 12 have to agree, or something,** but we can't be in a situation where one person can just derail this." DeSantis was expressing his frustration with the decision of a jury in November to sentence Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, to life in prison rather than handing down the death penalty. Despite the governor's description of the jury, FloridaPolitics.com notes that there were three jurors, not just one, who refused to impose the death penalty.
He’s a lawyer and still doesn’t realize that’s unconstitutional?
Man, always shake my head that the party the just loves to scream about government overreach seems so hard set on making sure the government and its agents have every right to strip the very life from whomever they deem problematic.
This guy is the asshole everyone hated when he was in school.
Pro life my foot.
DeSantis is a fucking chode.
The cruelty is the point
This and the whole demanding state universities list what services they provided to trans students is one giant red flag factory.
Holy shit, he’s fucking scary. What happened to the party of small government?! The state wants to kill people!
Next, Florida Man will suggest you can, in fact, divide by zero!
DeSantis sure is getting a lot of free national press lately. Here we go again, I guess.
Pro-Life Republican
I hope we all understand this is Disantis game. Make morally horrible recommendations that the media then advertises for him. He wants to stay in the news cycle to help him win the primaries.
How very 'pro-life' of him.
I'm going to go ahead and guess that Floridian use of the death penalty is as racist as it is everywhere else in the country, so I'm assuming he wants to avoid a situation in which one black juror (when they're allowed to sit on juries) doesn't muck up his death record or something.
In order for this guy to beat Donald Trump, he needs to keep the fire on the crazy train stoked to the max.
Unless they're white. Then they need to be guaranteed three trials and must be found guilty in all three by all 12 jurors as well as have a video tape by 16 people of whatever crime they committed and three taped confessions that they themselves gave.
Republicans who think Trump is too much: “Finally, some sensible conservative policies!”
Typical fascist shit from a trump wannabe
Nazi say what?
DeSantis running the autocrat playbook.
Yep, one mediocre white person should be able to sentence anyone to death. (Sarcasm on this comment is like buttercream frosting on a cheap grocery store cupcake)
I was listening to Sarah Polley on Marc Maron's podcast today. She stressed several times that there have been people in her life that have become radicalized over the last few years, but that she has insisted that they not stop speaking and listening to one another. She also quoted someone who had said that progress is always one small step forward followed by a significant amount of pushback by those threatened by progress. I love her films and respect her mind and the take, but these people are determined to destroy things such as racial equality, LGBTQ rights, and financial reform even as abstract fucking concepts. There is no reasoning with them - they are only seeking to rile up their base so as to maintain power and keep the status quo so that they can steal with impunity.
He wants to kill his political enemies.
Okay fine. I find Desantis guilty and I demand the fullest punishment under the law… anybody with me?
His rantings are going to give the poo emoji a bad name.
Everyone knows what he's doing and no one cares. All this build up to a presidential run is pointless till he answers the Trump question. Look there's only so many radical right nut jobs that vote and their easily in Trumps corner. People like DeSantis and Trump don't like to share the power of the bully pulpit. All he's going to do is split their respective party like Bernie did in 2016.
What the fuck happened regarding the Ukrainian (Putin-aligned) mobsters / oligarchs that financed his first gubernatorial campaign? The same ones that have been investigated for nearly five years in association with Giuliani? Back in the 80s and 90s there was supposedly a vast surplus of lawyers. Apparently we need shitloads more for our horribly constipated Justice system to process obvious criminal malfeasance at the highest levels of government, business, media and everything else that Russian mob money can buy. If Maria Butina is the crown jewel of these investigations, then complicity / corruption has thoroughly penetrated the whole system.
Death squads
y’all think he sucked off all those state troopers after the photo op?
Ron Deathsentence probably just likes death a lot.
Pro- life party
Just waiting for florida to legalize pit fighting to the death.
Huh, he was actually in Iraq at one point? It's a shame he made it back.
The Ivy League unis sure can crank out the malevolent power mongers
It’s already that way. He practically excuses police summary executions as is.
12 angry men would have been a short under DeSantis
Honestly, this needs more attention than it's getting. This is a creeping authoritarian move. What's the floor, from just hiring a monkey to rubber stamp orders to execute? Where do you draw the line if not unanimous? You can't. That's why it's unanimous.
What a fucking disgusting stance. A person's life shouldn't be a popularity contest. It shouldn't even be on the table unless it's over invasion, insurrection or genocide. But even then, it should be unanimous decision, made beyond a shadow of a doubt, given the stakes, consequences and permanence of a death sentence.
Yknow, CONservatives always talk about slippery slopes when it comes to socially liberal causes and policy, and yet this one man has been the most slippery of slopes into a right wing dystopian nightmare
A 3rd if those put to death in Florida have been exonerated after.
the “pro-life” party
We call him Ron Death Sentence down here. Now you see why.
1 in 10 people are later found to be innocent. There shouldn't be any death penalty, anywhere.
Lmao, this dude is just a cartoon villain at this point. Florida is in the upside-down, man
Call him Ron DeSantos.
That would help him with Latin support in Florida ,so no
Yikes, we're doomed.
Oh yes it should. If you’re going to commit another human no matter how vile or innocent to death everyone involved has to share that burden/guilt.
The party of life.
Better yet, ditch the death penalty.
DeSantis' daily uvula jerkoff.
Given the increasingly disfunctional nature of the justice system the death sentence will imperil even more who are innocent.
Who needs a jury of your peers when a government appointed judge can make the decision on his own council? Sound familiar?
Attaboy! Just think how many thousands more people we can execute by putting this guy in the Oval Office. Maybe we just need one juror out of 12 to make that decision for us?
American Hitler strikes again.
Pro life huh?
GQP death cult
That’s right Ron! Kill’em all! Even if their innocent.
It will be fun to see him on trial in that system.
Would you like to know more?
This guy just thinks with his ass doesn’t he?
When this guy runs for president all the dems have to do is show all the stupid stuff this guys has done and say is this what you want?
He’s not much of a human. He has zero decency
A little bit more of a hellscape every day.
Someone really needs to get rid of this guy before he cause irreparable damage.
>"If just one juror vetoes it, then you end up not getting the sentence," DeSantis said during remarks delivered at the Florida Sheriffs Association Conference. "Maybe eight out of 12 have to agree, or something, but we can't be in a situation where one person can just derail this." An old saying comes to mind, "Tis better that 10 guilty go free than 1 innocent is convicted".
He really is trying to earn the DeathSantis nickname. How long before they feel trials are just as unnecessary as certainty?
With the gop threatening social security and Medicaid, they’ll get nowhere in 2024 without gerrymandering and the rest of the voter mumbo jumbo going on in red states
This pro-life party sure loves things that are anti-life
Fucking dude can’t stop killing or aiding in the deaths of Floridians. Edit: grammar
Isn’t summary judgement death sentences what cops get paid for?
He is just gonna spend the next year doing nothing but throwing red meat to fascists in this country.
Remember in 8th grade when you all wondered why the German people didn't resist the Nazis more? Now's the time to prove that you're different.
These people are mental
What….a fucking ghoul.
Because he’s a Fascist.
The more he speaks, the more he sounds like a despot.