DeSantis calls to end jury unanimity for Florida death penalty cases

The rightwing Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, wants to end the constitutional requirement that juries in his state are unanimous when handing down death sentences.

Florida has required jury unanimity in capital cases since 2017, a change made after the US supreme court rendered unconstitutional the state system of allowing a simple majority of a jury to recommend death and a judge then deciding whether to impose it.

Trump is also an enthusiastic advocate of state killing, his administration having hurried through 13 federal executions at the end of his time in the White House.

On Monday, DeSantis focused his anger on the recent trial of Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018 but was spared the death penalty after three jurors opposed it.

Cruz was sentenced to life without parole.

Alito is now one of six conservatives on a hardline court that has shown a marked tendency to rule in favor of death penalty proponents.