Florida set to resume executions after 18-month hiatus

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott is set to resume executions after a hiatus of more than 18 months after the U.S. Supreme Court found Florida's death-sentencing procedure was unconstitutional because it allowed judges to reach a different conclusion from juries.

Scott rescheduled the execution of Mark Asay for Aug. 24.

Asay was originally scheduled to be executed March 17, 2016, for the 1987 murders of Robert Lee Booker and Robert McDowell in Jacksonville.

The execution was put on hold after the U.S. Supreme Court found the state's death penalty law unconstitutional.

The Legislature has since twice changed the law, most recently this year when it required a unanimous jury recommendation for the death penalty.

Asay would be the 24th person executed since Scott took office in 2011.

The death penalty has been a contentious issue in Florida recently, with State Attorney Aramis Ayala announcing she would not seek the death penalty in any case her office prosecuted.

The announcement prompted Scott to remove Ayala from dozens of pending death-penalty cases, a move she has appealed and is currently in front of the Florida Supreme Court.

Ayala argues that Scott overstepped his authority by removing her, an elected official, from the cases over her stance on the death penalty.

Scott argues that the Florida constitution gives him the power to remove a state attorney from a case if they are not fulfilling the duties of their office, which is what he claims Ayala is doing by taking a blanket stance on the death penalty.

There are 362 inmates on Florida's death row.

Several from Central Florida have had their death penalties overturned recently, including Bessman Okafor, who killed a 19-year-old man during a 2012 home invasion, and Michael Bargo, who took part in the torture and killing of Seath Jackson in 2011.

Bargo is one of four death row inmates the Florida Supreme Court ordered June 29 to have a new sentencing hearing.

Anyone sentenced to death after 2002 in Florida could be eligible for a new sentence, the court said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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