Florida is set to remove the requirement for a unanimous jury recommendation before an execution, per a bill passed by the Legislature last week, an action that took the state’s Catholic bishops by surprise. 

“It is stunning that the Florida Legislature would weaken a common-sense law passed just six years ago that required unanimous agreement by a jury in order to sentence someone to death,” Michael Sheedy, executive director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB), said in a statement.  

The new legislation requires only eight of 12 jurors to agree in order to impose a death sentence. 

Passing it “takes our state backward to outlier status once again with the lowest standard for imposing a death sentence,” Speedy said. “The alternative to death of life without parole is a severe sentence that keeps society safe.”

The change was prompted by the life sentence given to the man who committed the mass shooting at a Parkland high school, an Associated Press report run by WESH said. The bill was approved by the House with 80 votes in favor and 30 against. It now awaits final approval from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

Among the 27 states that have the death penalty, only three states do not require unanimity. In Alabama, a 10-2 decision is allowed, while Missouri and Indiana permit the judge to make the decision when there is a split among the jurors, the WESH report said.

“As Florida persists in its implementation of the death penalty, the process should be as reliable and just as possible," Sheedy said. "Unanimity is required in every other circumstance when a jury is summoned in Florida. The harshest punishment that the state imposes should require the strictest standards."

Florida has carried out two executions of convicted murderers this year, with another scheduled in three weeks. DeSantis, who is expected to run for president, signed three death warrants this year, marking his first involvement in executions since 2019, the WESH report said.