For months, Florida has been considering execution dates for a veteran on its death row, James Dailey. Dailey has significant evidence of innocence that has yet to be examined, including the statement of another inmate that exonerates anyone else of the crime. Despite its terrible legacy of wrongful convictions, leading the nation with 29 exonerations from death row, Florida has yet to take meaningful action on this case and Dailey’s life is still in danger. Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty has joined with eight former and current prosecutors and attorneys general, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops to file a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on James Dailey’s behalf. Our brief can be read here. 

This month, Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin became the 164th person exonerated from death row in the United States and the 28th death row inmate exonerated from Florida. Aguirre-Jarquin spent over 14 years imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, and the circumstances that led to his wrongful conviction are shocking. Despite the case against him being flimsy from the beginning, the District Attorney made a shocking move after the Florida Supreme Court overturned his conviction and pursued death for a second time even though anther person had confessed to the crime. Fortunately, justice finally prevailed and the second case was thrown out when even more evidence of another person’s guilt poured in. You can read more about this shocking story here.

A Florida prosecutor, Ashley K. Albright, who is currently seeking the death penalty for a man named Michael Woodbury has asked for input from the local community on his sentence. Woodbury, who is accused of killing a fellow inmate at the Okeechobee Correctional Institute, has pled guilty and claims he was acting in self-defense. At Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, we know the death penalty wastes millions of dollars a year. Based on the 44 executions carried out by Florida since 1976, the cost per execution is about $24 million. That’s money that could be better allocated for programs that actually deter violence. But not only does this system waste money for an outcome that will seldom be reached, it also runs the risk of a wrongful conviction. Thus far, over 162 people have been exonerated from death row when evidence of their innocence finally came to light. Help us tell Mr. Albright that the death penalty is an ineffective system, and that Floridians would rather see their money spent on programs that actually produce safer communities. You can email him here: AAlbright@sao19.org.