Florida Governor Rick Scott delayed the execution of Marshall Lee Gore back in mid-August, writing a letter to the Florida State Prison warden with a re-set of the execution day to October 1, 2013.
Gore Gets 20 More Days of Life In Controversial Circumstance
This happened shortly after the Florida Supreme Court ruling that considered the mental illness arguments of Gore’s defense team and decided that Marshall Lee Gore did not meet the mental illness standards needed to avoid the death penalty.
Which meant that the Execution was back on the Florida Death Row Calendar, initially being set for September 10, 2013, until Governor Scott wrote the warden and moved the date.
- For details on Gore’s crime that forms the basis for capital punishment – the murder in 1988 of an exotic dancer named Robyn Novick – go here.
- For more on the issue of mentally ill people being executed as capital punishment, read our posts including this one (with studies) and this one (with legal arguments against it).
Attorney General Request for Rescheduling and the Timely Justice Act
Meanwhile, news right now isn’t about mental illness and the ethical issues of executing someone with mental illness: it’s about the reasons why Mr. Gore has been given another few weeks of life to live by Governor Scott.
According to the news media, it’s because Pam Bondi, the Florida Attorney General, requested the extension. Not for any legal issues regarding Mr. Gore; sources like the Huffington Post are reporting that Ms. Bondi asked for the date to be changed because she had a scheduling conflict: there was a fundraiser scheduled and Bondi couldn’t be in two places at the same time.
Some folk aren’t thrilled about this: some are pointing to the Timely Justice Act (see our earlier posts on this law here) and suggesting that the rescheduling of Gore’s execution to accommodate a fundraising event doesn’t jive with the rationale and passionate push all those proponents gave to the passage of the Timely Justice Act.
Result? Governor Scott told the media that he rescheduled at Bondi’s request but he didn’t know the reason for her request. And Bondi has issued a statement to the press, mea culpa:
"As a prosecutor, there was nothing more important than seeing justice done, especially when it came to the unconscionable act of murder. I personally put two people on death row and, as Attorney General, have already participated in eight executions since I took office, a role I take very seriously.
"The planned execution of Marshall Lee Gore had already been stayed twice by the courts, and we absolutely should not have requested that the date of the execution be moved."
Meanwhile, what’s the latest with the Timely Justice Act review over at the Florida Supreme Court?
Nothing new has happened on the Supreme Court’s Docket for the Case (SC13-1123) since our last post discussing the filing of the reply brief by the Petitioners (replying to the response filed by Bondi’s Office).
Presumably, the High Court is working on things, like reading all that research and argument in those filings and working toward a decision about what to do next. Stay tuned.