"The vote was 8-1 by the nation's top justices as they dealt Florida's death penalty a sharp blow, saying it gives too little power to juries and too much power to judges to decide life or death. Florida is the only state requiring a simple majority from a jury, and one of just three states in which a jury vote for death does not have to be unanimous.........WESH 2 legal expert Richard Hornsby said anyone sentenced by non-unanimous juries since a similar court ruling in 2002 should have their sentences commuted to life or at least reviewed. "In a death penalty case, you would think it would be obvious that a jury make a unanimous decision one way or the other, regarding a person's life or death," Hornsby said........."His penalty is now invalid under the U.S. Constitution," said Dennis Tracey, who is the attorney for Tommy Zeigler, one of the oldest inmates on death row. Zeigler was convicted of murdering his wife, in-laws and a customer of his Winter Garden store in 1975, but the jury recommended life in prison for him in a vote of 7-5. Instead, the judge sent him to death row. Zeigler's attorney said Tuesday's ruling should keep Zeigler from the death chamber and win his freedom. "He should not be put to death. That it is unconstitutional and it would be a huge miscarriage of justice," Tracey said. Lawmakers are reviewing a new bill that would demand unanimous jury decisions in death penalty cases and defense attorneys are likely to file motions to have their condemned clients moved into life sentences."
 http://www.wesh.com/news/florida-death-penalty-ruling-to-impact-local-cases/37400352