When it comes to defending his racial-blind approach to the death penalty, Ron DeSantis isn’t holding back.
According to Florida’s second-term governor, a person’s race is irrelevant if they have committed a crime that calls for the death penalty.
He corrected the record and, as usual, accused leftists of purposefully misinterpreting the pertinent facts after an X follower highlighted a quote from a former Democratic governor of Alabama who falsely asserted that DeSantis’ state execution decisions were biased against people of color.
Set aside the fact that juries, not the president, have the authority to impose the death penalty. We have executed 19 capital punishments. Three of the 19 murderers found guilty were Black, while 16 were White. And this is racist, according to critics? It demonstrates the ease with which leftists accuse others of racism. DeSantis wrote on social media on Saturday that a convicted criminal, regardless of color, should be held accountable if a jury finds them guilty of a heinous crime and sentences them to death.
Don Siegelman of Alabama recently bemoaned the death penalty’s rulings. He was also the last Democrat to hold the office of governor of that state, noting in a recent opinion piece that although juries render a verdict at trial, the governor has the last say.
It is his responsibility to make sure that racial bias does not enter the execution selection process because he is the only official in Florida making these life-or-death decisions.
Siegelman highlighted two Black individuals who were recently given death sentences: Kayle Bates and Curtis Windom. Additionally, he pointed out that 95% of the victims whose deaths resulted in DeSantis’ execution orders are white.
In 2023, DeSantis’s successful attempt to reduce the requirement for state execution from unanimity to supermajority was enacted into law. He maintained that we cannot allow one individual to completely ruin this.
Executions for those found guilty of capital sexual battery against children aged 12 and under were legalized in the same year.
