State: State death penalty review? Not in Fla.

The independent review that led the outgoing Illinois governor to empty his state's death row last week would be virtually impossible in Florida, where politicians strongly support capital punishment and show little interest in examining its fairness.

Anti-death penalty advocates and defense attorneys, however, said Monday they see similarities in the failings cited by Illinois Gov. George Ryan and in Florida's capital system, including racial disparities and the number of condemned men who were later exonerated.

An Illinois-style examination of the system is the only way Florida can ensure fairness, they said. But they are not hopeful.

"Get both supporters and opponents on there, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and then give it the money it needs to do the right kind of study and let the chips fall where they may," said Steve Hanlon, a long-time Florida death penalty lawyer and head of pro-bono work for Holland & Knight.

"I don't think there's anything even approaching the political consensus in Florida needed to do that."

Ryan, the outgoing Republican governor, commuted the death sentences of 156 inmates Saturday, ordering most to spend life in prison. An independent commission appointed by Ryan had found wide disparities in how the death penalty was applied.

Ryan's pronouncement underscored the new direction of the death penalty debate: Rather than debating whether capital punishment is morally right, the argument now is primarily about whether it is being carried out fairly.

That change has been encouraged in part, at least, by death penalty supporters -- like Ryan -- who are now questioning the system.

In Florida, both sides agree, that will is missing. Republican Gov. Jeb Bush has made DNA testing available to every inmate on death row. He says he will examine each case as it arises, but he has said no moratorium or wide-ranging study is needed.

Attorney General Charlie Crist, a Republican whose office represents the state in appeals from death row, said Florida doesn't have "this wholesale problem . . . that I heard might be in Illinois."

"We have a right to trial, a right to appeal, and opportunities to present to DNA evidence that the governor has been very supportive of," Crist said.

Several Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature said Monday they see no need for study, either. State Sen. Rod Smith, a Gainesville Democrat and former prosecutor, noted several Illinois cases involved police officers who had coerced confessions or tampered with evidence.

"I know nothing like that that's been suggested in this state," Smith said. "I believe our capital penalty in Florida has proven itself time and again to give ultimate protection against error."

Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe and Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober said Florida courts do an adequate job of ensuring fairness.

"I think we all agree that as long as human beings are involved in the process, it's not necessarily going to be perfect," McCabe said.

Anti-death penalty activists and lawyers who represent death row inmates, however, said Florida should follow Ryan's lead and appoint an independent commission to examine how the death penalty is applied.

Michael L. Radelet, a former University of Florida sociologist who has tracked every Florida death penalty case for 20 years, was hired by the Illinois commission to study how race and geography affected who was sentenced to death.

He and other experts, including Hanlon, cited several similarities between what the commission found in Illinois and what their experience suggested in Florida:

-- Racial disparity: In both states, those who kill whites are three to four times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who kill blacks.

-- Arbitrary application: People who commit the same type of crime may or may not get the same punishment. Punishment varies by where they live, too. A killer in Miami-Dade County is less likely to be sentenced to death than one in Hillsborough, for instance.

-- Exonerations: In Illinois, 13 death row inmates were cleared of their crimes as of 2000, when Ryan suspended all executions. In Florida that number is 24, including a man cleared by DNA evidence after he died while awaiting execution.

Two more, William Kelley and Rudolph Holton, have had their convictions overturned and are awaiting decisions on whether they will be retried or freed.

Crist and other death penalty supporters said exonerations are proof the system works -- those who aren't guilty eventually are spared. Smith, the state senator and former prosecutor, said many people who are exonerated aren't innocent, either.

Hanlon, who talked to Ryan before he made his decision, said those attitudes prevent the state from taking an honest look at the process.

"Instead of reviewing the 20-some odd exonerations that there's been in Florida, instead of viewing those as a really serious problem, there's been an attempt to try to explain those away somehow," he said.

Florida's policymakers also have made no attempt to depoliticize the death penalty, as Ryan did in Illinois by appointing a bipartisan commission made up of both supporters and opponents.

Opponents said politics have prevented scrutiny in Florida, too.

In last fall's race for governor, Democrat Bill McBride said he supported the death penalty but called for suspending executions to ensure the system was working fairly. Bush responded by airing ads accusing McBride of being against the death penalty.

Florida has 386 people on death row, third behind California and Texas.

Former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan, an outspoken critic of Florida's system since he left the bench in 1998, said he doubts Ryan's decision will prompt any action in this state. He predicted it will give pause in other states where the death penalty is not used as frequently.

"I think it's making people more aware throughout the country about the pitfalls of the death penalty," he said Monday.

Several death penalty-related bills are expected to be debated in the Legislature this spring. Smith plans to introduce a bill, meant to help Florida comply with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, that would allow only a jury -- not a judge -- to sentence someone to death.

Another by state Sen. Skip Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale, would require that all confessions be videotaped, to reduce the chances that a confession is coerced.

"I have some concerns about some of the specifics, but I feel that the system generally works," Campbell said. "If anybody has any ideas of making it better, I think we should consider them. But I haven't heard much."

-- Times staff writers William Levesque and Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.

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