If it passes, the bill would move to the Senate. The legislation reiterates that electrocution is Florida's method of execution and designates that lethal injection should replace the electric chair if a court ever bars electrocution as an unconstitutional form of execution. In the committee room audience when the panel voted were George and Ricky Paules of St. Augustine. The Pauleses said it didn't matter to them how Rolling was executed. There's been too many people sitting there for too long.
Lawmakers share that frustration over the pace of executions.
12 death row inmates have been there longer than 20 years. The state has executed 39 people since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Florida's capital punishment law in 1976. Fire broke out in 1 electrocution in 1990, and in a 2nd in 1997. Only 5 states besides Florida use electrocution for execution. 1 of those states, Tennessee, hasn't used its electric chair in 20 years.