Florida conducts first execution in a year and a half

For the first time since the Supreme Court ruled against the state’s capital sentencing statute, Florida has executed a prisoner, killing Mark Asay via lethal injection. The execution happened late last night.

Amnesty International recently issued a report outlining the state’s response to the Supreme Court ruling.

Kristina Roth, senior programme officer for criminal justice at Amnesty International USA, said:

“There is no place in a just society for capital punishment, which is inherently cruel and arbitrary in application

“The state of Florida should be ashamed for resuming its machinery of death.

“It’s too late for Mark Asay, but Florida still has a chance to be on the right side of history by commuting the sentences of all other death row prisoners and ending capital punishment once and for all.”