Howell was convicted in 1994 in the 1992 murder of Florida Highway Patrol trooper Jimmy Fulford in 1992 when a bomb Howell manufactured exploded in the trooper’s hands after a traffic stop.
Rights & Liberties
Global Warning Olympics: Closing Ceremonies for Winter
Watching the Olympics requires too much of a suspension of disbelief to make the effort worth the time or the self-deception. There was an added and quite massive invention to these games: faking winter in a warming world, though in that regard we’re all self-deluded Russians.
When a Senator Turns Anti-Union Goon: A Labor Defeat Reverberates Across the South
In light of the failed vote to unionize a VW plant in Tennessee, why should we care about the travails of labor unions in our country? Because, with no one in Washington able to effectively represent workers nationwide, unions are the only ones left to fight for a living wage.
Clarence Thomas as a White Playwright: “Race” Inflames City Rep’s Stage, With Sequins
David Mamet’s “Race” turns the table on an old American convention: the white rapist of a black woman. This time getting away is not an option in a thrill-ride of a play that turns the tables on stereotypes and prejudices. No one is immune. It is the Palm Coast City Repertory Theatre’s big event of the year, under the direction of John Sbordone.
Grim Reaping: Gov. Rick Scott Now Florida’s Record Holder For Most 1st Term Executions
Juan Carlos Chavez’s execution last week was the 13th on Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s watch — a record among first-term Florida governors since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, and a record Scottt is smashing with yet more death warrants he is signing in his fourth year.
Florida Lawmakers Edging Toward Offering In-State Tuition for Some Undocumented Immigrants
A measure allowing some undocumented students to receive in-state tuition was easily approved Wednesday by a House subcommittee, but the bill still faces a steep climb in the Senate.
Stand Your Ground: Florida is Not My Castle. And It’s Not Yours, Either.
The right to stand one’s ground against aggression in one’s home is unquestioned, but, argues Julie Delegal, in public, spaces must be shared, peacefully. The castle doctrine cannot be extended to cover the entire state, as Florida’s Stand Your Ground law does.
How Obamacare’s Enemies Turned a Victory For Workers’ Freedom Into a “Job Killer”
The prediction that Obamacare will lead to the equivalent of 2.5 million fewer jobs has nothing to do with businesses cutting the workforce and everything to do with workers being finally free of job-lock, now that they don;t need to stay in a job to have health insurance. That’s a good, and very American, thing, not the job-killing catastrophe Obamacare’s enemies make it out to be.
ACLU May Challenge Elections Division Ruling Blocking UF Student Union as Voting Location
Democrats contend Gov. Rick Scott is “laying roadblocks to voting” because of a state Division of Elections opinion that the student union at the University of Florida can’t be used as an early voting location.
Russian Roulette: Gun Owners and Their Temperament
The decision to keep a gun handy makes you a bad risk—not only for insurance companies, but for those of us who feel we have a right to go to the movies, the mall, or sit in our own backyard without having to worry about a gun owner whose bursitis is acting up or who is simply having a bad day.
Florida Supreme Court Orders Review of Lethal Injection Cocktail Ahead of Feb. 26 Execution
Before the scheduled execution of inmate Paul Augustus Howell on Feb. 26, Justices have ordered a circuit court to hold an evidentiary hearing on whether substitution of the drug midazolam violates the constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment by the government.
NRA-Backed Bill Would End Zero-Tolerance Punishment of Students Play-Acting Guns at School
The NRA-backed measure by Florida House Judiciary Chairman Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, would prevent children from being disciplined for simulating a gun while playing or wearing clothes that depict firearms.
Florida Lawmakers Would Stiffen Penalties On Insurers Discriminating Against Gun Owners
Insurance companies could face tougher penalties if they impose higher rates, refuse to issue or cancel auto or homeowner policies due to gun ownership, under a measure backed by a House committee Tuesday.
Arrested For Felony Child Abuse and Pot Possession: The Mother’s Account
Sophia Zhudro is the 30-year-old resident of Palm Coast’s B-Section who was arrested on Jan. 24 for marijuana possession as she was parked with her 15-month-old on the side of a residential street in her neighborhood. She tells her side of the story, taking issue with the way the incident was related by police.
With 132 Death Row Inmates Readied for Execution, Lawyers Contest Fast-Track Law Before Florida Justices
More than 150 lawyers and Death Row inmates are challenging the so-called Timely Justice Act, signed by Gov. Rick Scott in June, intended to speed up executions. Lawyers argue it violates the constitutionally protected separation of powers as well as inmates’ rights to due process.
Judge J. Michael Traynor’s Alarming Equivalence Between an Attempted Murderer and His Victim
When Judge J. Michael Traynor sentenced Nathaniel Juratovac to four years in prison for the attempted murder of Flagler County firefighter Jared Parkey last week, the judge managed to blame both men for the violent incident that led them to the courtroom, a stunning and immoral leveling of blame in a state that too easily excuses gun violence.
Flagler Beach Police Launch Initiatives to Protect Residents and Property, But Public Records Expose Vulnerability
Though the initiatives are very well-meaning, participating residents who want their house watched while they’re away or who live alone and need a daily check-in must fill out detailed applications that reveal a lot of personal information and details about their property. The documents are public records, and may potentially create vulnerabilities for the very residents police are aiming to protect.
In an Unusually Brutal Arrest, a Palm Coast Woman Is Charged With Child Abuse Over Minor Pot Possession
Sophia Zhudro, 30, was parked on a quiet, residential street in Palm Coast’s B-Section when she was detained, then arrested and charged with child abuse because deputies found a small amount of marijuana in her car (near in in the child seat). Zhudro’s traumatized child was forced out of her arms by four deputies and turned over to DCF.
Florida Is Excluded From Congressional Fix of Voting Rights Act Supreme Court Nullified
Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, Congress is working to reinstate a similar provision that would require certain states to acquire federal “preclearance” for new voting laws. Unlike the provision enacted in 1965, though, Florida is no longer one of the state’s that would need oversight.
Death Penalty’s Latest Mutation:
Experimenting on Human Beings
The decision to seek the death penalty simply can’t be justified either by society’s or individuals’ desire for revenge, argues Steve Robinson. Were that the case, we could issue baseball bats to family members and let them beat the convict to death in the town square.
Rarely Punished, Guards May Be Responsible for Half of Sexual Assaults in Prisons and Jails
The federal report is based on data from all of the nation’s federal and state prisons as well as many county jails. It shows more than 8,000 reports of abuse each year between 2009 and 2011, up 11 percent from the previous report, and extremely rare prosecutions.
Medical Marijuana Initiative Gets Needed Signature to Make November Ballot, Pending Court Clearance
With 710,508 validated signatures statewide in Florida— 27, 359 more than the required 683,149 — and reaching signature requirements in the bare minimum of 14 congressional districts, People United for Medical Marijuana beat a Feb. 1 deadline for submitting petitions to the state.
Six Gay Couples and Equality Florida File Lawsuit in State Court Seeking Freedom to Marry
The lawsuit argues that Florida’s laws barring same-sex couples from marriage violate the United States Constitution by denying them the legal protections and equal dignity that having the freedom to marry provides.
He Won’t Give Up: Scott Taking Drug Testing of State Employees to U.S. Supreme Court
Lawyers for Scott filed a petition this week asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled against across-the-board drug testing, but various groups blasted the Scott administration for continuing to pursue the drug tests. They pointed to repeated past rulings against such drug testing.
Askari Muhammad Is Executed After 38 Years on Death Row and Numerous Legal Bungles
Muhammad was sentenced to death in 1975 for the murder in July 1974 of Sydney and Lillian Gans near Miami, and, after that sentencing was thrown out, sentenced to death for the murder of prison guard James Burke in 1980. He is the 13th individual executed on Gov. Rick Scott’s watch since 2011.
As State Mulls Review, Christians and Atheists Agree: Keep Florida Capitol a Free Speech Zone
The threat of a lawsuit is hovering over the state’s rejection of a satanic display, and the rotunda exhibit policy is set to undergo a staff review. But the prevailing view among those who have recently jumped at the chance to use the public floor space to express their beliefs is to simply let everyone have their say.
The Shame of Guantanamo, 11 Years On
The irony should not be lost on us that our congressional district is represented by Ron DeSantis, the sort of fanatic who had no trouble advertising his brief service in Guantanamo’s kangaroo courts as a badge of honor while leaving silent his employment with a more legitimate Florida corporate law firm. With political charlatans like that in Congress, it’s no wonder Guantanamo endures.
Double-Murder Charge Dropped as Stand Your Ground May Head for Supreme Court Review
The 3rd District Court of Appeals ruling Thursday overturned a lower court’s second-degree murder conviction of Gabriel Mobley outside a Chili’s restaurant in Opa-Locka, and could once again put Florida’s first-in-the nation “stand your ground” law and its meaning before the Florida Supreme Court.
Scott Signs 14th Death Warrant: Juan Carlos Chavez, Murderer of 9-Year-Old Jimmy Ryce
Juan Carlos Chavez, will be executed on Feb. 12. Scott’s order comes less than a year after the death of Martha Ryce, who dedicated her life to advocate for missing children after the murder of her brother. Martha Ryce, considered the voice of her family, committed suicide on December 30th in Atlanta. She was 35.
Gov. Scott Now 0-For-4 on Drug-Testing as Federal Judge Harshly Criticizes Violation of Welfare Recipients’ Rights
In a harshly worded, 30-page opinion, the judge concluded that “there is no set of circumstances under which the warrantless, suspicionless drug testing at issue in this case could be constitutionally applied.”
Phil Robertson’s Edited America
Phil Robertson’s comments about gays, cloaked in religious dogma, touched off an immediate firestorm, but his observations about blacks in the Jim Crow South prompted an oddly muted response, though those comments reveal a man still living in a fantasy only white prejudice can construct.
Your Backpack Please: Florida Appeal Court Rules Legal Search Based on Anonymous Tip
A high school student who took a loaded gun to school argued that the search of his back-pack, based on an anonymous tip, was illegal. A 2-1 ruling of the Third District Court of Appeal disagreed.
Conservative Pensacola Approves Domestic-Partnership Registry, Heartening Gay Advocates Elsewhere
The passage of a domestic-partnership registry ordinance in one of Florida’s most conservative environs has gay rights advocates cheering. But some social conservatives say the registries mean little in a state where a ban on gay marriage is enshrined in the constitution.
Before Florida Made an Ass of Christmas, Philadelphia Gave Us a Founding Nativity Scene
The Rick Scott administration’s illiterate interpretation of the Bible and the first amendment turned the Florida Capitol rotunda into a comedy of absurd Christmas displays and discrimination, all of which could have been avoided with a reason and respect–for the holidays and the Constitution.
Deemed “Grossly Offensive,” Satanic Display Is Barred from Florida Capitol’s Christmas Gallery
The state Department of Management Services on Wednesday denied an attempt by “Satanists” to put up a display in the Florida Capitol, which currently showcases a Nativity scene, a Festivus pole made of beer cans, posters from atheists, and a crudely-made Flying Spaghetti Monster.
In Defense of Net Neutrality: How To Keep Biggest Internet Providers From Running Amok
Without net neutrality, the Web would look a lot like cable, with the most popular content available only on certain tiers or with certain providers: Imagine AT&T as the exclusive home of Netflix and Comcast as the sole source of YouTube.
Holding a Candle to a Citizenship Oath
Twenty-seven ago today I was one among a few hundred Technicolor-skinned and Babel-tongued immigrants who jammed into an enormous hall in Federal District Court in Brooklyn and recited the oath of citizenship. A candle-lighting has marked the occasion every year since.
Warning Shot Bill: Public Defenders Back a Revised Version of Marissa Alexander-Inspired Measure
Polk County Rep. Neil Combee sponsored the 2013 bill after hearing about Marissa Alexander, a Jacksonville woman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison under the 10-20-Life sentencing law for firing a gun into a wall during a fight with her husband. Combee said her sentence was an example of the “negative unintended consequences” of 10-20-Life, which requires mandatory-minimum prison terms for gun-related crimes.
Inquiry Into 4th Grader’s Suspension at Palm Harbor Charter School Raises Concerns of Arbitrary Discipline and Due Process
The Flagler County school district is investigating the case of a fourth grade girl who was suspended from Palm Harbor Academy, the Palm Coast charter school, for two days in late November without documented due process, and in apparent violation of school policy and safety standards.
Court Strikes Down University of North Florida Ban on Guns in Vehicles Parked on Campus
Alexandria Lainez, a business student at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, is celebrating. On Tuesday, the District Court of Appeal for the First District in Tallahassee upheld her challenge of a UNF rule banning firearms on campus. The full court voted 12-3 to overturn a Duvall Circuit Court decision that had upheld the university’s ban.
Employers Would Be Barred From Using Applicants’ Credit Reports or Firing Pregnant Women
The Florida Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee gave support to both proposals on Monday, even though a number of senators expressed concern about limiting an employer’s ability to use a credit history when judging a potential new hire for a non-financial or non-managerial role.
Satanists Now Want to Join Beer Pole and Nativity Scene at Florida Capitol
The state Department of Management Services has received three more applications, including two from atheist groups and one from satanists, to put up displays after approving a banner for the Freedom From Religion Foundation and an aluminum pole — made of empty beer cans– – to mark the parody festival Festivus.
Florida Sentencing Guidelines
Overview of Florida’s sentencing policies, guidelines, first, second and third degree felonies, life sentences.
Nativity Scene in Florida Capitol Will Share Space With Beer-Can Pole Celebrating Festivus
A nearly 6-foot-tall pole made from emptied Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans, marking the Festivus holiday once parodied on Seinfeld, will be put up in the Florida Capitol this week as a not-so-subtle protest to the recent placement of a Christian nativity scene by the Florida Prayer Network.
Pam Bondi’s Pot Problem
It’s a matter of time before marijuana is legalized, for medical uses or not, even in Florida. But Attorney General Pam Bondi is doing her best to preserve a prohibition that relies on disinformation to benefit cops and jails at the expense of greater safety, less crime and more compassion, were marijuana to be legalized.
Medical Marijuana Tangles Up Florida Supreme Court Justices In Weeds of Words
The idea of medical marijuana technically isn’t at issue in the case. Instead, Attorney General Pam Bondi, legislative leaders and medical, law enforcement and business groups argue that the ballot title and summary that would appear on the ballot could deceive voters about the scope of the amendment.
Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013
Forgive, But Don’t Forget
Nelson Mandela, one of the towering figures of the 20th century and the liberator of South Africa from apartheid, died today–Dec. 5–at 8:50 p.m. in Johannesburg. He was 95. Here are exts from his own pen, which speak more eloquently than obituaries about his vision for a world of equality, human rights and dignity unobscured by illusions.
Obama’s Free Press Problem: Why Reporters in the U.S. Now Need Protection
The Obama administration has made the most concerted effort since the Nixon years to intimidate officials from talking to a reporter. Paul Steiger, Paul Steiger recipient of this year’s the Burton Benjamin Memorial award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, argues for a response.
Florida Supreme Court Stays Execution, Raising Questions About Cruelty of Lethal Injection Cocktail
A 5-2 Florida Supreme Court vote put the execution of convicted murderer Askari Abdullah Muhammad on hold Monday to consider claims that the three-drug cocktail used to put inmates to death could cause unnecessary suffering.
“Punishment Therapy” For Depression? A Lake Worth Doctor Is Accused of Torturing a Patient
Dr. David Simon, a Lake Worth family doctor accused of sadistic “punishment therapy” that involved handcuffs, blindfolds, whips and other implements of torture apologized repeatedly to the Board of Osteopathic Medicine, but that was not enough to persuade board members that Simon could safely continue to practice.