The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that unanimous jury recommendations are not necessary before death sentences can be imposed.
Justices backed away from a 2016 decision that revamped the state's capital-punishmen system.
Thursday's majority opinion said the court "got it wrong" when it required unanimous jury recommendations on death sentences.
The ruling came in a Polk County case in which a man was convicted of first degree murder and a jury recommended that Mark Anthony Poole be sentenced to death by an 11 to 1 vote.
The judge imposed that sentence, but it was vacated after the state's highest court ruled in 2016 a unanimous jury recommendation was necessary.
The state appealed and the Florida Supreme Court this week said Poole's death sentence must be reinstated.that Poole’s death sentence be reinstated.
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