Expert weighs in on Florida Death Penalty law changes

Mark Sievers faces the death penalty for his wife’s murder, and now, attorneys want a re-sentencing.

This push centers around the recent change to the death penalty law, where jurors don’t have to be unanimous about the death penalty.

Juror 87 from the Wade Wilson trial can tell you that sitting on a jury where the death penalty is on the table is no easy task.

“There were things thrown out, like, you know, do we want to have the death penalty, because he’s just gonna get appeal after appeal. And the family has already been through enough,” said Juror 87. “You kind of have this really big sense of responsibility. And putting, you know, any of your personal feelings aside and just being able to focus on facts.”

Now, a change in Florida law only requires eight out of 12 jurors to recommend the death penalty instead of all 12, which may lead to a change in jurors’ behavior.

It’s what Dr. Duane Dobbert, a certified behavior analyst with 55 years of experience, believes.

• RELATED: SWFL criminals on death row

WINK News reporter Annette Montgomery asked Dobbert if he thinks the change will lead to more cases that don’t have a unanimous decision for the death penalty, even in crucial or brutal cases.

“Yes, I do believe that’s a possibility. I think what’s going to happen? You know, and this is obviously conjecture on my part, but I’ve been in the business for 55 years, that we’re going to see that in these Florida cases, that they’re going to concentrate on aggravating circumstances.”

We’ve already seen the impact of the law locally.

Before the change in law – in 2019 – Sievers hired two men to kill his wife, and the jury unanimously sentenced him to death.

But take a look at these three other local cases after the law was changed – none of them had a unanimous vote for death.

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• READ MORE: Jury recommends death penalty for Joseph Zieler
• READ MORE: Jury recommends death for Wade Wilson
• READ MORE: Jury recommends death for man who killed 5 women at Sebring bank

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Even though they were convicted of killing multiple people.

“I think the jurors will feel that it’s OK for them to say no. It’s on the whole panel jury, and so they can say no and even if that person is sentenced to death, they can say, ‘Well, on my conscience, it’s OK. You know, because it was someone else. I didn’t vote for it,'” said Dobbert.

Dobbert said another change we can expect to see as a result of this change is a lot more people waiting on death row.

He suspects that the increase may result in the Supreme Court getting involved and potentially reversing this decision.

He also said this change will impact how prosecutors and defense attorneys approach potential jurors.