Hours after hearing arguments in the case, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday indefinitely postponed the execution of Mark James Asay, a convicted double murderer from Jacksonville scheduled to die March 17.
Wednesday’s order was the second time the court indefinitely delayed a scheduled execution since a U.S. Supreme Court decision last month that struck down Florida’s death-penalty sentencing structure as unconstitutional.
Gov. Rick Scott issued the death warrants before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in a case known as Hurst v. Florida.
The Florida court’s unanimous decision Wednesday came as the justices consider the potentially widespread impact of the high court’s Jan. 12 ruling on the sentences of Florida’s Death Row inmates.
During arguments in the case earlier in the day, Asay’s attorney, Marty McClain, argued his client, who went for a decade without a lawyer to represent him in state appeals, should be able to present new evidence in his case.
Asay was convicted in 1988 of the murders of Robert Lee Booker and Robert McDowell in Downtown Jacksonville.
Asay shot Booker, who was black, after calling him a racial epithet.
He then killed McDowell, who was dressed as a woman, after agreeing to pay him for oral sex.
According to court documents, Asay later told a friend McDowell had previously cheated him out of money in a drug deal.
McClain has argued his client received inadequate representation before McClain took over the case last month, five days after Scott signed a warrant ordering Asay to be put to death on March 17.
McClain also argued he discovered new evidence questioning a ballistics analysis that found Booker and McDowell were shot by the same gun. McClain is questioning whether Asay actually shot Booker or another black man who was shot nearby around the same time.
But Assistant Attorney General Charmaine Millsaps told the justices the evidence clearly showed Asay killed both men, and that a new hearing would not reveal anything new.
Part of Wednesday’s arguments focused on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the state’s system of allowing judges — not juries — to impose the death penalty is an unconstitutional violation of defendants’ Sixth Amendment rights to trial by jury.
During Wednesday’s hearing, McClain echoed arguments from other defense lawyers, who contend the ruling must be applied retroactively to all 390 inmates on Death Row.
If not, the state risks applying the death penalty in an arbitrary manner, which could be considered unconstitutional by the courts, McClain said.
Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court indefinitely postponed the execution of Cary Michael Lambrix while the justices consider the impact of the Hurst decision on his and other Death Row inmates’ sentences.