Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Milton Hirsch ruled today that Florida’s death penalty system is unconstitutional due to a controversial element of state law that allows juries to sentence defendants to death without a unanimous decision.
According to the Miami Herald, Hirsch’s ruling will be the latest to stir the pot in terms of Florida’s death penalty.
Capital punishment in the state is already under review after the US Supreme Court ruled the sentencing system unconstitutional.
As the Herald points out, only Florida and Alabama allow non-unanimous juries to impose death sentences.
“A decedent cannot be more or less dead. An expectant mother cannot be more or less pregnant,” Judge Hirsch wrote in a court document obtained by the Herald. “And a jury cannot be more or less unanimous. Every verdict in every criminal case in Florida requires the concurrence, not of some, not of most, but of all jurors – every single one of them.”
Hirsch issued the ruling in the case of Karon Gaiter, who is accused of first degree murder.
The Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case last week that could see all 390 people who are currently on death row in the state to be given life sentences due to the flawed sentencing system.
“Arithmetically the difference between 12 and 10 is slight,” Hirsch wrote in his opinion. “But the question before me is not a question of arithmetic. It is a question of constitutional law. It is a question of justice.”
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Cover Photo Credit: Andrew Petro/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Doctors Charter School Executive Director Nick Dorn Resigns
UPDATED: 6:57 PM EST
Nick Dorn, the Executive Director of Doctors Charter School in Miami Shores has announced that he will be stepping down in January after his wife accepted a new position at a Kansas City area Presbyterian Church.
Dorn made the announcement moments ago at a regularly scheduled DCS board meeting.
“Regretfully at this time, I am giving the board of directors my 60 day notice,” Dorn said. “It will be bittersweet to leave the DCS community where I was born and raised.
“I struggle with it because I’m a committed project guy. But I’m married to my wife, not married to the school.”
“On January 19th, I will be moving with my wife of one year to her city of call in Kansas City,” Dorn said.
“Thank you very much for all you’ve done for this school,” Dr. Chester Morris, a DCS board member said to Dorn. “I think there was a period of time where it was a bit contagious. But we’ve come through it and you’ve done a terrific job. I will miss you.”
Daryl Gallo asked Dorn if he would consider staying until the end of the school year but Dorn said it was wasn’t on the table.
“I struggle with it because I’m a committed project guy. But I’m married to my wife, not married to the school,” Dorn said in reference to Gallo’s question. “This was definitely a hard decision for both of us. But she is amazing. She is a wave maker. You can’t direct the wind, you can only adjust your sails.”
Dorn, 37, has been in the position for a little over a year and grew up in Miami Shores.
The “Shores” as it is called by many natives, is a small enclave of roughly 10 thousand people- a suburban respite from the hustle and bustle of Downtown Miami.
After his graduation from Miami Country Day School, Dorn left his hometown for Gainesville, FL where he said that he received both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Florida. He then worked out of the state for numerous years before coming back to take a job at a school in Boca Raton in 2009.
By 2014, Dorn was actively searching for his next step.
“I was working at a school in Boca Raton and I had always had aspirations to be a principal,” Dorn said in an interview with Rise News in June.
Shortly after beginning his search, Dorn said that he saw the opening for the executive director position at DCS. It was almost too perfect. His family still lived in the Shores and his fiancé was the associate pastor of Miami Shores Presbyterian Church.
Dorn also said that he liked what DCS stood for.
“I truly believed in its mission. It talks about a rigorous academic program,” Dorn said. “If Doctors Charter School had existed when I was kid, I probably would have gone here.”
DCS opened for classes in 2005 and is considered to be one of the best charter schools in Miami-Dade County.
More to come. Stay with Rise News.
Read More: Authorities Investigating Potential Criminal Wrongdoing In Miami Shores Charter School Scandal
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Student at University of Miami Wore a Tiara Every Day For 8 Years
You may know her as “Tiara Girl” on campus. Annie Rudd, a senior at the University of Miami, has worn a tiara on her head every day for the past 8 years.
August 25, 2007, was the first day she ever wore a tiara at her 13th birthday, and the last day she left the house without it.
“The tiara was just too good of a look to let go,” Rudd said. “I don’t even realize its been 8 years of my life. It sort of just became my thing, and it worked.”
Before even realizing it, wearing a tiara became a daily routine.
Now 21-years-old, Rudd will graduate soon from UM with a major in psychology and a minor in art. She hopes to purse a master’s degree in family and marriage counseling.
Annie Rudd
Annie Rudd
In 2012 , Rudd was featured on lifetime’s reality show “Prom Queen,” crowned prom queen at Miami Beach Senior High School. At University of Miami, Rudd has become a sort of local celebrity to students at the campus.
“At UM, I’m known as Tiara Girl,” Rudd said. “We have this Facebook page called UMiami Secrets and they would post about me a lot. There was one that said, ‘OMG I just saw tiara girl for the first time. Now I know how Hogwarts felt when they first saw Harry Potter.’”
Annie Rudd
She never leaves the house without her tiara, she may forget but it never takes more than a few steps out of the door to remember.
“It’s basically second nature.” Rudd said. “I don’t even realize its on when I go out, but people will give me ugly looks sometimes. Some people don’t get the tiara and assume the worst, but once they meet me they understand I’m not stuck up.”
For Rudd, the tiara exemplifies that she enjoys everything life has to offer and lives with no regrets. Her story is a reminder that it’s okay to be who you are without living in fear of what others think of you.
Annie Rudd
“The tiara is a great conversation starter,” Rudd said. “Meeting and making friends is super important at our age. It’s all about the connections we have later on in life.”
Rudd said that although she enjoys the tiara as a fundamental part of her life, some people don’t take her seriously as a result.
“People definitely think it’s a little immature, but I don’t care. I only have one life,” Rudd said.
The tiara isn’t coming off anytime soon.
“I definitely can’t see myself not wearing it, it’s just a part of my identity now,” Rudd said. “It’s all a learning experience. I like it and that’s all that matters. There’s nothing to regret about it.”
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VIDEO: Sea Level Rise Is Not Just Impacting Miami Beach In South Florida
By Maria Serrano
As the national debate over climate change intensifies, South Florida has become a flashpoint. And South Florida is much more than South Beach.
On Nov. 24, 2015, fifteen days after king tide day, the largest tidal range seen over the course of a year, the residential neighborhood known as the Upper East Side in Miami was still experiencing floods.
The area has an annual estimated income per household of $45,000.
Similar to Miami Beach, the Upper East Side is a middle-income community facing the consequences of sea level rise, but it has not received the attention or funding necessary to protect its residents, their houses, and small businesses.
Scientists, researchers, legislators and residents recently met at Little River Pocket Park, located in the Northeastern section of the neighborhood, to collect data, learn about sea level rise, and discuss that this is not simply an issue for Miami Beach, but a coastal issue for much of South Florida.
“It’s designed to get citizens involved in being a part of the solution,” Juliet Pinto a, Journalism Professor at Florida International University and organizer of the event for EyesOnTheRise.org said.
More events like this are being planned by EyesOnTheRise.org in the upcoming months to increase the awareness about sea level rise and the consequences for residents of South Florida.
WATCH: Sea Level Rise Impacts In Upper East Side of Miami
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