CRESTVIEW — The Florida Legislature has passed a House bill that changes the Florida Death Penalty Law’s procedure.
Under the law, the state attorney’s office would have to give written notice of its intent to seek the death penalty, and which so-called aggravating factors the state says would support such a sentence.
Further, a jury must unanimously find the existence of at least one aggravating factor for a defendant to be eligible for execution, and must vote at least 10-2 in favor of death, according to a state attorney’s office media release.
Otherwise, the sentence would be life in state prison.
In addition, “the judge may still impose a life sentence if he or she finds that is the more appropriate sentence,” the attorney’s office states.
Locally, the changes — which follow a United States Supreme Court ruling, Hurst v. Florida, and Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign them into law soon — likely won’t alter the circumstances for 13 pending cases where the state seeks death.
In Okaloosa County, that includes the cases for Bernard Nunnally and Marvin “O.G.” Wilkins of Crestview, who are charged with killing a Crestview teenager.
A six-month investigation revealed that he belonged to a “gang and marijuana distribution operation” called the Money Mafia, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has said.
Nunnally, along with Russell Jacoby Nijajuan of Ozark, Ala., and Erich Lenquell Justice of Fort Walton Beach, allegedly pulled off State Road 85 while heading to supposed group leader Wilkins’ hotel room in Fort Walton Beach and shot Crestview teenager Mark Anthony Williams Jr. His body was then dragged close to the woods.
Witnesses reported that Wilkins had sent the men to pick up Williams in Crestview because he believed Williams was giving information to a rival gang.
Williams’ friends told investigators after his death that he had talked about becoming a gang member about a month before he was killed, the reports said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: How Florida Legislature's death penalty changes affect Crestview men's cases