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Two executions set for this week were put off Monday by the Florida Supreme Court so it can consider whether the state’s capital punishment law is constitutional.
Word of the indefinite stays came six hours before the scheduled execution of Linroy Bottoson, 63, by chemical injection. Amos King, 47, had been scheduled for execution Wednesday. Both were convicted of murder.
The stays give the state justices time to consider the impact of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that juries and not judges must decide facts needed to warrant death penalties. The ruling was silent about laws in Florida and three other states where juries play limited roles but judges make the final decisions.
