The Florida Supreme Court approved a new lethal injection drug and removed a stay on the execution of cop-killer Manuel Valle.

The court unanimously ruled that the use of the new drug – pentobarbital – as part of the three-drug lethal injection “cocktail” does not inflict undue pain, ignoring the objections of Valle’s lawyers.

A divided Supreme Court last month ordered a Miami judge to hold a hearing on the new drug, an anesthetic Department of Corrections officials decided in June to replace sodium thiopental. Sodium thiopental’s manufacturer stopped making the drug early this year, leaving corrections officials in states like Florida scrambling to find a substitute.

A unanimous court agreed Tuesday with Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan’s ruling earlier this month that the drug does not raise a substantial risk of harm. Three federal courts have also signed off on the drug. Florida’s protocol requires a dosage of the drug – also used in animal euthanasia and assisted suicide – 10 times the dosage used for sedation.

Lawyers for Valle, who has spent 33 years on Death Row, argued that using pentobarbital, also known as Nembutal, as an anesthetic may not render him unconscious, thus subjecting him to undue pain induced by the following drugs used in the lethal injection procedure.

The Danish manufacturer of the drug, Lundbeck Inc., twice pleaded with Gov. Rick Scott not to use the drug, saying it “contradicts everything we are in business to do.”

Scott signed a death warrant for Valle – his only since taking office in January – late in May.

Sports Illustrated has its famous cover curse — where sports figures featured on the front seem to tank the next season.

But Florida Trend? The public policy and feature mag never seemed to be a place to fear, until current “Floridian of the Year” Rod Petrey ran afoul of the board of trustees at the esteemed Collins Center for Public Policy.

The board is scheduled to meet next Thursday, with Petrey, the president who was hand-selected for the job by late Gov. Leroy Collins, expected to be shown the door.

The center’s finances are at the heart of Petrey’s problems. Petrey has run the center since 1992, but its venture into administering a foreclosure mediation program seems to have undermined Collins’ finances, with those close to the situation saying upfront costs have sparked a serious cashflow problem that became evident to the board last month at a retreat.

In Palm Beach County, the Bar Association runs the mediation program, ordered to be conducted in all 20 court districts by the Florida Supreme Court in 2009. The Miami-Dade circuit recently dropped its association with Collins, heightening the money woes facing the think tank.

Merrett Stierheim, a former Miami-Dade County manager, is being positioned to replace Petrey on a temporary basis. But Petrey so far has indicated he is not willing to go, perhaps forcing an ugly ouster at Thursday’s meeting.

Petrey was named ‘Floridian of the Year’ in January by Florida Trend, earning a place on the cover and a generally laudatory story about his long relationship with the late governor, and the groundbreaking work done at the Collins Center, which includes working to develop low-income communities around Lake Okeechobee, a study on the potential effects of offshore oil-drilling in Florida, the costs of prison construction and elections reform in Florida.

Under Petrey, the Collins Center called itself the ‘think tank with muddy boots.”

“He has done a fabulous job in the past for the Collins Center,” said Parker Thompson, a Miami lawyer and Collins’ board of trustee chairman. “But I don’t predict the future.”

UPDATE: Petrey agreed Friday to step down from the Collins Center immediately; Stierheim to succeed him for now.

A Miami judge this morning ruled that Florida corrections officials can use a new drug as part of the lethal injection “cocktail,” setting the stage for a Supreme Court show-down later this month.

The Florida Supreme Court temporarily halted the execution of convicted cop killer Manuel Valle, originally slated for Monday, until a hearing was held on the use of the drug pentobarbital. Florida Department of Corrections officials switched to the drug in a new lethal injection protocol released in June after the manufacturer of the old drug, sodium thiopental. The Danish manufacturer of pentobarbital, also known as Nembutal, twice asked Gov. Rick Scott not to use the drug for lethal injections and has stopped selling it to distributors who resell it for that use.

Valle’s lawyers argued that the drug had not been tested and that its use may cause prisoners pain during executions in violation of the cruel or unusual punishment threshold set by a previous U.S. Supreme Court opinion known as “Baze.”

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola agreed with three federal courts that already ruled the drug does not raise a substantial risk of harm.

The “usage of pentobarbital does not create an objectively unreasonable risk of suffering,” Scola wrote in her order.

Briefs from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who went to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to get the execution back on, and Valle’s lawyers are due to the Florida Supreme Court by Aug. 19, and the court has slated oral arguments for Aug. 24 if necessary.

Gov. Rick Scott signed a death warrant for Valle – his only since taking office in January – late in May. The Supreme Court rescheduled Valle’s execution for Sept. 2.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to override the Florida Supreme Court’s stay on the execution of convicted cop killer Manuel Valle.

Valle’s death warrant, the first and only signed by Gov. Rick Scott since taking office in January, set his execution by lethal injection for Aug. 2. But the Florida Supreme Court yesterday put the execution off for a month until a hearing on a controversial new drug is held.

In a 4-3 ruling, the divided Florida high court ordered a Miami judge to hold a hearing on the new drug, pentobarbital sodium, an anesthetic Department of Corrections officials decided in June to replace sodium thiopental. Sodium thiopental’s manufacturer stopped making the drug early this year, leaving corrections officials in states like Florida scrambling to find a substitute.

But Lundbeck Inc., the Danish manufacturer of pentobarbital, recently announced that the drug is untested and unsafe for use in lethal injections. Lundbeck stopped selling the drug to distributors who intended to resell it for use in executions.

In her 12-page filing Tuesday, Bondi argued that the Florida justices “improperly granted the stay” because Valle’s lawyers failed to demonstrate that he would be subjected to a “substantial risk of harm,” the standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court in determining cruel or unusual punishment in a case called Baze v. Rees, known as “Baze.”

“In Baze, a plurality of this Court held that an inmate was required to show that the protocol created a ‘substantial risk of serious harm’ that was ‘objectively intolerable’ to demonstrate that a lethal injection protocol was unconstitutional,’” Bondi’s motion said. “It noted that the mere fact that an execution method ‘may result in pain, either by accident or as an inescapable consequence of death’ did not meet this standard.”

Bondi also disputed the testimony of Valle’s expert witness, pediatric anesthesiologist David Waisel. A lower court had rejected Waisel’s testimony but the state Supreme Court ordered that it be taken into consideration in the hearing on the new drug. Part of Waisel’s testimony included a description of what may have been a botched execution in Georgia using pentobarbital, also known as Nembutal.

“Since the claim has already been rejected in Georgia and Florida’s protocol contains similar provisions for a consciousness
check and not continuing the protocol until an inmate is unconscious (as noted in Justice Cannady’s dissent in the Florida
Supreme Court), the Florida Supreme Court erred in finding that this assertion was sufficient to grant a stay. The stay should be vacated,” Bondi wrote.

West Palm Beach lawyer Scott Hawkins is expected to be sworn-in next week as president of the Florida Bar, the organization charged with overseeing lawyer regulation in the state.

Bar members played a central role this spring in fighting House Speaker Dean Cannon’s push to add three members to the state Supreme Court, while splitting it into criminal and civil divisions.

 The legislation also would have set aside a specific funding level for the courts, which the Bar generally supported as a way to stave-off shortfalls like one this spring which  threatened courtroom closures and employee furloughs.

Hawkins, a partner with Jones, Foster, Johnston and Stubbs, is scheduled to take office June 24, at the Bar’s annual convention in Orlando. Hawkins has been with the firm since 1985.

During his term, Hawkins wants to study how the Bar handles the grievance process through which lawyers face discipline when violating rules governing the profession.

“We need to honor our obligation as effectively as we can,” said Hawkins. “I want to have a broad, representative group, some of whom are not serving on the Board of Governors, to take a look at the grievance process.”

The House and Senate reached a compromise on one of House Speaker Dean Cannon’s priorities that would have split the Supreme Court.

Instead, the proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 7111) would give lawmakers more control over court rules, require Senate confirmation of gubernatorial appoints to the high court and allow the Florida House to scrutinize judicial complaints.

What the bill doesn’t do – split the court in two and set a fixed amount of funding – permitted its passage by a 28-11 vote Tuesday evening.

Cannon’s accepted the deal, his spokeswoman said.

“The Speaker will consider the proposed Court Reform Amendment a win with or without the Supreme Court component. It does not appear that the Senate will go as far as the House in terms of bold reform, but Speaker Cannon believes in all of the policy and is proud of the debate that was initiated,” Cannon, R-Winter Park, spokeswoman Katie Betta said in an e-mail.

The Florida Senate may “the most conservative Senate ever,” as President Mike Haridopolos boasted at the onset of the legislative session.

But it’s apparently not conservative enough to pass House Speaker Dean Cannon’s sweeping overhaul of the Supreme Court that would, among other things, split the court in two.

As the clock winds down until lawmakers sine die on Friday, the Senate plan today is to remove at least that part of the proposed constitutional amendment, keep the provision allowing the legislature to have control over the court’s rules and send it back to the House for another vote.

“Our members have felt pretty strongly about splitting up the Supreme Court,” Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said. “What you’re going to see is an option sent back to the House.”

Senate GOP leaders (who have a 28-12 majority) won’t say out loud that they don’t have the 24 votes needed to pass the proposed constitutional amendment.

But Gardiner, whose job is to count votes and corral the GOP caucus, conceded the speaker’s priority measure wouldn’t pass as is.

“You never count out votes until you sine die but I do think there’s a strong sense amongst our members about the Supreme Court piece,” Gardiner said.

There’s been tough talk. Ignored priorities. Charges of flip-flopping. Even a lawsuit.

But the political marriage of Republican Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP-dominated Legislature may yet end its rocky honeymoon stage with the first-year executive claiming some big victories and the party powerfully positioned for next year’s elections.

And, in the nation’s biggest toss-up state, the sharply right policies advanced by Scott and Republican super majorities in the House and Senate also will give Democrats potent weapons for next year’s campaigns.

“It’s been mean-spirited and an overreach by the Republicans,” said Rich Templin, a spokesman for the Florida AFL-CIO, a labor union allied with Democrats. “I think we’re going to be able to say to voters, ‘Look what they did. Who do you think cares about working families of Florida?’ “

But House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, said he’s not worried.

“Two-thirds of the legislative branch is Republican so clearly, the people have sent a more Republican group of representatives to their government,” Cannon said. “So I think it’s only natural that you would see initiatives or proposals that will reflect that.”

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House Speaker Dean Cannon’s landmark — and personal — push to revamp the Florida Supreme Court drew some harsh questioning, but is teed-up for an eventual Senate vote.

The Winter Park Republican effectively put budget talks on ice until Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander earlier this week put the court overhaul in play.

The measure would expand the seven-member Supreme Court by adding three justices, divide it into civil and criminal divisions, give the governor authority to appoint chief  justices, and the Senate power to confirm new justices.

Cannon’s proposal emerged after the court last summer declared unconstitutional three ballot proposals approved by the Legislature — including one argued personally before justices by the speaker.

“Those who have put together the package of reform believe there is a problem,” said Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, sponsor of the measure (CS/SJR 2084).

But Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, argued the rewrite would leave Florida with the largest Supreme Court in the nation. He also suggested there was no backlog in court cases that demanded the dramatic overhaul.

Before the measure goes to voters — where it would need 60 percent support to become law — it must first draw 60 percent support from senators, a tall order.

While the measure sailed through Cannon’s House, senators are mixed on the idea.

But getting a deal on the state budget also is likely hinged on Cannon getting his court proposal before voters.

In an apparent signal to fellow senators, Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, gave the proposal veiled support, pointing out that legislators in the past have put ballot measures forward — only to later openly campaign against them.

A final vote is not likely until the waning hours of the session, when Cannon cannot do political damage to Senate priorities that now hang in the balance.

Budget negotiators trying to settle millions of dollars of differences in health and social services funding abruptly abandoned their work Thursday — saying they couldn’t reach a deal and asked House and Senate higher-ups to step in.

Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and Rep. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, said disputes over dollars for mental health funding, cancer research, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, and cutting the rates the state pays hospitals, nursing homes and HMOs for treating Medicaid patients were the leading issues that caused talks to break down.

“At this point, we are certainly at an impasse,” Hudson said.

The budget negotiators basically handed over scores of decision to House and Senate budget chiefs to settle.

 Turning over the job to House budget chair Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, and her Senate counterpart, J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, suggests that almost every level of spending is tied to such bigger ticket issues as a Supreme Court overhaul, state spending cap, and other policy issues that House Speaker Dean Cannon and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, still have in play.

Negron, however, insisted, “There ‘s no gamesmanship.”

“You know what I care about. I know what you care about,” Negron told Hudson, hinting that, well, they just couldn’t work it out.

Budget talks, which jump-started earlier this week when Alexander agreed to Cannon’s push for a ballot initiative to overhaul the Florida Supreme Court, are slowly grinding to a halt.

With the session’s scheduled adjournment eight days away, public school budget negotiators haven’t yet met. And the budget conference overseeing tourism and economic development also has talked of quitting later Thursday — giving much of their work to Alexander and Grimsley to settle.

“It’s like three-dimensional chess,” Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said of his economic development panel’s effort to work with the House and Gov. Rick Scott.

The League of Women Voters of Florida weighed-in Tuesday opposing the House-Senate budget deal that includes asking voters next year to overhaul the state Supreme Court.

“The constitutional amendment you are proposing to put before the voters of Florida is an attempt by one branch of government to control another,” wrote Deirdre Macnabb, League president. “Your constituents deserve better.”

House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, has insisted on a proposed ballot amendment that would add three justices to the Florida Supreme Court and divide it into two divisions, criminal and civil. The move emerged after justices last year erased three proposed constitutional amendments approved by lawmakers — saying the ballot language was unconstitutionally misleading.

The Senate had ignored Cannon’s push — approved by the House in a party-line vote earlier this month. But when the Senate budget committee reversed and approved Cannon’s idea Monday, the ice-encrusted budget talks suddenly thawed.

“We need to show, that we’re going to work together,” said Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island. “I listened to the speaker, and I found out it was important to him and his members.”

Sen. J.D. Alexander disappeared for a while Monday afternoon from the budget committee he chairs — and returned with an amendment that effectively would bring the Senate in line with House Speaker Dean Cannon’s push for an overhaul of the Florida Supreme Court.

“There’s clear concern, particuarly from our friends in the House that this is needed now,” said Alexander, R-Lake Wales.

Alexander earlier talked about his frustration in dealing with House leaders in trying to craft a state spending plan. Alexander said he hadn’t spoken with his House counterpart, Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, since last Thursday and said budget negotiations may be threatened by his uneasy relationship with Cannon in past wheeling-and-dealing.

But the Supreme Court proposal clearly appears linked to getting budget talks started. Alexander proposed tacking it onto ballot measure affecting Supreme Court rulemaking.

 Similar to a measure already approved by the House, Alexander’s ’idea’ would add three members to the Supreme Court and split it into two divisions — one civil, one for criminal cases. At least 60 percent of voters would have to approve the proposed constitutional amendment for it to become law. 

The state Senate also would gain authority to confirm the governor’s appointments to the court. The Legislature would have more power to repeal court rules, while the Supreme Court would gain a guaranteed level of state funding — topping what it historically has drawn.

Less than a year after the Florida Supreme Court killed three proposed ballot measures pushed by the Republican-ruled Legislature, the state House voted 79-38 along party lines for a measure completely overhauling the seven-member panel.

House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, said the move is designed to improve the court’s efficiency. Democrats weren’t so sure.

“No one party should be in control of all levels of government,” said Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek. “This is an attempt by leadership to not only command the governor’s office, the House and the Seante — but also the judiciary.”

The legislation (CS/HJR 7111) is a proposed constitutional amendment going before voters next year. If 60 percent approve, the Supreme Court would add three members be split into two divisions — one civil, one for criminal cases.

The state Senate also would gain authority to confirm the governor’s appointments to the court. The Legislature also would have more power to repeal court rules, while the Supreme Court would gain a guaranteed level of state funding — topping what it historically has drawn.

Democrats said Republicans are court-packing — seeking a friendly panel that may play a key role in reviewing legislative redistricting next year.

But GOP leaders disputed that Friday, saying, instead, they are looking at modernizing the high court and improving justices’ ability to deal with death penalty cases.

Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-New Port Richey, said he’s tired of hearing Democrats accusing ruling Republicans of devious plans and “sticking it” to various interest groups.

“Today, I am voting for this bill, to stick it to every Death Row inmate,” Corcoran said.

A Senate version of the proposal is still awaiting a full chamber vote.

House Speaker Dean Cannon’s latest push to revamp the Florida Supreme Court sailed through a House panel Thursday in a vote divided on party lines — with Democrats ridiculing the measure as unneeded and chiefly a partisan payback.

“What is the rush for this?” asked Rep. Richard Steinberg, D-Miami Beach.

Cannon has been at odds with the court since justices last summer struck from the ballot three initiatives approved by the Republican-ruled Legislature. But bill sponsor Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, said the proposed overhaul is “about accountability and efficiency.”

Another Republican supporter, Rep. Charles McBurney of Jacksonville, said the legislation, “is a transformative resolution.” The Judiciary Committee approved the legislation 12-6.

The bill (CS/HJR 7111) would expand the current seven-member Florida Supreme Court to 10 members — but divide it into two divisions, civil and criminal. The approach is less sweeping than a larger court division initially proposed by Cannon, and backs away from his earlier call for eliminating Judicial Nominating Commissions and giving the governor more autonomy in naming judges.

The measure is aimed at the 2012 ballot, where at least 60 percent of voters would have to approve the change for it to become law.

 Supporters also worked to sell the legislation, saying it includes state funding provisions designed to avert the cash crunch that this week threatened to shutter courtrooms statewide. (more…)

GOP House leaders hatched a new plan to keep the Florida Supreme Court from scrapping the legislature’s proposed constitutional amendments from the ballot.

The new plan (HB 1261) is the latest salvo in House Speaker Dean Cannon’s battle with the high court, which last year removed three proposed constitutional amendments the legislature attempted to put on the ballot. Cannon released his latest plan to overhaul the Supreme Court earlier today.

The latest proposal would require that the full text of a proposed amendment goes on the ballot even if the court rules the ballot summaries are misleading, confusing or defective. Court challenges about the summaries would have to be filed within 30 days after the amendments are filed with the secretary of state.

A House committee is expected to vote on the measure tomorrow.

House Speaker Dean Cannon’s latest overhaul of the Florida Supreme Court would retain a single court but divide it into two divisions – criminal and civil – and increase the number of judges from seven to 10.

Cannon made the concessions after taking into consideration objections from the Florida Bar and judges, he said at a press conference this morning.

The GOP leader has wrangled with the high court since it killed three constitutional amendments pushed last year by the Republican Legislature.

Cannon, a Winter Park lawyer, said he’s trying to foster an environment in which “the branches can have an appropriate discourse” but which reaffirms the legislature as “the policy-making branch.”

Cannon also backed off his earlier plan to revamp the way judges are selected for the bench. Cannon’s originally wanted to scrap the Judicial Nominating Commissions, the governor-appointed panel that give the names for prospective Supreme Court judges to the governor, who makes the appointments. Cannon’s latest plan would allow Gov. Rick Scott to select new members to the panel.

And Cannon’s reversed his position on opening up complaints about judges. Instead of opening up the records to everyone, Cannon wants to make it easier for the House, which has the authority to impeach judges, to get the records. The records would then be open to the public after impeachment proceedings begin.

(more…)

UPDATE: Gov. Scott approved a $19,487,027 loan to tide the courts over until the end of May. The loan must repaid by the end of June.

Gov. Rick Scott signed off on a loan to state courts to fill a budget shortfall that would have resulted in two-week furloughs.

Scott waited until the last minute to approve the bailout. Palm Beach County’s chief judge Peter Blanc said Scott needed to approve the loan by Friday to prevent the furloughs. The budget deficit was caused by a drop in the number of foreclosure filings, fees from which make up the bulk of the court’s spending.

Scott and Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady reached an agreement this morning, according to a press release issued by the court’s spokesman Craig Waters, to keep the courts running through the end of May.

The courts needed $72.3 million in emergency funds to keep operating through the June 30 end of the budget year. Scott had previously agreed to shift $14 million from court-related funds to pay for day-to-day operating expenses, but that is only enough to keep the courts functioning only through April 30.

Details of the amount and conditions of the loan were not immediately available, but the courts will cover the remaining shortfall through a “supplemental appropriation” not included in Canady’s original request of Scott, according to the release.

It’s no secret House Speaker Dean Cannon is no fan of the Florida Supreme Court. He’s pushing a proposal that would split the court into two and require Senate confirmation of justices, appointed by the governor.

Now, Cannon, R-Winter Park, is going after the seven judges’ staff attorneys.

The House budget cuts the number of attorneys by nearly half – from 30 to 14, a savings of about $1.1 million.

Supreme Court staff say the proposed cuts will slow down the court’s ability to hear cases.

The House also doesn’t include any money for the Innocence Commission, a priority of Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island. The commission is investigating wrongful convictions in Florida. The Senate’s allocated just under $250,000 for the project.

And the House’s spending plan is also missing the $3.6 million the Senate spends to reduce court caseloads statewide.

A day after House budget committees squawked about how paltry allocations from Speaker Dean Cannon were forcing  deep program chopping, the Winter Park Republican reshuffled the books.

Cannon found another $75 million to scatter among schools, higher education and the justice budget panels –maybe easing back on some of the axe-wielding. Cannon said he and House budget chair Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, decided to distribute the legislative lagniappe after seeing how budget subcommittees had done the right thing and focused on statewide spending issues.

On Wednesday, Justice Appropriations Chair Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, bemoaned the cutting his panel was doing.

Wholesale spending cuts would eliminate one-quarter of the state’s more than 2,800 judicial assistants, leaving judges to do much of their own research, scheduling and brief-writing, to save $13.6 million. Judicial salaries also would be scaled-back, letting the state pocket another $11.4 million.

Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, said the proposed cuts threatened the legal rights of Floridians.

“We are going to wind up with an umpire who can’t see the strike zone,” Grant said of the burden also being put on judges.

Gov. Rick Scott approved an emergency $14 million to keep the state courts system afloat until April 30.

That’s just over one-quarter of the $50.2 million Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady said he needs from the state to cover a projected $72 million deficit for the remaining three months of the fiscal year.

Scott’s budget chief Jerry McDaniel sent a letter to Canady today saying the governor had approved shifting $14 million from other trust funds into the State Courts Revenue Trust Fund, enough to cover the deficit through the end of April.

The deficit was caused, Canady wrote in a letter to Scott last week, by an unexpected drop in court fees – especially foreclosure filing fees – that generate the bulk of the revenue that pays to keep the courts running. Without the additional funds, Canady wrote, courts would have to furlough workers.