Jacksonville man scheduled as first Florida execution in 18 months

Jacksonville, FL — The Jacksonville man accused of the racially motivated murder of two black men in 1987 has had a new execution date set.

Mark Asay's case is one that became a focus as the state reworked its rules around death penalty sentencing. His execution had been stayed by the Florida Supreme Court in March 2016, after the US Supreme Court found Florida's death penalty sentencing scheme at the time to be unconstitutional, because it put juries in more of an advisory role than a final one.

After that, Florida lawmakers passed new rules- but those were then stricken down by the Florida Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that a unanimous jury is required for the death penalty to be imposed. Florida lawmakers then passed a new law to reinforce that, but it left open the question of what to do with inmates already on death row by a non-unanimous jury decision.

Asay's case is one that was used by the Florida Supreme Court to draw the defining line.

In December 2016, the state high court found cases fully settled ahead of a 2002 US Supreme Court case which became the foundation for subsequent rulings on this matter, would not get a new sentencing phase. That 2002 case, Ring, found Arizona’s death penalty sentencing scheme unconstitutional because it gave the judge extra discretion beyond the jury. Florida was referenced in that ruling, but it did not explicitly apply to Florida. When the US Supreme Court found Florida’s overall sentencing scheme unconstitutional, they determined Ring did, in fact, apply to Florida. Therefore, the Florida Supreme Court ruled cases before then should stand, but those subsequent have been working through the appeals process and-so far-getting new sentencing phases.

Asay’s case was fully settled before Ring, so he is among those who were denied a re-sentencing.

Asay's execution has been scheduled for August 24th at 6PM. It's set to be the first execution performed in Florida in 18 months, while the sentencing process has been retooled.

The murders happened after a night of drinking, when Asay first had an argument with one man who was talking with Asay’s brother, and that ended with Asay shooting the man, Robert Lee Booker. Soon after, he and another man encountered Robert McDowell- who Asay said had cheated him out of $10 in a drug deal. Asay shot the man at close range.