The lawyers for a cop-killing inmate on death row called for a 'Spencer hearing' to try and spare their client from execution at the hands of the state.
Florida resident Patrick McDowell pleaded guilty to shooting and killing Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers during a traffic stop in 2021 in a trial last May. He even encouraged the jury to give him the death penalty .
But McDowell's attorneys are trying to spare him that fate. They called for a Spencer hearing, a legal procedure that originated in Florida following a 1993 supreme court case. The hearing provides defendants with the chance to present additional evidence that could potentially alter their pending sentence.
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The prosecution is also allowed to showcase evidence in support of the jury's initial sentence, according to Online Paralegal .
Patrick McDowell expressed his wish to be sentenced to death, and the jury recommended that punishment to the judge.
"For that, I shot him, and I left him there to die. I do not deserve to live a long life in a place full of people who praise and revere me as a cop killer," McDowell confessed during the trial. The jury decided by an 11-1 vote to recommend the death penalty to the judge.
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In accordance with Florida law, only 8 votes were necessary. On Monday, the defense team argued in court that McDowell's statement could have swayed the jury's verdict.
"In this case we believe that there are dangers that have arisen from the jury sentencing and in this case the jurors' emotions could have been inflamed by aspects of this case," McDowell's defense attorney contended.
Despite the defense's portrayal of McDowell as a changed man since the night he murdered Deputy Moyers, the prosecution maintained that McDowell exhibited a blatant disregard for law enforcement at the time of the crime in 2021.
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"There is no doubt that based on the evidence in this case that this was a cold, calculated, premeditated murder," the prosecutors asserted.
The judge is now tasked with reviewing all aspects of the case, including the nearly two-week penalty phase, the jury's recommendation for the death sentence against Patrick McDowell, and the insights from Monday's Spencer hearing. A date for the judge's sentencing decision for McDowell remains to be set.
For the 15th year in a row, the US stood alone as one of the only country in its region to carry out executions in 2023, and became even more of an outlier that usual, with executions are on the rise and many conservative politicians calling to bring back the outdated practice of the firing squad for those on death row .
The number of executions carried out in the USA saw a 33 percent increase year-over-year, rising from 18 in 2022 to 24 in last year, according to a new report from Amnesty International. Florida conducted its first executions ever, with six, and US federal authorities imposed their first death sentence since 2019.
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