Requiring a unanimous verdict is one of our sacred constitutional safeguards.

Last week: Judge Milton Hirsch of Miami ruled that Florida's new death penalty scheme, which allows for the imposition of death with a less than a unanimous vote by the jury, is unconstitutional. Florida, with its long tradition of being an outlier, is one of only three states that does not require unanimity. As an attorney who has handled death penalty cases, I have seen the capriciousness to which the state sometimes seeks the ultimate penalty. Requiring a unanimous verdict is one of our sacred constitutional safeguards. Kudos to Judge Hirsch.