Found Deceased FL - Madeline Soto, 13, Missing Child Alert, 13500 blk Town Loop Blvd, Orlando, 26 Feb 2024 *arrest* #4

[investigatefred]

I think 2 different laws are getting confused here....

Donna's law is NOT the Child SA Death Penalty law that was passed.

Donna's law is a statute of limitations law-
"The bill provides that there is no time limitation for prosecuting sexual battery when the victim is younger than 18 years of age at the time of the offense, and the offense was committed on or after July 1, 2020. This bill creates a new exception to the general time limitation proscribed in s. 775.15, F.S."
2020 Bill Summaries - The Florida Senate.


The Death Penalty for CSA is a separate law that went into effect October 1, 2023.

Capital Sexual Battery; Provides for death sentences for certain child sexual offenders; provides for separate death penalty proceedings in such cases; provides for findings & recommended sentences by jury; provides for imposition of sentence of life imprisonment or death; provides requirements for court order in support of death sentence; provides for automatic review of sentences of death; specifies aggravating factors & mitigating circumstances; provides for victim impact evidence; authorizes state to appeal from sentence on specified grounds.

House Bill 1297 (2023) - The Florida Senate

www.flsenate.gov

Full disclosure- I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but as it reads, this new DP law is for SA of a child UNDER 12, so if it went into effect October 1, 2023, Madeline was aged 12+ at that time, so unfortunately SS would NOT be eligible under this law for DP for the CSA charges.

 

[grannygates]

Correct me if I’m wrong.. I was under the impression that a capital offence is one that is punishable by the death penalty ? SS is charged with several capital offences.

Edited to add link to sexual battery statute

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

 

[Vanilletx]

That makes sense though, because couldn’t a defense attorney argue that the offender would not have committed the crime had he/she known death penalty was a possible punishment? As absurd as it sounds I could totally see that being used as a defense. OMO.

A lawyer can argue anything but you not being aware of the law or penalty doesn’t mean anything. That’s not a plausible excuse.

Also he was egregiously breaking laws with so much stuff. An eight year old?

I am just wondering why murder charges are not out yet.

 

[investigatefred]

Correct me if I’m wrong.. I was under the impression that a capital offence is one that is punishable by the death penalty ? SS is charged with several capital offences.

Edited to add link to sexual battery statute

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

Capital can be life imprisonment OR death.

 

[MassGuy]

This professor says that the sex crimes carry a life sentence, and that he's never getting out on those charges alone. The death penalty could very well apply once he's charged with murder.

-"No matter what, he's not getting out of jail," said David Thomas, a professor of forensic studies at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Thomas says if Sterns is convicted, he will never see a day outside a jail cell.

"Originally, I knew they charged him with one or two charges in the very beginning, and that's fine because they got him off the phone. Now what they've done is a complete forensic analysis and recorded almost every incident that he had," Thomas said.

-"Capitol felonies means that he’ll be in prison for life and there’s no doubt in my mind they have the evidence to secure, to make those charges to support that," Thomas said.

Thomas says now the question is life in prison or the death penalty — if Sterns is charged in Madeline's murder.

According to Thomas, there is likely already enough circumstantial evidence to charge Sterns with murder, but he thinks detectives with Kissimmee police want to make sure their case is sealed.

"Give law enforcement, give the medical examiner’s office the opportunity to do their job because it takes time to do a great forensics analysis,” Thomas said. "They want to make sure justice is served, and it's served properly."

Suspect in Madeline Soto case will face life in prison or death penalty, expert says

Stephan Sterns still faces no murder charges in the Madeline Soto case, but an expert says "he's not getting out of jail."

www.wesh.com

 

[kae27]

Thank you for providing more clarity.
Would Maddie had to have been under 12 AFTER Oct 1, for those 8 charges (with possibility of of DP) to apply?

Yes.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Correct me if I’m wrong.. I was under the impression that a capital offence is one that is punishable by the death penalty ? SS is charged with several capital offences.

Edited to add link to sexual battery statute

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

Yes, which is interesting since as we have discussed at great length today, none of his crimes, as horrific as they are, seem to have taken place within the time period in which they would qualify for the DP under current Florida statutes.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Capital can be life imprisonment OR death.

Would you quote the part you are referring to, please?

I have never heard "capital" refer to life imprisonment, and I'm old.

 

[BeeGirl]

A lawyer can argue anything but you not being aware of the law or penalty doesn’t mean anything. That’s not a plausible excuse.

Also he was egregiously breaking laws with so much stuff. An eight year old?

I am just wondering why murder charges are not out yet.

Ignorantia juris non excusat!

 

[kae27]

That makes sense though, because couldn’t a defense attorney argue that the offender would not have committed the crime had he/she known death penalty was a possible punishment? As absurd as it sounds I could totally see that being used as a defense. OMO.

That's precisely the reasoning.

 

[Gemmie]

Here's a tool to figure out exact age between 2 different dates:

Age Calculator

This free age calculator computes age in terms of years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds, given a date of birth.

www.calculator.net

 

[IzzyBlanche]

That's precisely the reasoning.

Just jumping off from this post to ask your opinion as an attorney.

Why would SS be charged with crimes that are not currently, as I understand it, capital crimes under Florida law?

I, and a lot of other posters, are baffled by this and would be grateful for an answer.

Thank you!

 

[investigatefred]

Would you quote the part you are referring to, please?

I have never heard "capital" refer to life imprisonment, and I'm old.

Correct me if I’m wrong.. I was under the impression that a capital offence is one that is punishable by the death penalty ? SS is charged with several capital offences.

Edited to add link to sexual battery statute

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

Hoping I'm understanding what you are requesting-

You can see the "levels" of each felony on SS's list of charges.

ALL of his current charges are felonies.

The ones that are level C= CAPITAL felony.

Capital felonies are punishable by life imprisonment OR death penalty in some cases.

My original reply to @grannygates was meant to reflect that a Capital offense does not exclusively mean death penalty as punishment, it also includes life imprisonment.

 

[photographer4]

Oh I would. I'd want answers, not excuses, answers to likely many questions.

There is no answer a pedophile could ever give me that would make me ok with them. Ever.

 

[kae27]

Just jumping off from this post to ask your opinion as an attorney.

Why would SS be charged with crimes that are not currently, as I understand it, capital crimes under Florida law?

I, and a lot of other posters, are baffled by this and would be grateful for an answer.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for your excellent posts here. You and a lot of others are bringing up terrific questions.

I'm not sure I understand this one. My thought is that they have charged him with just enough now to have reason to keep him without bail. I'm hopeful that they will be bringing murder charges - capital ones - very soon. I know we're all awaiting that, given the strong evidence that he was responsible for this lovely girl's murder.

 

[grannygates]

Hoping I'm understanding what you are requesting-

You can see the "levels" of each felony on SS's list of charges.

ALL of his current charges are felonies.

The ones that are level C= CAPITAL felony.

Capital felonies are punishable by life imprisonment OR death penalty in some cases.

My original reply to @grannygates was meant to reflect that a Capital offense does not exclusively mean death penalty as punishment, it also includes life imprisonment.

Thank you and apologies for my awkwardly worded question !

 

[Litig8r]

Just jumping off from this post to ask your opinion as an attorney.

Why would SS be charged with crimes that are not currently, as I understand it, capital crimes under Florida law?

I, and a lot of other posters, are baffled by this and would be grateful for an answer.

Thank you!

Hoping I'm understanding what you are requesting-

You can see the "levels" of each felony on SS's list of charges.

ALL of his current charges are felonies.

The ones that are level C= CAPITAL felony.

Capital felonies are punishable by life imprisonment OR death penalty in some cases.

My original reply to @grannygates was meant to reflect that a Capital offense does not exclusively mean death penalty as punishment, it also includes life imprisonment

Great breakdown, @investigatefred!

Here’s a copy of the statement from State Attorney Andrew Bain:

60 Charges Filed Against Defendant Stephan Sterns

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – On Monday, the State Attorney’s Office for the Ninth Judicial Circuit filed a 60-count information against defendant Stephan Sterns, the...

sao9th.com

“Sexual Battery on a Child Under 12 is a capital felony, punishable by life in prison if a defendant is convicted.”

The new law, which makes Sexual Battery on a Child Under 12 eligible for the death penalty would apply only if the crime was committed after the new law went into effect on October 1, 2023. So far, all of his charges for sexual battery took place before October 1, 2023.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Okay, so this is the first time in my life I've heard that a capital crime is punishable by life in prison.

And I'm not the only one.

capital offense

www.law.cornell.edu

 

[photoprose1122]

A lawyer can argue anything but you not being aware of the law or penalty doesn’t mean anything. That’s not a plausible excuse.

Also he was egregiously breaking laws with so much stuff. An eight year old?

I am just wondering why murder charges are not out yet.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting it’s a plausible excuse, nor that it would be a successful argument. I’m just saying they’ll find any loophole or argument that they can, and it wouldn’t be the first time a criminal has gotten off on some kind of technicality. But I’m not a lawyer by any means it was just a thought. I would think many laws that have been passed could not be applied retroactively for similar reasons. OMO.

 

[photoprose1122]

Ignorantia juris non excusat!

True, but I wasn’t referring to ignorance of an existing law. I was referring to a law - or rather a penalty - that didn’t exist when the crimes were committed.