Restore Justice Releases Ad Highlighting Death Penalty Ruling

Entering the final month of a two-year voter education campaign, Restore Justice 2012 released a video Mondayhighlighting the decision by the Florida Supreme Court to give a confessed murderer a new trial. The justices campaigns recently defended the decision, claiming in a statement that they were protecting the killers constitutional rights.

Have a look at the video here.

Despite his difficult behavior, Nixon was still entitled to his constitutional rights, the campaigns said last week in a statement to reporters.

Jesse Phillips, president of Restore Justice, sees it differently. The court invented a way to give a confessed murderer the second chance at life this brutalized woman never had, said Phillips. Pariente, Quince and Lewis should not defend this decision. They should apologize for it.

The decision, which was unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, has resulted in various groups calling into question the competence of Justices Pariente, Quince and Lewis, who are merit retention candidates this year. They are being criticized for granting Joe Elton Nixon a new trial after he confessed to burning a woman alive and was sentenced to the death penalty.

Restore Justice plans on airing a version of the video in major media markets statewide.

For his part, Justice Lewis has recently contradicted the campaign statement and tried to distance himself from his decision. Court records show that while he wrote his own opinion and expressed some reservations, he ultimately joined the majority and concurred with the result.