Legislature approves ‘Officer Jason Raynor Act’ to hike manslaughter penalty for police deaths

It took three years and ample work on both sides of the rotunda, but legislation to generally require life in prison without parole for killing a police officer just cleared its final hurdle in the Legislature.

Members of the House voted 103-8 for the measure (SB 156) after brief but futile arguments from several Democrats who argued the changes it contemplates are unnecessary, too far-reaching and potentially harmful.

The bill, sponsored by St. Augustine Republican Sen. Tom Leek and Jacksonville Republican Rep. Jessica Baker, is named for 26-year-old Daytona Beach Police Officer Jason Raynor, who was killed during a lawful detention on Aug. 17, 2021.

Prosecutors sought a first-degree murder conviction of Raynor’s killer, Othal Wallace, who resisted detainment and shot Raynor in the head. Jurors found Wallace guilty of a lesser manslaughter charge carrying a 30-year prison sentence.

Leek and Baker contend that the way the law is now written, jurors can be confused about what constitutes a legal arrest and in what cases civilians can resist.

“This is not about process or headlines; it’s about ensuring that Florida law reflects the seriousness of violence against law enforcement officers and honoring the life and sacrifice of Officer Jason Raynor,” Baker said ahead of the House floor vote Tuesday.

Aside from increasing sentencing levels to ensure tougher penalties for violent acts against officers, the “Officer Jason Raynor Act” expands the definition of who qualifies as a protected officer to include correctional, probation and auxiliary officers, and raises the offense severity for crimes such as assault, battery, aggravated assault and aggravated battery when the victim is an officer.

The legislation also includes and defines a “good faith” standard for police conduct during arrests and detentions, which Leek included in last year’s version of the bill in response to concerns from Black Caucus members.

Ahead of the bill’s 31-4 passage in the Senate Jan. 29, Leek acknowledged that the “good faith” standard is something of a replacement for language the bill would remove, which provides that an officer or someone they summon to help them is not justified in using force if the arrest or execution of a legal duty is unlawful and known by them to be unlawful.

Democratic Reps. Daryl Campbell, Fentrice Driskell, Anna Eskamani, Ashley Gantt, Dianne Hart-Lowman, Angie Nixon and Michelle Rayner voted against SB 156 Tuesday.

Hart-Lowman said that while she supports police and her “heart bleeds for” Raynor’s family, the legislation is superfluous, as it mandates a punishment the prosecutor in Wallace’s case could have sought, but didn’t.

Aaron Wayt, President-elect of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, pointed out during the Committee process this year that Wallace received a lighter sentence than Raynor’s community, coworkers and loved ones wanted because the State Attorney in the case, R.J. Larizza, had failed to properly fill out the verdict form with a firearm enhancement for the manslaughter charge.

Had he done so, Wayt said, Wallace could have received the same sentence SB 156 would now require.

“We should not rewrite sentencing laws and take discretion away from Judges because of one prosecutor’s missed opportunity,” Hart-Lowman said. She argued that, like another bill that passed this year, Missy’s Law, SB 156 is “an example of responding to a case-specific failure by imposing a broad rule on all future cases.”

“If the problem was how one case was charged, fix that problem. Don’t change the law for every future, unintended death in Florida. This bill is half for Officer Raynor and half for the State Attorney to cover up his mistakes. We can pass the part to honor Officer Raynor without stripping discretion from the people in the courtroom who know the facts.”

Nixon echoed concerns some of her Senate colleagues expressed after the recent Minneapolis killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, arguing that because the bill extends to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, it could open the door to abuse by people fraudulently posing as ICE agents.

“I just don’t want to enhance penalties on someone who potentially could have thought that they were being assaulted and kidnapped by someone just trying to do them harm, even if it was a law enforcement officer that did not actually identify themselves,” she said.

Port Orange Republican Rep. Chase Tramont, who spoke of how he joined many other pastors in visiting and praying for Raynor at the hospital after the shooting, said the event’s aftermath was emotionally taxing on the community.

“This bill brings a little bit of justice to that family,” he said, commending Baker for her work.

SB 156 will next go to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who can either sign the legislation, veto it or let it become law without his signature.