Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, February 26, 2018
Vol. 105, No. 071 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Rayonier AM gives seat to hedge fund
THE DEATH ROW CELL A death row cell is 6 feet by 9 feet by 9.5 feet high. Men are housed at Florida State Prison and at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford. Women are housed at Lowell Annex in Lowell.
Agreement prevents Marcato proxy fight. With an activist hedge fund apparently taking aim at Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc., the Jacksonville-based cellulose specialty products maker gave the fund a seat on its board of directors. Rayonier AM last week announced the appointment of Matthew Hepler, partner at Marcato Capital Management L.P., as a director, increasing the size of its board to 10 members. As the company appointed Hepler, it also reached a s ta n d s til l Hepler agreement with Marcato that prohibits the firm from soliciting any proxies regarding Rayonier AM. That’s significant because Marcato has been engaged in proxy fights with several companies. For example, in the past year it has nominated its own directors for board seats at Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. and Deckers Outdoor Corp. It successfully elected three directors at Buffalo Wild Wings but its slate was defeated at Deckers. According to quarterly Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Marcato began buying shares of Rayonier AM last summer and had 792,000 shares as of
ON DEATH ROW
How required unanimity changed the death penalty 4th Judicial Circuit relies on concise procedure. By Max Marbut Associate Editor In January 2016, a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court changed a key requirement for a judge in Florida to hand down a death sentence to a person convicted of a capital crime. The court ruled that Florida’s sentencing procedure was unconstitutional under the 6th Amendment, which guarantees the right to a trial by jury. Effective after the Hurst v. Florida decision and a similar order by the state Supreme Court in October 2016, juries must be unanimous in recommending the death penalty before a judge can send a convicted defendant to death row. Before the ruling, only a supermajority vote (at least 10
of 12 jurors) was required for that sentence. In response to the requirement for a unanimous death recommendation, the 4th Judicial Circuit developed a concise written procedure to determine whether the state attorney will ask for the death penalty or a sentence of life in prison without parole when a defendant is charged with a capital crime. “Our process is modeled loosely on the way the Department of Justice handles death penalty decisions,” said Mac Heavener, chief assistant state attorney and direct supervisor of the Special Prosecution, Special Assault and Homicide divisions. The purpose is to assure fair, uniform, efficient and transparDeath
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Inmates are on death row in Florida. Three are women.
The average age at time of execution.
The average age at offense for executed inmates.
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FLORIDA EXECUTIONS Over the past decade there have been 32 executions in Florida. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 96 inmates have been executed.
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’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 Source: Florida Department of Corrections
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Law clerks share behind-the-scenes look at role helping judges “It’s a privilege to work on the intellectually challenging problems you bring us every day.” By Max Marbut Associate Editor The U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida is one of the most active federal courts in the nation, ranking 10th out of 94
districts in the number of civil filings annually. Its 26 district and 20 magistrate judges average about 350 cases on each of their dockets. They accomplish their work with the help of their law clerks
who manage thousands of court documents, maintain filing reports, verify compliance with court rules, research case law and write briefs. During trials, clerks research the law and prepare jury instructions and verdict forms. Four clerks for federal judges joined the Jacksonville Chapter of the Federal Bar Association on
Thursday for lunch and a discussion of what clerks do and best practices for attorneys when filing and appearing in federal court. “We help the judge be a judge,” said Peggy Miller, U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard’s law clerk. The responsibilities are similar in the federal appellate court, said Darby Robinson, law clerk for
11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Susan Black. “But we have less contact with attorneys, usually only two weeks before oral arguments,” and 80 percent of cases in the appellate court don’t involve oral argument, she said. Kara Wood, law clerk for U.S. Clerks
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The Marbut Report: JALA launches new practice Family law, immigration services for those who can’t afford to hire an attorney. Public
legal notices begin on page
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