Now 48 and married, Lindsey is an activist against the death penalty, trained as a mitigation specialist with the help of Gorman’s project at FIU Law and hoping to save others from a fate he barely escaped.
But the former Broward prosecutor, Rossman, is skeptical of a centuries-old legal maxim from Lord Blackstone that says: it is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.
“That’s the saying, that’s the saying… I’m not 100 percent sure that I intellectually agree with that.”
Gorman said she is sure, whether the number is 10, or 100, if the alternative is the execution of an innocent person. “We can’t afford,” she said, “to have a system that continues to treat people the way they are.”
Rossman, who ran unsuccessfully for Broward state attorney last year, also takes issue with calling Lindsey innocent.
“Well, he was innocent until proven guilty. He was proven guilty, unanimously by a jury,” Rossman said, arguing the state Supreme Court was wrong.
Rossman, who was not a prosecutor on Lindsey's case, was reminded the court unanimously found the case was so weak and flimsy, it should have been thrown out by the trial judge at the end of the state’s case.
“Yes, it’s what they’re saying, which gives no respect also to an esteemed trial judge, the judge who tries the case and is hearing everything and says, ‘No, this does pass the test,’” he replied.
Rossman’s position stunned Gorman.
“Wow, I mean this is … ” she said, pausing to carefully choose her words.
“Humans are humans,” she continued. “We don’t like to be wrong and it’s hard for us to admit mistakes, but the best of us do and there’s integrity in that.”
And Florida does make mistakes, as Aguire and Lindsey can attest.
It’s why, when asked, “Do you think the death penalty is appropriate in any circumstance?” Lindsey replies emphatically, “No. No.”
Not even he said for the most horrendous of killers, such as the Parkland shooter who a Broward jury will soon be judging in a sentencing phase like no other.
“I sympathize to all the family, but to that I would just say, the family don't understand," he said. "That’s not going to bring them closure, to see that young man executed.”
Perhaps not closure, but all the Parkland families we’ve spoken to say it would bring them justice — at whatever cost — and some peace in knowing the man who took so much from them is no longer alive.
They’ve lost something that no one can measure in dollars.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story misstated the scope of the cases included in the funding total. As was noted elsewhere in the report, prosecutors ultimately waived the death penalty in some cases where death was originally sought.
