Supreme Court of Florida

Conviction of defendant for first degree murder and a sentence of death are affirmed where: 1) trial court did not err by not presenting to the jury the issue of mental retardation as a bar to execution; 2) the trial court's determination that defendant did not suffer from deficits in adaptive functioning is supported by competent, substantial evidence; 3) because the collateral crime evidence was properly admitted into evidence and was relevant to rebutting the defense's expressly argued theory, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the State could argue from the collateral evidence during rebuttal; 4) defendant has not established that the trial court abused its discretion as the collateral crime evidence did not become a feature of his trial; 5) defendant's argument that a trial court should be required to provide findings supporting its denial of a waiver is not preserved for appellate review, and defendant's second argument that the trial court should not be able to reject a valid waiver because the right to the penalty-phase jury is held by the defendant, has been previously rejected by this court; 6) defendant is not entitled to relief on the basis of Ring; 7) the evidence was sufficient to find defendant guilty of first degree murder both on the theory of premeditated murder and on the theory of felony murder; and 8) defendant's sentence is proportionate.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/02/2010
• Published 12/02/2010

Judges

Court

• Supreme Court of Florida

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Nancy A. Daniels, Bill McCollum