STATE v. WOOD (2024)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

The STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Robert Lee WOOD, Appellee.

No. 3D22-1925

Decided: September 25, 2024

Before SCALES, LINDSEY and MILLER, JJ.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Henry C. Whitaker, Solicitor General, Jeffrey Paul DeSousa, Chief Deputy Solicitor General, and Alison E. Preston, Deputy Solicitor General (Tallahassee), for appellant. Law Office of Larry S. Davis, P.A., and Larry S. Davis and Shana Korda (Hollywood); Kuehne Davis Law, P.A., and Benedict P. Kuehne, Michael T. Davis, Susan Dmitrovsky and Johan Dos Santos, for appellee. Dianne Carames; Daniel Tibbitt, for the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers-Miami Chapter, as amicus curiae. Reid Levin, PLLC, and Reid Levin (Boca Raton); Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, and Steven H. Schulman (Dallas, TX), David Giller, Caitlin E. Olwell, and Andrew A. McWhorter (New York, NY), for Former Members of the Commission on the Statewide Prosecution Function, as amici curiae. American Civil Liberties Union, and Julie A. Ebenstein, and Jonathan Topaz (New York, NY); Proskauer Rose LLP, and Matthew Triggs (Boca Raton); Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and Sara Carter (New York, NY); ACLU Foundation of Florida, Inc., and Nicholas L.V. Warren (Jacksonville), Caroline A. McNamara, and Daniel B. Tilley; NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and Leah C. Aden (New York, NY), for the American Civil Liberties Union, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, ACLU Foundation of Florida, Inc., and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., as amici curiae. Reed Smith LLP, and M. Patrick Yingling (Chicago, IL), and Wesley A. Butensky, for the Niskanen Center and former Florida State Senator Jeff Brandes, as amici curiae. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, and Matthew R. Tuchman (Washington, D.C.), for the Due Process Institute, as amicus curiae. Toth Funes PA, and Freddy Funes; Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, and Ferdinand G. Suba, Jr., (New York, NY); Quinn Yeargain (Harrisburg, PA), for State Constitutional Law Scholars G. Alan Tarr, Robert F. Williams, and Quinn Yeargain, as amici curiae. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, and Owen F. Roberts (New York, NY), Samuel G. Williamson, and Thomas S.P. Geeker, for the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, as amicus curiae