Case Title: Meeks v. State

Citation: 336 So. 2d 1142

Docket Number: 48080

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1976-07-21T00:00:00Z

Document:
336 So. 2d 1142 (1976)
Douglas Ray MEEKS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 48080.

Supreme Court of Florida.
July 21, 1976.
Rehearing Denied September 30, 1976.
John F. Howard, Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Wallace E. Allbritton, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
This cause is before us on direct appeal from a conviction of murder in the first *1143 degree and sentence of death. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution.
Appellant was indicted for first degree murder in that while engaging in the perpetration of a robbery, he did murder one Chevis Thompson, stabbing her with a knife, inflicting mortal wounds from which she died. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree and after a separate sentencing proceeding, recommended the death penalty. The trial judge, specifying in detail the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, agreed that the death sentence was appropriate.
The trial judge's written findings in support of the death sentence reflect, as follows:
Appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial because the State failed to prove corpus delicti of the crime committed and erred in not polling the jury individually on the recommended sentence of death. Having carefully examined the record before us, we find no merit to appellant's points on appeal.
Relative to corpus delicti, appellant does not dispute the fact of death nor the identity of the deceased but rather contests the showing of the criminal agency of another, to-wit appellant, as the cause of death. We cannot agree. The evidence is clearly sufficient to establish that the death of the victim was caused by the criminal agency of another.
Appellant argues that, although his fingerprints were found on the cash register and although he had told another that he had killed the deceased victim because she caught him in the act of trying to get something out of the store, there is no testimony to the effect that there was a taking of money or other property by defendant through force, violence, assault or putting in fear. At most, contends appellant, the State proved an attempt to take the money.
Section 782.04(1)(a), Florida Statutes, provides:
Appellee submits that in order to sustain a conviction under the felony-murder statute it is sufficient to show that the murder was committed by appellant in the attempt to commit the crime of robbery.
We find that there was competent and sufficient evidence admitted at trial to prove the felony-murder charge.
After the separate proceeding, the jury returned an advisory sentence recommending the death sentence  "A majority of the jury advise and recommend to the court that it impose the sentence of death on Douglas Ray Meeks, the Defendant." At this point, defense counsel requested that jury be polled as to the majority. The State objected to the individual polling of each juror as to his sentence recommendation. The court then inquired of the Foreman of the jury:
The Foreman responded that "There was seven and more, your honor." The court then inquired of the jury itself:
We find no error in the trial court's action relative to the above objection to the sentencing proceeding.
We have listened carefully to oral argument, examined and considered the record in light of the assignments of error and briefs filed, and pursuant to Rule 6.16(b), *1145 Florida Appellate Rules, we have also reviewed the evidence to determine whether the interests of justice require a new trial, with the result that we find no reversible error is made to appear and that the evidence in the record before us does not reveal that the ends of justice require that a new trial be awarded.
Weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the trial judge was warranted under the particular facts of this case in imposing the death penalty upon the appellant for the commission of this heinous crime. The judgment and sentence of the lower court are in accordance with the justice of the cause.
Accordingly, the judgment and sentence of the trial court are hereby affirmed.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, C.J., and ROBERTS, ADKINS, BOYD, ENGLAND, SUNDBERG and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.