Case Title: Slater v. State

Citation: 316 So. 2d 539

Docket Number: 45851, 46338

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1975-06-25T00:00:00Z

Document:
316 So. 2d 539 (1975)
Darius SLATER, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Dennis SLATER, a/K/a Darius Slater, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Nos. 46338 and 45851.

Supreme Court of Florida.
June 25, 1975.
*540 Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, Leon St. John and Kenneth J. Scherer, Asst. Public Defenders, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and A.S. Johnston, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
OVERTON, Justice.
These consolidated direct appeals are from a conviction of murder in the first degree and sentence to death and a conviction of robbery and sentence to life imprisonment. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution.
At approximately 6:00 p.m. on August 23, 1973, the Lake Shore Motel in Orlando was robbed of two pistols and some $65.00 in cash. The manager of the motel was killed by gunshot during the robbery. Subsequently, the appellant, Darius Slater, was arrested and charged with this murder and robbery, as were two other individuals, Larry Gore and Charlie Ware.
Charlie Ware pleaded nolo contendere to a charge of first degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Larry Gore pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to five years imprisonment. Both these individuals were called to the witness stand at the trial of the appellant. Although Ware was granted immunity from further prosecution, he refused to testify and was held in contempt. Larry Gore chose to testify, stating that he had been the "wheel man" who waited outside the motel while Charlie Ware and the appellant entered the building. Gore further testified that when the appellant and Ware returned from the robbery, the appellant stated "that Ware had made a mistake and shot him [the manager]." This testimony was corroborated by an Orlando Police Department investigator, Charlie Ings, at the proceedings in mitigation and aggravation following trial. Ings testified that Ware confessed to entering the motel with the appellant, pulling a gun on the desk clerk, and accidentally shooting the clerk when his thumb slipped off the hammer of the gun. The appellant allegedly grabbed the money box, and both he and Ware ran out to join Gore. The appellant, testifying in his own behalf at the trial, asserted that he was not present when the robbery and murder were committed.
The jury found the appellant guilty of robbery as charged in the information and of first degree murder as charged in the indictment. Subsequent to the conviction of murder in the first degree, a sentence advisory hearing was held pursuant to Section 921.141, Florida Statutes (1973), at which the jury was properly instructed to consider the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. By vote of 11 to 1, the jury returned an advisory sentence of life imprisonment. The judge ordered the Florida Parole and Probation Commission to prepare a presentence investigation upon the defendant. After considering the advisory opinion and the presentence investigation, the trial judge entered his "Findings in Support of Verdict Overruling Jury Recommendations," which are as follows:
The reasons set forth by the trial judge in open court, transcribed in the record, incorporated into his above order, and attached thereto, are as follows:
Accordingly, the defendant, Slater, was sentenced to death for the first degree murder conviction.
Appellant's first point on appeal concerns two pistols, a .22 caliber and a .32 caliber, which were admitted into evidence at trial along with the death bullet. The testimony established that the .22 caliber pistol was the murder weapon and that the .32 caliber pistol was stolen from the motel. Their admission into evidence was proper.
We have listened carefully to oral argument, examined and considered the record in light of the assignments of error and briefs filed, and reviewed the evidence to determine whether the interests of justice require a new trial. We find no reversible error, and the evidence in the record does not reveal that the ends of justice require a new trial. Furthermore, we find no merit in appellant's contention that he was illegally sentenced for his conviction of robbery. As appears from the record before us, he was charged and convicted of murder in the first degree and was charged and convicted of robbery. These are two separate offenses, for which separate sentences were properly imposed.
We must, however, overrule the trial court's imposition of the death sentence on the murder charge. In this robbery-murder incident, the court that tried the appellant also permitted the "triggerman," Ware, to enter a plea of nolo contendere to the charge of first degree murder, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The record clearly reflects that the defendant-appellant, Slater, was an accomplice and did not have the murder weapon in his hand. Eleven members of the trial jury recognized the circumstances surrounding this offense and recommended life imprisonment.
We pride ourselves in a system of justice that requires equality before the law. Defendants should not be treated differently upon the same or similar facts. When the facts are the same, the law should be the same. The imposition of the death sentence in this case is clearly not equal justice under the law. Ironically, the trial judge stated in his reasons, "I don't feel you can treat Darius [the appellant, Darius Slater] and Charles Ware [the `triggerman'] separately in that fashion," and then went ahead and did so. We recognize the validity of the Florida death penalty statute as expressed in State v. Dixon, 283 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1973), but it is our opinion that the imposition of the death penalty under the facts of this case would be an unconstitutional application under Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S. Ct. 2726, 33 L. Ed. 2d 346 (1972). By so holding, *543 we do not in any way recede from our decision in State v. Dixon, supra, or subsequent opinions upholding the imposition of the death sentence. Sullivan v. State, 303 So. 2d 632 (Fla. 1974); Hallman v. State, 305 So. 2d 180 (Fla. 1974); Alford v. State, 307 So. 2d 433 (Fla. 1975); Sawyer v. State, 313 So. 2d 680 (Fla. 1975).
The sentence imposed on the defendant for the first degree murder offense is hereby reduced to life imprisonment. In all other respects, the trial court is affirmed.
It is so ordered.
ADKINS, C.J., and LEE and McCRARY, Circuit Judges, concur.
CREWS, Circuit Judge, concurs with an opinion.
ROBERTS, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with an opinion, with which McCAIN, J., concurs.
CREWS, Circuit Judge (concurring).
I concur with the opinion of Mr. Justice Overton, but would add that the imposition of the death penalty under the facts in this case, if sustained, would have an impermissible "chilling effect" on a codefendant's right of jury trial pursuant to the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Section 22 of Article I of the 1968 Constitution of Florida.[1]
Further, sustaining the imposition of the death penalty in this case would inevitably weaken the learned opinion of Mr. Chief Justice Adkins sustaining the constitutionality of the Florida death penalty statutes.[2]
ROBERTS, Justice (concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in that part which affirms the conviction but dissent from the part reversing the trial judge's imposition of the death penalty.
McCAIN, J., concurs.
[1]  See United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 88 S. Ct. 1209, 20 L. Ed. 2d 138 (1968).
[2]  State v. Dixon, 283 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1973).