Title: Booker v. State

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

Supreme Court of Florida 
 
 
____________ 
 
No. SC18-541 
____________ 
 
STEPHEN TODD BOOKER, 
Appellant, 
 
vs. 
 
STATE OF FLORIDA, 
Appellee. 
 
August 30, 2018 
 
PER CURIAM. 
We have for review Stephen Todd Booker’s appeal of the circuit court’s 
order denying Booker’s motion filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal 
Procedure 3.851.  This Court has jurisdiction.  See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.   
Booker’s motion sought relief pursuant to the United States Supreme 
Court’s decision in Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016), and our decision on 
remand in Hurst v. State (Hurst), 202 So. 3d 40 (Fla. 2016), cert. denied, 137 S. Ct. 
2161 (2017).  Booker responded to this Court’s order to show cause arguing why 
Hitchcock v. State, 226 So. 3d 216 (Fla.), cert. denied, 138 S. Ct. 513 (2017), 
should not be dispositive in this case. 
 
 
- 2 - 
After reviewing Booker’s response to the order to show cause, as well as the 
State’s arguments in reply, we conclude that our prior denial of Booker’s petition 
for a writ of habeas corpus raising similar claims is a procedural bar to the claims 
at issue in this appeal.  All of Booker’s claims depend upon the retroactive 
application of Hurst, to which we have held he is not entitled.  See Booker v. 
Jones, 235 So. 3d 298, 299 (Fla. 2018); Hitchcock, 226 So. 3d at 217.  
Accordingly, we affirm the denial of Booker’s motion. 
The Court having carefully considered all arguments raised by Booker, we 
caution that any rehearing motion containing reargument will be stricken.  It is so 
ordered. 
PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, POLSTON, LABARGA, and LAWSON, JJ., 
concur. 
CANADY, C.J., concurs in result. 
 
An Appeal from the Circuit Court in and for Alachua County,  
William Elbridge Davis, Judge - Case No. 011977CF002332AXXXXX 
 
Billy H. Nolas, Chief, Capital Habeas Unit, Office of the Federal Public Defender, 
Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee, Florida, and Ann Finnell of Finnell, 
McGuinness, Nezami & Andux, P.A., Jacksonville, Florida, 
 
 
for Appellant 
 
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Lisa A. Hopkins, Assistant Attorney 
General, Tallahassee, Florida, 
 
 
for Appellee