Case Name: Ray Lamar JOHNSTON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2018-04-05
Citations: 246 So. 3d 266
Docket Number: No. SC17–1678
Parties: Ray Lamar JOHNSTON, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 246
Pages: 266–267

Head Matter:
Ray Lamar JOHNSTON, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. SC17-1678
Supreme Court of Florida.
April 5, 2018
James Vincent Viggiano, Jr., Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, James L. Driscoll Jr., David Dixon Hendry and Gregory W. Brown, Assistant Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Middle Region, Temple Terrace, Florida, for Appellant
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, and Timothy A. Freeland, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, Florida, for Appellee

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
Ray Lamar Johnston appeals an order summarily denying his first successive postconviction motion filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851.
The underlying facts of this case were described in this Court's opinion on direct appeal. Johnston v. State , 841 So.2d 349, 351-55 (Fla. 2002). Johnston was convicted of the first-degree murder of Leanne Coryell, kidnapping, robbery, sexual battery, and burglary of a conveyance with assault. Id. at 351. Following a unanimous jury recommendation for death, the trial court sentenced Johnston to death. Id. at 355.
In this successive postconviction motion, we affirm the denial of Johnston's claim that he is entitled to relief pursuant to Hurst v. Florida , - U.S. -, 136 S.Ct. 616, 193 L.Ed.2d 504 (2016), and Hurst v. State , 202 So.3d 40 (Fla. 2016), cert. denied , - U.S. -, 137 S.Ct. 2161, 198 L.Ed.2d 246 (2017). Johnston received a unanimous jury recommendation of death and, therefore, the Hurst error in this case is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Davis v. State , 207 So.3d 142, 175 (Fla. 2016). Additionally, we affirm the denial of Johnston's Hurst -induced Caldwell claim. See Reynolds v. State , No. SC17-793, - So.3d -, - - -, slip op. at 26-36, 2018 WL 1633075, at *10-12 (Fla. Apr. 5, 2018).
Accordingly, we affirm the denial of postconviction relief.
It is so ordered.
LABARGA, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, and LAWSON, JJ., concur.
CANADY and POLSTON, JJ., concur in result.
QUINCE, J., dissents with an opinion.
We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.
Caldwell v. Mississippi , 472 U.S. 320, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985).