Opinion ID: 1813585
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Instruction on the Cold, Calculated, and Premeditated Aggravator

Text: Next, Welch argues that the trial court erred by instructing the jury on the cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP) aggravating circumstance. Welch originally objected to the CCP instruction at the charge conference. The trial court overruled the objection and instructed on CCP. However, the trial court ultimately did not find CCP for either murder, concluding that CCP had not been proved beyond all reasonable doubt. Because the State presented relevant evidence in support of CCP, the trial court did not err in instructing the jury regarding the CCP aggravator. Although an aggravating factor must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, Johnson v. State, 438 So.2d 774, 779 (Fla.1983), a jury instruction on aggravators need only be supported by credible and competent evidence. See Hunter v. State, 660 So.2d 244, 252 (Fla.1995). The fact that the State does not prove an aggravating factor to the courts satisfaction does not require a conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to allow the jury to consider that factor. Bowden v. State, 588 So.2d 225, 231 (Fla.1991). Indeed, where evidence of a mitigating or aggravating factor has been presented to the jury, an instruction on the factor is required. Id.; Stewart v. State, 558 So.2d 416, 420 (Fla.1990). Cold, calculated, and premeditated without any pretense of moral or legal justification means that the killing was the product of cool and calm reflection and not an act prompted by emotional frenzy, panic, or a fit of rage (cold), and that the defendant had a careful plan or prearranged design to commit murder before the fatal incident (calculated), and that the defendant exhibited heightened premeditation (premeditated), and that the defendant had no pretense of moral or legal justification. Williams v. State, 967 So.2d 735, 764 (Fla. 2007) (quoting Buzia v. State, 926 So.2d 1203, 1214 (Fla.2006)), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 1709, 170 L.Ed.2d 519 (2008). CCP can be indicated by circumstances showing such facts as advance procurement of a weapon, lack of resistance or provocation, and the appearance of a killing carried out as a matter of course. Swafford v. State, 533 So.2d 270, 277 (Fla. 1988). CCP can also be proven with evidence that a defendant had the opportunity to leave the crime scene but instead committed the murder. See Alston v. State, 723 So.2d 148, 162 (Fla.1998); Jackson v. State, 704 So.2d 500, 505 (Fla.1997). Proof of more time for reflection tends to show heightened premeditation. See Swafford, 533 So.2d at 277. Here, the trial court properly instructed the jury on CCP because the State introduced credible and competent evidence in support of the aggravator. Specifically, the medical examiner stated it took Welch seven to thirty minutes, perhaps longer, to kill the two victims. This evidence tended to show heightened premeditation because Welch had time for reflection and had an opportunity to abandon the murders. Moreover, Welch's previously prepared handwritten note threatening Kyoko's life supports calculation by implying prearranged design. Additionally, the evidence demonstrating that after Welch murdered the victims, he cleaned up in the victims' bathroom, took numerous items from the victims' home, and pawned them tends to show that the murders were committed in a cold manner. Given this credible and competent evidence in support of CCP, the trial court did not err in instructing the jury on this aggravator.