Opinion ID: 1942962
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Constitutionality of Florida's Death Penalty Statute/ Ring [6] Claims

Text: Coday claims Florida's death penalty statute is unconstitutional because Florida law requires findings of fact (in particular, aggravating circumstances) be made by the trial judge and not the jury. Therefore, he alleges his sentence is unconstitutional under Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002). As this Court explained in State v. Steele, 921 So.2d 538 (Fla.2005), the Supreme Court's decisions in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), and Ring v. Arizona do not require a finding that the Florida capital sentencing scheme is unconstitutional. In Steele, we not only concluded, consistent with prior caselaw, that section 921.141, Florida Statutes, does not require jury findings on aggravating circumstances, we specifically held that it is a departure from the essential requirements of law to use a special verdict form detailing the jury's determination on the aggravating circumstances. Thus, we have rejected Coday's argument that the Apprendi and Ring decisions require a different result. Coday also claims that because the jury's death sentence recommendation was not unanimous but only by a vote of nine to three, his sentence is unconstitutional under Ring. However, under Florida law, the jury need not be unanimous in its recommendation of a death sentence. This Court has repeatedly held that it is not unconstitutional for a jury to be allowed to recommend death on a simple majority vote. See Whitfield v. State, 706 So.2d 1 (Fla.1997); Thompson v. State, 648 So.2d 692 (Fla.1994); Brown v. State, 565 So.2d 304 (Fla.1990); Alvord v. State, 322 So.2d 533 (Fla.1975). This Court has not receded from this holding that a nonunanimous advisory sentence is constitutional. Lastly, Coday claims that the failure to allege the aggravating circumstances in the indictment renders his sentence unconstitutional under Ring. This Court has rejected similar claims that Ring requires aggravating circumstances be alleged in the indictment. See Blackwelder v. State, 851 So.2d 650, 654 (Fla.2003) (rejecting Blackwelder's argument that aggravating circumstances should be alleged in the indictment, submitted to the jury, and individually found by a unanimous jury verdict); Hodges v. State, 885 So.2d 338, 359 (Fla.2004); Porter v. Crosby, 840 So.2d 981 (Fla.2003). [7]