Opinion ID: 1643910
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Constitutionality of Florida's Capital Sentencing Statute under Ring

Text: Wheeler next asserts that Florida's death penalty statute is unconstitutional under Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), which held that a defendant has a Sixth Amendment right to have a jury find any facts upon which the legislature conditions an increase in his or her maximum punishment. Id. at 589, 122 S.Ct. 2428. Wheeler contends that this principle applies even to the prior violent felony conviction aggravator. [7] This case involves a prior violent felony conviction as a basis for the trial court's finding, which we have consistently held is outside of the dictates of Ring. See Johnson v. State, 969 So.2d 938, 961 (Fla. 2007) (holding that relief is not available under Ring where one of the aggravators rests on the separate convictions for kidnapping and sexual battery, which satisfies Sixth Amendment requirements), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 2056, 170 L.Ed.2d 799 (2008); Taylor v. State, 937 So.2d 590 (Fla.2006) (rejecting claim that the existence of a prior violent felony aggravator does not bar application of Ring ); Reynolds v. State, 934 So.2d 1128, 1160 (Fla.2006) (Furthermore, one of the aggravating circumstances found by the trial court in this case was prior convictions of a violent felony, `a factor which under Apprendi and Ring need not be found by the jury.' (quoting Jones v. State, 855 So.2d 611, 619 (Fla.2003))); Doorbal v. State, 837 So.2d 940, 963 (Fla. 2003) (rejecting Ring claim where one of the aggravating circumstances found by the trial judge was defendant's prior conviction for a violent felony). Because Wheeler was convicted by a unanimous jury of the contemporaneous violent felonies of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm of deputies McKane and Crotty, relief is hereby denied on this claim. [8]