Opinion ID: 1594000
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 21

Heading: Culpability of Codefendant

Text: Next, proportionality review requires us to consider the codefendant's sentence. Wright was tried and sentenced to death before Samuel Pitts' trial commenced. In May 2007, Samuel Pitts received a life sentence based on a jury recommendation. In cases where more than one defendant is involved, the Court performs an additional analysis of relative culpability guided by the principle that `equally culpable co-defendants should be treated alike in capital sentencing and receive equal punishment.' Brooks v. State, 918 So.2d 181, 208 (Fla.2005) (quoting Shere v. Moore, 830 So.2d 56, 60 (Fla. 2002)). We have rejected relative culpability arguments where the defendant sentenced to death was the triggerman. See, e.g., Ventura v. State, 794 So.2d 553, 571 (Fla. 2001); Downs v. State, 572 So.2d 895, 901 (Fla.1990). If the defendant is the primary shooter, this Court has stated in dicta that there would be no error in imposing the death penalty when an accomplice is also a triggerman where the evidence supports the sentencing judge's conclusion that the defendant's aggravating circumstances outweigh his or her mitigating circumstances. See Garcia v. State, 492 So.2d 360 (Fla.1986) (citing Jacobs v. State, 396 So.2d 1113 (Fla.1981)). [A]n exercise of mercy on behalf of the defendant in one case does not [necessarily] prevent the imposition of death by capital punishment in the other case. Alvord v. State, 322 So.2d 533, 540 (Fla. 1975). Though there was no eyewitness testimony to definitively determine which defendant was the triggerman, and the State advanced theories that both defendants were equal participants in the crime, the evidence presented at Wright's trial supports a determination that he shot the victims. With regard to each murder, the jury found that Wright used, possessed, and discharged a firearm, which resulted in death to another. As to the physical evidence, only Wright's fingerprints were found on the car, and Felker's blood was found on Wright's shoes. The jury apparently dismissed the assertion that the shoes actually belonged to Pitts, and the evidence demonstrated that the shoes fit Wright more closely than Pitts. Furthermore, appellate counsel conceded during oral argument that comparative culpability was not really an issue. Thus, Wright's death sentences are not disproportionate when compared to the life sentences received by codefendant Pitts.