Opinion ID: 2543852
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Acceptance of Responsibility

Text: Ault next challenges the trial court's rejection of the mitigating circumstance that he accepted responsibility for the killing of Deanne and Alicia. In considering this mitigation, the trial court consolidated three proposed mitigators: (1) Ault accepted responsibility for the killing of Deanne and Alicia; (2) Ault confessed to the crimes he committed; and (3) Ault cooperated with the police and signed a consent to search form. The trial court simply rejected each of these proposed mitigators without explanation. Because the sentencing order is deficient under this Court's precedent, we find that the trial court's ruling was error. First, the trial court failed to discuss any of the evidence presented in support of or in opposition to these proposed mitigators. See Harris, 843 So.2d at 869. It was uncontroverted that Ault confessed to the crime; his videotaped confession was played to the jury during the penalty phase. Further, Detective Rhodes testified that Ault brought him to his apartment and told him where the victims' bodies were hidden. At that time, Ault also gave his consent to a search of his home. Other evidence might have been weighed against a finding that Ault accepted responsibility or cooperated with the police. Donna Jones, the victims' mother, testified that when she arrived at Ault's home on the day of her daughters' disappearance, Ault lied and told her that he had not seen the girls. Detective Rhodes testified that Ault and his wife voluntarily came to the Oakland Park Police Department on November 5, the day after the victims' disappearance, and that Ault again stated that he did not know where the girls were. Ault did not confess to the murders until after he was arrested on an unrelated charge. Ault, 866 So.2d at 677-78. Additionally, Dr. Carter testified that she believed Ault was malingering on psychological evaluations and attempting to fake mental illness in an effort to evade responsibility. She also testified that during the interviews she conducted Ault frequently attempted to place responsibility for the murders on other circumstances or individuals. Second, each of these factors has been considered mitigating in nature. See Zommer v. State, 31 So.3d 733, 744 (Fla.2010) (stating that the trial court found and assigned little weight to the nonstatutory mitigator that the defendant accepted responsibility for his actions), petition for cert. filed, No. 09-11400 (U.S. June 9, 2010); Sinclair v. State, 657 So.2d 1138, 1140 n. 2 (Fla. 1995) (noting that trial court weighed the defendant's cooperation with police as mitigation); DeAngelo v. State, 616 So.2d 440, 443 (Fla.1993) (noting that the trial court found as mitigation that the defendant confessed to the crime). Because the trial court's sentencing order fails to evaluate any of the evidence presented at trial relating to this mitigation, and because each proposed circumstance can be mitigating in nature, we find that its ruling on this point was error. See Coday, 946 So.2d at 1003.