Opinion ID: 1830375
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: extreme duress or substantial domination mitigator

Text: White's third claim is that the trial court erred in failing to find the statutory mitigating circumstance that White acted under extreme duress or under the substantial domination of another during the murder. A trial court may reject a defendant's claim that a mitigating circumstance has been established provided that the record contains competent, substantial evidence to support the rejection. See Connor, 803 So.2d at 611; Nibert v. State, 574 So.2d 1059, 1062 (Fla.1990). Whether a mitigating factor has been proven by the evidence is a question of fact subject to the competent, substantial evidence standard. See Zack, 753 So.2d at 19. In rejecting the extreme duress statutory mitigator the trial court found: There was no evidence that Defendant acted under extreme duress. The evidence from other members of the Outlaws showed that Defendant was a follower, not a leader, and because of his alcoholism, could not be depended upon within the organization. Dr. Caddy testified that Defendant was a man who was readily available to be influenced by others, due to his intoxication, alcoholism, polysubstance abuse and personality variables. The State concedes that Defendant had a need for approval from the other members of the Outlaws which influenced him to be drawn into unlawful activities of the other members. The fact that he was in the company of another Outlaw club member when he committed the murder, to some extent, may have influenced him to carry it out. However, while Defendant may have been a follower and easily influenced, such evidence is insufficient to establish that Defendant committed this crime under the substantial domination of another. The evidence does not suggest such a leap. While some evidence suggested that the murder may have initially been Smith's idea, there was no evidence that Defendant was under the substantial domination of anyone at the point where he stabbed the victim. Therefore, this Court rejects the existence of this mitigating circumstance. State v. White, order at 5. The present case is similar to Valdes v. State, 626 So.2d 1316, 1324 (Fla.1993), in which this Court upheld the rejection of the extreme duress or substantial domination statutory mitigator. In Valdes, this Court found: Here, the evidence offered to support Valdes' claim of substantial domination by Van Poyck was Valdes' former girlfriend's testimony that Valdes went with Van Poyck the morning of the murder to do him a favor, that they had moved to Fort Lauderdale to get away from Van Poyck, and that Van Poyck was dominant over Valdes. However, Valdes clearly participated equally in the escape attempt and murder. Valdes provided the murder weapon, and he was the one who forced Griffis from the van and took him to the back of the vehicle, where he was executed. The testimony indicated that Valdes and Van Poyck acted in concert during the entire episode. Contrary to Valdes' argument, the fact that we previously characterized Van Poyck as the major participant in this incident does not mean Valdes' participation was minor. We find substantial competent evidence to support the trial court's rejection of these proposed mitigators. Id. at 1324 (emphasis added). In the present case, there was similar evidence supporting the trial court's finding that White played the dominant role in committing this murder. There is no evidence that anyone externally pressured White at the time of the stabbing murder of Crawford. There is evidence in the record, however, that White stabbed Crawford fourteen times and slit her throat before giving the knife to DiMarino to slice her throat. White told his girlfriend to forget that she had heard the beating of Crawford. After taking the keys to his girlfriend's car, White helped to carry Crawford to this car and initially drove the car when taking the victim from the Outlaws' clubhouse. White also provided the murder weapon, a knife. Accordingly, we conclude that there is competent, substantial evidence in the record supporting the trial court's rejection of the extreme duress statutory mitigator. See also San Martin v. State, 705 So.2d 1337, 1348 (Fla.1997) (affirming rejection of extreme duress or substantial domination mitigator where evidence established that defendant was integral part of planning and execution of crimes); Raleigh v. State, 705 So.2d 1324, 1330 (Fla.1997) (same); Hill v. State, 515 So.2d 176, 178 (Fla.1987) (same).