Opinion ID: 1727306
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Applicability of Aggravating Circumstances

Text: Way challenges the trial court's findings that: (1) the murder in this case occurred during the commission of an arson; (2) Way was previously convicted of a violent felony, based only on the contemporaneous murder of his wife; (3) the murder was cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP); and (4) the murder was heinous, atrocious, and cruel (HAC). As we have previously stated, [I]t is not this Court's function to reweigh the evidence to determine whether the State proved each aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubtthat is the trial court's job. Rather, our task on appeal is to review the record to determine whether the trial court applied the right rule of law for each aggravating circumstance and, if so, whether competent substantial evidence supports its finding. Willacy v. State, 696 So.2d 693, 695 (Fla. 1997) (footnote omitted). We find that competent substantial evidence in the record supports the trial court's findings as to these aggravating circumstances. First, Way challenges the trial court's finding that the murder in this case occurred during the commission of an arson. As discussed above, the trial court did not improperly limit Way from introducing evidence to rebut this aggravating circumstance. On essentially the same evidence, we upheld the trial court's finding of the applicability of this aggravating circumstance during the direct appeal: Appellant next argues that the trial court erroneously found that the capital murder was committed while he was engaged in the crime of arson. In support, appellant avers to the fact that it could not be determined whether the victims died from the blunt trauma wounds or the fire, and that the blows were delivered prior to the fire. We agree with the state that the other committed felony, arson, need not be the cause of death to support this aggravating circumstance. Rather, it is sufficient that the capital murder occur during the same criminal episode as the enumerated felony, which was certainly the case in this instance. Accord Adams v. State, 412 So.2d 850, 854-55 (Fla.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 882, 103 S.Ct. 182, 74 L.Ed.2d 148 (1982) (cause of death was strangulation which occurred during the criminal episode of kidnapping and attempted rape); Scott v. State, 411 So.2d 866, 867 (Fla.1982) (cause of death was head injuries which occurred during the criminal episode of robbery and/or burglary). Way I, 496 So.2d at 128. We likewise find that the record during the resentencing proceeding supports the trial court's finding that this aggravating circumstance applies. Second, Way's conviction for the contemporaneous murder of Carol Way established the applicability of the aggravating circumstance that Way had previously been convicted of a felony involving the use of violence. See, e.g., Pooler v. State, 704 So.2d 1375, 1379 (Fla.1997); Mahn v. State, 714 So.2d 391, 399-400 (Fla.1998). Third, we find that the record supports the imposition of the aggravating circumstance that the murder was HAC. The trial court found that: The medical examiner, Dr. Charles Diggs, testified that Adrienne Way died from blunt trauma to the head and/or 100% total body burns. He further testified that she was alive at the time of the fire and that she could have moved in response to the fire after having suffered the blows to her head. A witness, Randall Hierlmeier, testified that when he came upon the scene, the Defendant was standing outside the burning garage, squirting a hose in the direction of a car parked in the garage. He testified that Defendant was making no attempts to enter the garage and was unresponsive to questions regarding who, if anyone, was in the garage. The witness heard screams coming from the garage and testified he saw someone engulfed in flames in the garage struggling to move. The brutal beating and burning of Adrienne Way, the daughter of the Defendant, sets this crime apart from the norm of capital felonies. Way argues that the evidence does not establish that this crime was HAC because the State failed to prove that Way intended to torture the victim or that the crime was meant to be especially painful. However, this Court has upheld the HAC aggravator in similar cases where the defendant bludgeoned and then burned a victim who was alive. See Willacy, 696 So.2d at 696 (victim beaten, strangled, and burned); Henry v. State, 613 So.2d 429, 433-34 (Fla.1992) (defendant incapacitated victims and then set them on fire); see also Lawrence v. State, 698 So.2d 1219, 1222 (Fla.1997) (We have consistently upheld HAC in beating deaths.); Wilson v. State, 493 So.2d 1019, 1023 (Fla.1986) (victim bludgeoned with a hammer and then shot). We agree with Way that the evidence must show that the victim was conscious and aware of her impending death to support this aggravating circumstance. See Zakrzewski v. State, 717 So.2d 488, 493 (Fla.1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1126, 119 S.Ct. 911, 142 L.Ed.2d 909 (1999); Jackson v. State, 451 So.2d 458, 463 (Fla.1984); Simmons v. State, 419 So.2d 316, 318-19 (Fla.1982). For example, in Simmons the defendant bludgeoned the victim with a sharp tool and then attempted to conceal the murder by burning the body. See Simmons, 419 So.2d at 317. This Court found in Simmons that the evidence did not support the finding of HAC because the victim was not aware he was going to be hit with the tool, which caused an instantaneous death. See id. at 319-18. However, unlike in Simmons, the evidence in this case supports a conclusion that Adrienne was aware of her impending death because she screamed her sister's nickname shortly after entering the garage. Further, she was alive during the fire because a witness heard her screaming and saw her struggling to move while engulfed in flames. Although Way argues that there was no evidence he intended to set his daughter on fire, the evidence shows that he obstructed efforts to extinguish the fire despite the fact that his daughter was screaming and engulfed in flames. While the Court's resolution of this issue during Way's original direct appeal is not dispositive because the finding of a mitigating or aggravating circumstance is not an ultimate fact that is binding during the resentencing proceeding, see Preston, 607 So.2d at 407-09, we previously rejected Way's very similar argument upon essentially the same evidence. [17] We again find that competent, substantial evidence supports the trial court's finding that the HAC aggravating circumstance applies. Fourth, we reject Way's claim that the record does not support the trial court's finding that the murder in this case was CCP. On very similar evidence during the original direct appeal, we found that the evidence supported the imposition of this aggravating circumstance. See Way I, 496 So.2d at 129. Further, during the resentencing, although the sentencing order stated that the record supported a finding that the murder was CCP, the order also stated that the trial court had not relied upon this aggravating circumstance because the State had not asserted its applicability during the resentencing proceedings. Because the jury had not been instructed on this aggravating circumstance and the trial court stated it did not consider this aggravating circumstance, even if the record does not support the imposition of this aggravating circumstance, we conclude that any error in the trial court's finding this aggravating circumstance applicable is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Sochor v. State, 619 So.2d 285, 293 (Fla.1993) (affirming death sentence despite the trial court's error in finding the aggravating circumstance of CCP applicable because if there is no likelihood of a different sentence, the error must be deemed harmless); cf. Sims v. State, 681 So.2d 1112, 1118 (Fla.1996) (concluding that the trial court did not err in finding applicable an aggravating circumstance that had not been alleged by the State and for which the jury had received no instruction).