Opinion ID: 1611278
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Capital Felony was Cold, Calculated, and Premeditated:

Text: In McCray v. State, 416 So.2d 804, 807 (Fla. 1982), this Court stated that this aggravating factor ordinarily applies in those murders which are characterized as executions or contract murders, although that description is not intended to be all-inclusive. There is no evidence to suggest that these are contract or execution style murders. In McCray, the defendant approached the van where the victim was seated, yelled, This is for you, and shot the victim three times. The Court found that the aggravating circumstance of cold, calculated, and premeditated did not apply. Similarly, in this case there is no competent and substantial evidence to indicate heightened premeditation. While several theories have been advanced as to why these murders took place, there is little evidence to support any of them. The trial court in its sentencing order seems to have accepted all of these theories, finding that they were committed for pecuniary gain, to eliminate witnesses, to effectuate escape, or as an underworld contract killing. Unfortunately, the trial court accepted these theories without the support of the record. Therefore, as aggravating circumstances, they must all be stricken. The remaining aggravating circumstances are that the capital felony was committed while Scull was engaged in committing a burglary, and that the murder of Lourdes Villegas was heinous, atrocious, and cruel. Scull raises one final issue on appeal. He alleges that the trial judge considered in his sentencing a victim impact statement (VIS) contained in the presentence investigation report (PSI). In doing so, Scull argues, the court violated the principles subsequently enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496, 107 S.Ct. 2529, 96 L.Ed.2d 440 (1987). The VIS involved here contained pleas from Mejides' mother and Villegas' sister, detailing the torment each family has suffered since the murders and requesting that Scull receive the death penalty. They were somewhat less detailed and articulate than the VIS in Booth, but essentially they operate in the same way. They both injected irrelevant material into the sentencing proceedings. We believe that it was error for the trial judge to consider these statements. However, the record is unclear as to whether the judge considered the VIS in his sentencing or whether he merely examined it without actually considering it for purposes of ordering a sentence of death. We further note that counsel made no objections to consideration of the statements. Because such statements are usually contained in a PSI, it is unreasonable to expect judges to excise those portions of the report that are not proper for consideration. Under Booth, it is error to admit the VIS into evidence before the sentencing or advisory jury. Similarly, it is error for a sentencing judge to consider those statements as evidence of aggravating circumstances. However, when a judge merely sees a victim impact statement contained in a presentence investigation report, but does not consider the statements for purposes of sentencing, no error has been committed. [] The state urges, on cross-appeal, that the two mitigating circumstances found by the trial court were unsupported by the evidence. We disagree that these circumstances (lack of prior criminal history and age of defendant) do not find support from the record. The proper standard for determining that a mitigating circumstance is invalid is whether the judge abused his discretion in finding that circumstance. [I]t is within the trial court's province to decide whether a mitigating circumstance is proven and the weight to be given it. Teffeteller v. State, 439 So.2d 840, 846 (Fla. 1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1074, 104 S.Ct. 1430, 79 L.Ed.2d 754 (1984). Scull has been adjudicated guilty of arson, robbery with a deadly weapon, armed burglary with intent to commit murder, possession of a weapon while committing a felony, and possession of cocaine, in addition to the two counts of first-degree murder. The state argues that, when considering the existence of this mitigating factor, it is proper to construe the term prior to mean prior to the sentencing, not the commission of the murder. Ruffin v. State, 397 So.2d 277, 283 (Fla.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 882, 102 S.Ct. 368, 70 L.Ed.2d 194 (1981). However, we do not believe that a history of prior criminal conduct can be established by contemporaneous crimes, and we recede from language in Ruffin to the contrary. It was within the trial judge's broad discretion to find that Scull had no significant prior criminal history, and that judgment will be upheld absent a showing of a clear abuse of that discretion. Teffeteller, 439 So.2d at 846. Since no such showing has been made in this case, the mitigating circumstance of lack of prior criminal history is valid. Scull was twenty-four years old when these murders were committed. The trial judge was in the best position to examine Scull's emotional and maturity level. This Court has frequently held that a sentencing court may decline to find age as a mitigating factor in cases in which the defendants were twenty to twenty-five years old at the time their offenses were committed. Garcia v. State, 492 So.2d 360 (Fla.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1022, 107 S.Ct. 680, 93 L.Ed.2d 730 (1986); Mills v. State, 476 So.2d 172 (Fla. 1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1031, 106 S.Ct. 1241, 89 L.Ed.2d 349 (1986). However, these cases do not address the question of whether a trial judge has abused his or her discretion by finding this mitigating circumstance. Scull's age of twenty-four alone could not establish a mitigating factor, but factors which were observable by the judge during the trial and sentencing proceeding support his finding that Scull's emotional age was low enough to sustain this mitigating circumstance. However, because we believe that the sentencing order is so replete with error, we cannot say that the sentence must be upheld. Accordingly, we affirm Scull's convictions for first degree murder and vacate his sentence of death. Further, we remand this cause to the trial court so that it may conduct proceedings without a jury and render a new sentencing order consistent with this opinion. It is so ordered. EHRLICH, C.J., and OVERTON, McDONALD, SHAW, BARKETT, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur.