Opinion ID: 1670351
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: walton

Text: At the outset, while we must acknowledge that the U.S. Supreme Court in Ring simply failed to give express direction as to the impact of Ring on Florida's death penalty scheme, we cannot properly ignore the fact that the same Court has previously observed that Florida's death penalty scheme is no different than Arizona's in failing to provide for jury findings: The distinctions Walton attempts to draw between the Florida and Arizona statutory schemes are not persuasive. It is true that in Florida the jury recommends a sentence, but it does not make specific factual findings with regard to the existence of mitigating or aggravating circumstances and its recommendation is not binding on the trial judge. A Florida trial court no more has the assistance of a jury's findings of fact with respect to sentencing issues than does a trial judge in Arizona. Walton, 497 U.S. at 648, 110 S.Ct. 3047 (emphasis supplied). In view of the Supreme Court's express observation in Walton as to the lack of a requirement for jury findings in Florida, I believe we have an obligation to address the impact of Apprendi and Ring on Florida's sentencing scheme in greater detail than the examination contained in the plurality opinion. After all, the Supreme Court in Ring has already dramatically departed from its own precedent when it acknowledged error in its previous evaluation of this issue in Walton, where it had concluded that the Sixth Amendment did not require that the specific findings authorizing the imposition of death be made by the jury.