Opinion ID: 1804987
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Two Towers: Our Decisions in Bottoson and King Considering Whether Ring v. Arizona Applies in Florida

Text: We first analyzed the effect of Ring on Florida law in two cases decided four months after Ring. See Bottoson v. Moore, 833 So.2d 693, 695 (Fla.), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1070, 123 S.Ct. 662, 154 L.Ed.2d 564 (2002); King v. Moore, 831 So.2d 143 (Fla.), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1067, 123 S.Ct. 657, 154 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002). Neither case commanded a majority, however. In Bottoson, three justices joined the per curiam opinion denying relief. That opinion noted that the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld Florida's capital sentencing statute. [14] It then cited that court's admonition that [i]f a precedent of this Court has direct application in a case, yet appears to rest on reasons rejected in some other line of decisions, the [other courts] should follow the case which directly controls, leaving to this Court the prerogative of overruling its own decisions. Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/American Express, Inc., 490 U.S. 477, 484, 109 S.Ct. 1917, 104 L.Ed.2d 526 (1989), quoted in Bottoson, 833 So.2d at 695. Several justices wrote separate opinions in Bottoson explaining their concerns with Ring, some believing that Ring may apply to Florida's sentencing scheme in some circumstances. No majority view emerged, however. In King, 831 So.2d at 143, decided the same day as Bottoson, the Court was similarly splintered. This time, the per curiam opinion, based on essentially the same reasoning as the one in Bottoson, garnered only two votes. [15] Again, the justices filed separate opinions, but no majority view prevailed.