Opinion ID: 1096637
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: ccp and transferred intent

Text: I would also strike the CCP aggravator because the doctrine of transferred intent, relied on by the majority, is not applicable in this case. Diaz clearly acted with heightened premeditation in planning the killing of his former girlfriend, Lissa Shaw, and seriously wounded her in committing attempted murder as she fled from Diaz when he confronted her at her parents' home. The murder of her father, Charles Shaw, occurred some minutes later, after a confrontation that began in the yard and then moved to the garage and a bedroom of the Shaw home. Diaz did not shoot Charles Shaw in the course of the attempted murder of Lissa. Diaz's first attempt to shoot Charles failed because his gun was out of ammunition. Diaz reloaded his weapon, followed Charles into the bathroom of the house, and shot him three times. These actions provide ample evidence of a killing upon reflection that establishes the element of premeditation in the first-degree murder of Charles Shaw independently from the heightened premeditation supporting the attempted murder of Lissa Shaw. In other words, there is no need in this case to rely on Diaz's premeditated intent to kill Lissa as a basis for finding a premeditated intent to kill Charles. In my view, the statutory provision defining CCP and the standard jury instruction thereon require that the heightened premeditation supporting CCP arise from the element of premeditated design supporting the conviction of first-degree murder under section 782.04(1)(a)1, Florida Statutes (1997). Section 921.141(5)(i), Florida Statutes (1997), defines the CCP aggravator as follows: The capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification. The standard jury instruction on CCP, given in this case, provides: [As I have previously defined for you] a killing is premeditated if it occurs after the defendant consciously decides to kill. The decision must be present in the mind at the time of the killing. The law does not fix the exact period of time that must pass between the formation of the premeditated intent to kill and the killing. The period of time must be long enough to allow reflection by the defendant. The premeditated intent to kill must be formed before the killing. However, in order for this aggravating circumstance to apply, a heightened level of premeditation, demonstrated by a substantial period of reflection, is required. Fla. Std. Jury Inst. (Crim.) 7.11. Under both the statutory provision and the jury instruction, the premeditated intent supporting the CCP aggravator is the same premeditation underlying the murder conviction, raised to a higher level. In my view, the murder of Charles Shaw does not meet the definition of CCP because it arose from a separate premeditated intent fueled by the defendant's failed attempt to either reconcile with or kill Lissa Shaw, rather than the heightened premeditation that would have supported CCP had Diaz succeeded in killing Lissa. Precedent in which we have approved a CCP finding based on transferred intent is consistent with this view. In Provenzano v. State, 497 So.2d 1177 (Fla.1986), the defendant killed a bailiff in a shooting spree when another bailiff attempted to stop Provenzano from reaching into his pocket for a weapon he had brought into a courtroom to effectuate his plan to kill the officers who had arrested him. This Court recognized that the facts did not fit the usual scenario for transferred intent, such as when a defendant aims and shoots at A intending to kill him but instead misses and kills B. Id. at 1180. However, we held that the transferred intent doctrine supported the firstdegree murder conviction because the premeditated design to kill the two officers directly resulted in the death of another human being. Id. at 1181. In approving the finding of CCP based on the same evidence, we stated: Heightened premeditation necessary for this circumstance does not have to be directed toward the specific victim. Rather, as the statute indicates, if the murder was committed in a manner that was cold and calculated, the aggravating circumstance of heightened premeditation is applicable. (Emphasis supplied.) The facts herein indicate that the manner in which Provenzano effectuated his design of death was cold, calculated and premeditated beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 1183. In contrast, in this case the murder of Charles Shaw resulted indirectly from the premeditated design to kill Lissa, and was not committed in a calculated manner. Other cases in which we have approved a CCP finding are similarly distinguishable in that they involved a single act or course of conduct directly harming an unintended victim. In Sweet v. State, 624 So.2d 1138, 1142 (Fla.1993), the defendant shot and wounded Cofer, his intended victim, and killed a neighbor while both were trying to escape an apartment Sweet was attempting to enter. This Court rejected Sweet's challenge to the CCP aggravator on grounds that the person he killed was not the subject of his planning, and stated: Sweet was probably surprised by the presence of Cofer's neighbors, and planning is not the equivalent of shooting skill. Id. at 1142. In Howell v. State, 707 So.2d 674 (Fla.1998), this Court approved a CCP finding on evidence showing that a bomb contained in a microwave oven, which was intended for a different victim, killed a Florida Highway Patrol trooper during a roadside investigation. Finally, Bell v. State, 699 So.2d 674 (Fla. 1997), involved a retribution killing of the wrong person in a case of mistaken identity. Unlike these cases, the original murderous intent in this case did not directly result in the death of another human being. As reflected in the majority opinion, after Diaz and Charles Shaw confronted one another in the yard and garage, Diaz chased Charles into the master bedroom, pointed the gun at him and pulled the trigger, reloaded the gun after it did not fire, followed Charles into the bathroom, shot him three times, and then, after pausing thirty seconds to a minute, shot him twice more, including once in the head. See majority op. at 964. These facts demonstrate a premeditated intent that was separate from the failed attempt to kill Lissa Shaw, and that did not reach the level of heightened premeditation. Nor, contrary to the conclusion in the majority opinion, was the killing committed in a manner that can be deemed calculated. [11] By his own statement to the victim's wife at the time of the murder, Diaz decided to kill Charles Shaw only because his attempt to murder Shaw's daughter failed. See majority op. at 964. While Diaz may have calculated the murder of Lissa, there is no evidence that he calculated the murder of Charles. Cf. Amoros v. State, 531 So.2d 1256, 1261 (Fla.1988) (finding insufficient evidence that the defendant's plan to kill his former girlfriend encompassed her housemate). Consistent with our precedent, the CCP finding should comport with the purpose of the transferred intent rule: to hold a defendant criminally liable to the full extent of his or her criminal culpability. State v. Fekete, 120 N.M. 290, 901 P.2d 708, 714 (N.M.1995). However, in this case the CCP determination holds Diaz fully responsible in his killing of Charles for his heightened premeditation in the attempted murder of Lissa, beyond the full extent of his criminal culpability. As stated in Mordica v. State, 618 So.2d 301, 304 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993), [t]he doctrine of transferred intent, by definition, operates to transfer the defendant's intent as to the intended victim to the unintended victim, and nothing more. In this case, intent transfers as to the aggravator but not as to the element of premeditation supporting the conviction of first-degree murder. In my view, Diaz's conviction for the murder of Charles rests on legally sufficient evidence of premeditation in the confrontation between the two men after Lissa left the scene, whereas the heightened premeditation necessary to establish CCP requires reliance on evidence of a premeditated design to kill Lissa, which culminated in her attempted murder. In approving, for purposes of sentence aggravation, the transfer of an intent that was unnecessary to prove the underlying crime, the majority employs the transferred intent doctrine in a manner inconsistent with its purpose. Therefore, I would strike the CCP aggravator. Invalidation of the HAC and CCP aggravating factors in this case leaves only the single aggravating factor of a prior violent felony conviction, resting on the attempted murder of Lissa and the burglary of the Shaws' home. In light of the substantial mitigation found by the trial court, I cannot conclude that the death penalty is proportionate to other singleaggravator cases in which we have affirmed sentences of death. As a general rule, this Court affirms death sentences based on a single aggravator either where there is little or nothing in mitigation, or where a prior murder was involved. See Almeida v. State, 748 So.2d 922, 933 (Fla. 1999); Jones v. State, 705 So.2d 1364, 1366 (Fla.1998). Diaz was not previously involved in a murder, and the trial court found six mitigators, including three statutory mitigators, and gave three mitigators moderate weight, including the mitigator of commission of the capital crime under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance. I would reduce Diaz's sentence to life imprisonment. ANSTEAD, C.J., and SHAW, Senior Justice, concur.