Opinion ID: 2494456
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Ring and the Unanimous Jury Verdict of Guilty

Text: Rigterink alleges that Florida's capital sentencing scheme fails to satisfy the constitutional requirements articulated in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), and that Florida's capital sentencing scheme is unconstitutional because the judge, rather than the jury, determines the sentence and the jury's recommendation need not be unanimous. This Court has consistently rejected similar challenges to Florida's capital sentencing scheme, and Rigterink has merely presented his general objections to this Court's prior precedent. For example, in Frances v. State, 970 So.2d 806, 822 (Fla.2007), this Court addressed the challenges that Rigterink raised in this case concerning Florida's capital sentencing scheme: [I]n over fifty cases since Ring's release, this Court has rejected similar Ring claims. See Marshall v. Crosby, 911 So.2d 1129, 1134 n. 5 (Fla.2005), cert. denied, 547 U.S. 1143, 126 S.Ct. 2059, 164 L.Ed.2d 807 (2006). As the Court's plurality opinion in Bottoson v. Moore, 833 So.2d 693 (Fla.2002), noted, the United States Supreme Court repeatedly has reviewed and upheld Florida's capital sentencing statute over the past quarter of a century. Id. at 695 & n. 4 (listing as examples Hildwin v. Florida, 490 U.S. 638, 109 S.Ct. 2055, 104 L.Ed.2d 728 (1989), Spaziano v. Florida, 468 U.S. 447, 104 S.Ct. 3154, 82 L.Ed.2d 340 (1984), Barclay v. Florida, 463 U.S. 939, 103 S.Ct. 3418, 77 L.Ed.2d 1134 (1983), and Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976)); see also King v. Moore, 831 So.2d 143 (Fla.2002) (denying relief under Ring ). [The defendant's] claim is without merit. Ring did not alter the express exemption in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), that prior convictions are exempt from the Sixth Amendment requirements announced in the cases. Id. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348. [N.5.] This Court has repeatedly relied on the presence of the prior violent felony aggravating circumstance in denying Ring claims. See, e.g., Smith v. State, 866 So.2d 51, 68 (Fla.2004) (denying relief on Ring claim and specifically not[ing] that one of the aggravating factors present in this matter is a prior violent felony conviction); Davis v. State, 875 So.2d 359, 374 (Fla.2003) (We have denied relief in direct appeals where there has been a prior violent felony aggravator.); Johnston v. State, 863 So.2d 271, 286 (Fla.2003) (stating that the existence of a prior violent felony conviction alone satisfies constitutional mandates because the conviction was heard by a jury and determined beyond a reasonable doubt); Henry v. State, 862 So.2d 679, 687 (Fla.2003) (stating in postconviction case that this Court has previously rejected Ring claims in cases involving the aggravating factor of a previous violent felony conviction). [N.5.] In Apprendi, the Supreme Court held that  [o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to the jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. 530 U.S. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348 (emphasis added). Additionally, this Court has rejected claims that Ring requires the aggravating circumstances to be individually found by a unanimous jury verdict. See Hodges v. State, 885 So.2d 338, 359 nn. 9-10 (Fla.2004); Blackwelder v. State, 851 So.2d 650, 654 (Fla.2003); Porter v. Crosby, 840 So.2d 981, 986 (Fla.2003). The Court has also repeatedly rejected challenges to Florida's standard jury instructions based on Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985). See Mansfield v. State, 911 So.2d 1160, 1180 (Fla.2005); Sochor v. State, 619 So.2d 285, 291 (Fla. 1993); Turner v. Dugger, 614 So.2d 1075, 1079 (Fla.1992). In this case, the trial court accepted the jury's death recommendations and found the following aggravators: (1) prior-violent-felony convictions as to each victim (i.e., the contemporaneous conviction for each murder); (2) HAC with regard to each victim; and (3) witness elimination with regard to victim Sousa. Therefore, the court found an indisputable aggravator with regard to each victim, as well as one additional aggravator with regard to victim Jarvis, and two additional aggravators with regard to victim Sousa. During the guilt phase, the jury also unanimously found Rigterink guilty of each first-degree murder, thereby satisfying the mandates of the Federal and Florida Constitutions. See Frances, 970 So.2d at 822; see also Kimbrough v. State, 886 So.2d 965, 984 (Fla.2004); Doorbal v. State, 837 So.2d 940, 963 (Fla.2003) (each addressing the presence of indisputable aggravators). Accordingly, Rigterink is not entitled to relief on this claim.