Opinion ID: 1922393
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Weight Given to the Mitigating Circumstances

Text: Bevel also contends that the trial court erred in giving too little weight to the mitigating circumstances and in concluding that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances. In its sentencing order, the court found six nonstatutory mitigating circumstances applicable to both murders and assigned each minimal, little or very little weight. This Court reviews a trial court's assignment of weight to mitigation under an abuse of discretion standard. See Blanco v. State, 706 So.2d 7, 10 (Fla.1997). In this case, the trial court explained its reasoning in finding all of the nonstatutory mitigators to be of little weight. We discuss only the weight assigned to the mitigating circumstance of Bevel's low IQ. [9] In assigning this mitigator little weight, the trial court stated the following: The defense next presented evidence and argument that the defendant has an IQ of 65. The Court finds that this mitigating circumstance was proven. However, it was also proven that the defendant has been self-supporting and living on his own since the age of eighteen, that he reads and writes well, and that he needed no assistance to take care of himself, having exhibited the ability to hold down a steady job and provide well for himself. Although it may be questionable for the trial court to assign such little weight to the mitigating circumstance that a defendant has an extremely low IQ of 65, especially where an expert places him or her within the mild range of mental retardation, we find no abuse of discretion in this instance because there was also significant contradictory evidence demonstrating that Bevel's IQ may have been higher and that he was capable of functioning in society. In other words, there was no evidence presented as to any functional deficits that Bevel experienced throughout his life as a result of a low IQ or any demonstration of a relationship to the circumstances of this crime. Moreover, in rejecting his age as a statutory mitigator, the trial court found that Bevel was a twenty-two year old man of average intelligence; thus, the court apparently gave Bevel the benefit of the doubt in finding low IQ as a nonstatutory mitigating circumstance. In this case, there is simply no indication that the trial court abused its discretion in assigning weight to the mitigators. See Perez v. State, 919 So.2d 347, 372 (Fla.2005). Moreover, even if we were to conclude that the trial court erred in failing to give this mitigator greater weight, that error would be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Further, the trial court found that the aggravating circumstances heavily outweighed the mitigating circumstances. In fact, the trial court stated that [e]ither aggravator, standing alone, would still outweigh the mitigators. This Court has consistently held that weighing the aggravating circumstances against the mitigating circumstances is the trial judge's responsibility and it is not this Court's function to reweigh those factors. Hoskins v. State, 965 So.2d 1, 19 (Fla.2007); accord Connor v. State, 803 So.2d 598, 612 (Fla.2001). Accordingly, we reject these claims.