Opinion ID: 1107764
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: probability of a life sentence

Text: In order to grant a new penalty phase based on newly discovered evidence, the newly discovered evidence must be of such a nature that it would probably result in a life sentence. Rutherford v. State, 926 So.2d 1100, 1108 (Fla.2006). Williamson asserts that even if the newly discovered evidence would not create a likelihood of acquittal in a retrial, the Sanchez-Velasco affidavit and Omer's postconviction motion and evidentiary hearing testimony would be admissible in the penalty phase to create residual doubt of guilt and negate the heightened premeditation necessary for the cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP) aggravating factor found by the trial court. We conclude that under both the standard of review applied to summary denials and the standard of review applied to denials after an evidentiary hearing, this claim is also without merit. This Court has held that residual or lingering doubt . . . is not an appropriate matter to be raised in mitigation during the penalty phase proceedings of a capital case. Rose v. State, 675 So.2d 567, 572 n. 5 (Fla.1996); see also Reynolds v. State, 934 So.2d 1128, 1152 (Fla.2006) (concluding that the trial court appropriately excluded evidence offered to establish residual or lingering doubt from consideration when making its sentencing determination). Further, although section 921.141(1), Florida Statutes (2006), `relaxes the evidentiary rules during the penalty phase of a capital trial' a party cannot introduce hear-say evidence unless the opposing party has a fair opportunity to rebut the hearsay. Parker v. State, 873 So.2d 270, 282 (Fla. 2004) (quoting Blackwood v. State, 777 So.2d 399, 411 (Fla.2000)). In Parker, this Court affirmed a trial court's decision to exclude contents of an affidavit by a deceased victim that were not admissible under section 90.804, Florida Statutes, on grounds that the State had no fair opportunity to rebut because the State could not question the victim. Id. The Sanchez-Velasco affidavit would be excludable from a new penalty phase under the same rationale. Even if we assume that the Sanchez-Velasco affidavit and Omer's motion and evidentiary hearing testimony would be admissible during a new penalty phase, it is unlikely that this evidence would rebut evidence of the CCP aggravator. In the sentencing order, the trial court explained its finding that the murder was CCPone of three aggravators, with no mitigation as follows: The Defendant had not even a pretense of justification for murdering the decedent. The Defendant testified on his own behalf at the sentencing phase and admitted stabbing the decedent multiple times. The evidence was conclusive that the Defendant was the primary leader in planning the murder, securing a weapon, and personally committing the murderous act. Although he denied having the brass rod, the evidence is clear that he took it with him for the sole purpose of committing the murder. After the murder, the Defendant meticulously sought to conceal evidence and impede the investigation. The cold manner of the murder was further evidenced by the Defendant's statements in effect reflecting that he was disappointed that it took so much effort to kill the decedent. Later statements to Omer James Williamson, reflected that the Defendant was very aware that the State needed sufficient evidence of premeditation in order to convict for first degree murder, and that an absence of the weapons available to the prosecution as evidence, particularly the brass rod, would be helpful to his case. The pathologist testified that the body of the decedent contained several marks made by a blunt instrument, which supported the testimony of Omer James Williamson that the Defendant had unsuccessfully tried to stab the [decedent] with the brass rod. In summary, the Defendant committed a murder for no reason at all; his only explanation suggested that he didn't know why he had done it. But it is unequivocally clear that he planned the murder and executed it with precision, according to the plan. This murder is best put in proper perspective, by the observation that this homicide so offended even the inmates at Cross City Correctional Institution, that several broke the code of silence, testified for the State at the trial concerning what they had witnessed, and thereby risked their own personal safety thereafter in the prison system. The nature of the cumulative and negligible impeachment of Baez and Omer regarding Williamson's premeditation and Omer's motivation for the killing is not such that it probably would have produced a life sentence. See Rutherford, 926 So.2d at 1108.