Opinion ID: 1609154
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The death sentence is disproportionate.

Text: Merck bases this issue primarily upon the contention in point B that the heinous, atrocious, or cruel aggravator should be stricken. We have rejected that contention and likewise reject the contention that death is disproportionate in this stabbing murder. Whitton; Derrick v. State, 641 So.2d 378 (Fla. 1994), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 943, 130 L.Ed.2d 887 (1995); Taylor v. State, 630 So.2d 1038 (Fla. 1993), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 107, 130 L.Ed.2d 54 (1994); Atwater v. State, 626 So.2d 1325 (Fla. 1993), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. 1578, 128 L.Ed.2d 221 (1994). We do not find this case similar to Kramer v. State, 619 So.2d 274 (Fla. 1993). The mitigating factors found to exist in Kramer are not found to exist in this case. Id. at 278. As a separate issue numbered 5, Merck challenges the current standard jury instruction on the heinous, atrocious, or cruel statutory aggravator. We upheld the instruction against similar challenges in Taylor and Hall v. State, 614 So.2d 473 (Fla.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. 109, 126 L.Ed.2d 74 (1993). We affirm. In Merck's issue 2, he asserts that the death sentence is invalid because the jury heard and the trial court expressly considered testimony concerning Merck shooting in the face a laundromat operator in Sylva, North Carolina, when Merck was 14. In her sentencing order, the trial court found as an aggravating factor the following: 1. F.S. 921.141(5)(b): The defendant was previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person. The Court finds that this factor was established beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt. The State presented testimony that on March 15, 1989, the Defendant, TROY MERCK, JR., while armed with a knife, robbed a convenience store in Marion County, Florida. On March 22, 1989, the defendant, TROY MERCK, JR., while armed with a knife, robbed a convenience store in Pasco County, Florida. On March 23, 1989, the defendant, TROY MERCK, JR., while armed with a knife, robbed three separate convenience stores in Lake County, Florida. While no one was injured in any of the five robberies, the store keeper in each convenience store was threatened. The defendant was adjudicated guilty of each of the armed robberies. These are proper aggravating factors. In addition to the robberies listed above, the defendant, TROY MERCK, JR., while a juvenile, committed an offense of Assault with a Deadly Weapon, in North Carolina. On January 8, 1986, the defendant, TROY MERCK, JR., entered a laundromat operated by Fawn Chastain. When she discovered his presence, Ms. Chastain asked the defendant, TROY MERCK, JR., to leave the premises. As Ms. Chastain went to lock the door behind him, the defendant, TROY MERCK, JR., shot her in the face with a rifle, the bullet lodging in her head. There apparently was no provocation for the assault. The defendant, TROY MERCK, JR., was convicted and adjudicated a delinquent for this offense. This is also a proper aggravating factor under F.S. 921.141(5)(b). During the penalty phase, the State introduced the judgments and sentences for the five prior felonies involving the use or threat of violence which occurred in the state of Florida. The State thereafter introduced testimony relating to the shooting by Merck of a laundromat operator in North Carolina. Fawn Chastain testified that while she was working in a laundromat in Sylva, North Carolina, on January 8, 1986, Merck intentionally shot her in the face when she would not allow him to enter the laundromat after closing. The State also introduced testimony of the law enforcement officer from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation who investigated the shooting. No objection was made to the introduction of this evidence. The State next sought to introduce the judgment and sentence from the North Carolina case. At this point, Merck objected on the basis that the North Carolina incident was a juvenile adjudication which is not a criminal conviction under North Carolina or Florida law. The trial court sustained this objection. Merck moved for mistrial based on the jury's having heard the testimony of Fawn Chastain and the North Carolina law enforcement officer. Merck's motion for mistrial was denied. Merck sought a curative instruction (no specific instruction was proffered), and the court ruled that a curative instruction would not be appropriate. The trial court instructed the State not to refer to the North Carolina judgment for the remainder of the penalty phase before the jury, and the State complied. It is clear from the record that the genesis of the error asserted in this issue was counsel's failure to recognize or make the court aware prior to the admission of evidence about the North Carolina shooting that the shooting was a juvenile adjudication, not a conviction as defined under North Carolina or Florida statutes. We do note that the trial judge concluded that this error was in fact a good-faith mistake, and not an act on the part of counsel to create error. We accept the trial court's conclusion and approve the procedure followed by the trial judge in conducting the remainder of the jury proceeding. However, we agree with Merck that the juvenile adjudication was not a conviction within the meaning of section 921.141(5)(b), Florida Statutes (1993). This is expressly mandated in section 39.053, Florida Statutes (1993), and section 7A-638, General Statutes of North Carolina (1993). Despite correctly sustaining the objection to the admissibility of the North Carolina judgment, the trial court erred in stating in her sentencing order, This is also a proper aggravating factor under F.S. 921.141(5)(b). We find the inclusion of this juvenile adjudication similar to the erroneous inclusion of community control as an aggravating factor in Trotter v. State, 576 So.2d 691 (Fla. 1990). As noted in Trotter, penal statutes must be strictly construed in favor of the one against whom a penalty is imposed. Id. at 694. We therefore conclude, as we did in Trotter, that a resentencing before a jury is required. We find this case to be unlike Jones v. State, 440 So.2d 570 (Fla. 1983), because we cannot find that the trial court's inclusion of the North Carolina delinquency adjudication was surplusage. We acknowledge that there was other substantial evidence to support the aggravating factor in section 921.141(5)(b). Nevertheless, from our review of the record we cannot say that the dramatic testimony concerning the North Carolina shooting did not taint the recommendation of the jury. As in Trawick v. State, 473 So.2d 1235 (Fla. 1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1143, 106 S.Ct. 2254, 90 L.Ed.2d 699 (1986), we find this to be an additional reason to require resentencing before a jury. We distinguish Campbell v. State, 571 So.2d 415 (Fla. 1990), because that case involved juvenile convictions. Our decision in this case is not to be read to mean that convictions of individuals who are juveniles which otherwise come within section 921.141(5)(b) are eliminated from consideration because the individuals are juveniles. Rather, our decision applies only to adjudications of delinquency which by statute are not convictions. We affirm the conviction and remand for resentencing consistent with this opinion. It is so ordered. GRIMES, C.J., and OVERTON, SHAW, KOGAN and HARDING, JJ., concur. WELLS, J., concurs with an opinion. ANSTEAD, J., concurs as to the conviction, and concurs in result only as to the sentence.