Opinion ID: 1959135
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: other statutory mitigation

Text: The trial court also found that the mitigator that Nelson's capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired was not proven. [11] The trial court referred to Nelson's calculated but suspicious actions, as observed by witness Steven Weir, when Nelson got the car stuck in the sand. The trial court noted that once the car was extricated, Nelson deliberately drove to another grove and took the victim 175 feet into the grove before killing her. The trial court held: This indicates that his capacity to appreciate the criminality of his act was not substantially impaired. He knew that his conduct was criminal and he took logical steps to conceal his actions from others. Further, there was competent, substantial evidence refuting the allegation that Nelson lacked the capacity to appreciate the criminality of his acts and to conform to the requirements of law due to brain damage. As we discussed previously, the trial court was entitled to reject Dr. Dee's opinion that Nelson suffered from brain damage if it found that the facts in the case did not support the expert opinion. See Walls, 641 So.2d at 390-91. [12] Further, there was no documentation that Nelson actually suffered fetal alcohol syndrome or that he ever incurred a head injury. Evidence was presented that Nelson knew his actions were wrong. In addition to the examples cited by the trial court (Nelson's removing the victim from her house and taking her to an orange grove, concealing her presence in the trunk from the heavy equipment operator who helped him out of the sand, driving to a second orange grove, and taking the victim 175 feet into the grove), other evidence was presented at trial: Nelson replaced the screen on the outside where he climbed into Brace's home; he lied to Deputy Pope and the Avon Park police about the car being loaned to him by Brace, whom he characterized as a family friend; and he made up a fake phone number for Brace when the police asked him for her number. These purposeful actions are indicative of someone who knew those acts were wrong and who could conform his conduct to the law if he so desired. See Provenzano v. State, 497 So.2d 1177, 1184 (Fla.1986) (stating that Provenzano's actions on the day of the murder did not support the mitigator that the defendant's capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired because he concealed the weapons he carried, he put change in the parking meter, and took his knapsack out to his car instead of allowing it to be searched because it would have exposed his illegal possession of weapons). Therefore, we affirm the trial court's evaluation and rejection of the three statutory mitigators discussed above.