Opinion ID: 1128702
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The HAC Aggravator as to the Murder of Toni Neuner

Text: Next, James contends that the trial court erred in finding that the murder of Toni Neuner was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel because although the murder of Toni Neuner resulted from strangulation, it was not accompanied by any other acts of torture and from all accounts rendered the victim immediately unconscious. This Court has stated that when a victim is choked to death, it can be inferred that `strangulation, when perpetrated upon a conscious victim, involves foreknowledge of death, extreme anxiety and fear, and that this method of killing is one to which the factor of heinousness is applicable.' Sochor v. State, 580 So.2d 595 (Fla.1991),(quoting Tompkins v. State, 502 So.2d 415, 421 (Fla. 1986)), vacated on other grounds, 504 U.S. 527, 112 S.Ct. 2114, 119 L.Ed.2d 326 (1992). Although this Court also has explained that the HAC aggravator does not apply to most instantaneous deaths or to deaths that occur fairly quickly, fear, emotional strain, and terror of the victim during the events leading up to the murder may make an otherwise quick death especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. See Wyatt v. State, 641 So.2d 1336 (Fla.1994); Preston v. State, 607 So.2d 404 (Fla.1992). In this case, the trial court found in its sentencing order that the HAC aggravator was applicable to the murder of Toni Neuner, explaining in pertinent part: Toni Neuner's death was caused by a lack of oxygen, a cause of death consistent with strangulation. The defendant admitted that he picked Toni up from the couch by her neck. He saw her eyes open and they looked at each other. He looked at her eyes as he squeezed her neck until her eyes and tongue bulged out.... Toni knew the defendant well, and one can only imagine the fear and horror that she felt when her eyes opened and she felt her neck being strangled and the air being cut off from her during this murder as she looked in the defendant's face. The trial court's findings are fully supported by the record in this case. The medical examiner testified that Toni Neuner died from asphyxiation due to strangulation. In his confession to police shortly after he was apprehended in California, James told police that Toni woke up and opened her eyes and looked at him when he grabbed her by the neck and pulled her up from the couch where she had been sleeping. While the record reflectsand the State does not dispute that Toni died quickly, it is clear that she was conscious of both her attacker and her impending death in the moments preceding her actual death. Consequently, we find that the HAC aggravator was proven beyond a reasonable doubt in this case and the trial court's finding that it applied to the murder of Toni Neuner was not improper.