Opinion ID: 1689255
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Committed While on Probation Aggravator

Text: Next, Lebron argues that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that Lebron was on felony probation at the time the crimes for which he was convicted were committed, and then finding this as an aggravating circumstance. This Court has held that, where, as here, the subject felony probation aggravator did not exist at the time the murder was committed, the trial court's finding of this aggravator violates the ex post facto provisions of the United States and Florida Constitutions. See Merck v. State, 763 So.2d 295, 299 (Fla.2000); Lukehart v. State, 762 So.2d 482 (Fla.2000); Zack v. State, 753 So.2d 9 (Fla.2000). While this Court has held that a defendant can waive ex post facto protections as part of an agreed-upon bargain by both parties, see Bowles v. Singletary, 698 So.2d 1201 (Fla.1997) (finding that the inmate had waived any ex post facto argument as to forfeiture of gain time upon revocation of control release by accepting terms and conditions of early release under control release program), that is not the situation here. [I]t is firmly established law that the statutes in effect at the time of commission of a crime control as to the offenses for which the perpetrator can be convicted, as well as the punishments which may be imposed. State v. Smith, 547 So.2d 613, 616 (Fla.1989) (quoting with approval Heath v. State, 532 So.2d 9, 10 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)), quoted in Bates v. State, 750 So.2d 6, 19 (Fla.1999) (Harding, C.J., specially concurring). Although at least one of Lebron's two remaining aggravators was grave (involving his two prior violent felony convictions), and the death penalty has been upheld in cases similar to this one [18] where there was no serious issue of the relative culpability of codefendants, the judge's error in finding the felony probation aggravator, which was not part of Florida law at the time the murder occurred, requires that we vacate Lebron's sentence of death, and order a new penalty-phase proceeding before a jury.