Opinion ID: 1611278
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defendant Caused Great Risk of Death to Many People by Lighting a Fire:

Text: In King v. State, 390 So.2d 315 (Fla. 1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 989, 101 S.Ct. 1529, 67 L.Ed.2d 825 (1981), we held that under certain circumstances arson can be considered in aggravation for purposes of sentencing a defendant to death. However, we have recently revisited this position. In King v. State, 514 So.2d 354, 360 (Fla. 1987), we found that this aggravating circumstance should be invalidated. As in King, this case contains no facts that point to any person, inside or outside the house, who was at risk of death. On the contrary, the evidence indicates that the fire was confined to one room of a concrete block house and that the fire was minimal enough to have nearly burned out by the time firefighters arrived, six minutes after receiving the call. We cannot say that Scull's actions created great risk of death to many persons when it appears that he put no one at risk. `Great risk means not a mere possibility, but a likelihood or high probability.' Id. (quoting Kampff v. State, 371 So.2d 1007, 1009 (Fla. 1979)). Accordingly, we cannot agree that there is competent and substantial evidence to support a finding of this aggravating factor.