Opinion ID: 1670351
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: recommendations for administering florida's death statute in light of ring

Text: I believe that we must confront the fact that the implications of Ring are inescapable. Therefore, the remaining question for this Court is whether there are any immediate steps we can take in light of Ring to provide prospective guidance to the trial courts. In my view, there are two concrete steps this Court can and should take, both of which will further ensure the integrity of Florida's death penalty proceedings and neither of which would run afoul of our present death penalty scheme. First, I agree with Justice Lewis that there are deficiencies in our current death penalty sentencing instructions. Because our present standard penalty phase jury instructions emphasize the jury's advisory role and minimize the jury's duty under Ring to find the aggravating factors, Florida's penalty phase jury instructions should be immediately reevaluated so that at a minimum the jurors are told that they are the finders of fact as to the aggravating circumstances. I thus would also concur with Justice Shaw's recommendation for an amended jury instruction to be used prospectively. Second, I would immediately require that trial courts utilize special verdicts that require the jury to indicate what aggravators the jury has found and the jury vote as to each aggravator. [63] Mandating a special verdict form can be accomplished within the dictates of section 921.141(2), which provides: (2) ADVISORY SENTENCE BY THE JURY.After hearing all the evidence, the jury shall deliberate and render an advisory sentence to the court, based upon the following matters: (a) Whether sufficient aggravating circumstances exist as enumerated in subsection (5); (b) Whether sufficient mitigating circumstances exist which outweigh the aggravating circumstances found to exist; and (c) Based on these considerations, whether the defendant should be sentenced to life imprisonment or death. In my view, nothing in this subsection precludes specific jury findings as to the existence of the aggravating circumstances. As noted in Chief Justice Anstead's concurring in result only opinion, Florida law already requires jury findings on a number of other sentence enhancement elements or aggravating circumstances. In addition to the burglary statute to which Chief Justice Anstead refers, another noteworthy example of a jury finding necessary for sentence enhancement is the determination that an offender used a firearm or deadly weapon when committing a felony. See State v. Tripp, 642 So.2d 728 (Fla.1994); State v. Overfelt, 457 So.2d 1385 (Fla.1984). Accordingly, I recommend that each capital sentencing jury utilize a special verdict form to make a finding beyond a reasonable doubt as to each aggravator submitted. Consistent with the current standard penalty-phase instructions, after finding the aggravators the jury should then make an advisory recommendation to the trial judge by majority vote as to whether the defendant should be sentenced to death. See § 921.141(2)-(3). By requiring a special verdict on aggravating circumstances, this Court will not only assist trial judges in administering section 921.141, but also enhance the quality of our own constitutionally mandated review of death sentences in a manner that anticipates the likely effect of Ring and its progeny. First, the special verdict would serve to facilitate our determination of harmless error during appellate review. Second, the additional procedure would assist in the jury override situation because this Court would know whether the jury's life recommendation was based on a finding of no aggravators or on a determination that the mitigators outweighed the aggravators. [64] Finally, a special verdict form would help to ensure that this Court does not run afoul of the Eighth Amendment by affirming a death sentence based on an invalid aggravatori.e. in this context, an aggravator not properly found by the jury. See Sochor v. Florida, 504 U.S. 527, 112 S.Ct. 2114, 119 L.Ed.2d 326 (1992) (holding that an Eighth Amendment violation occurred when, under Florida's sentencing scheme, a trial judge weighed an invalid aggravating factor). [65] By acting prospectively, we can act to ensure that future verdicts comply with our state constitutional requirements, as explained by Justice Shaw, as well as the Sixth Amendment dictates of Ring. These additional findings through special verdicts will also facilitate our appellate review and enhance the integrity of the death penalty verdicts.