Opinion ID: 1813007
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Weighing of Sentencing Circumstances and Findings

Text: Hudson contends that the trial court erred in its assignment of weight to the aggravating and mitigating circumstances that it found. We disagree. The trial court entered a detailed sentencing order outlining the evidence upon which the aggravating and mitigating circumstances were found. The judge also explained in detail why no statutory mitigation had been established. Nonstatutory mitigation was found in the sentencing order, but as explained by the trial court, was given little weight. The record supports these findings. Dr. Kramer testified hypothetically about the effect that adolescent sexual abuse and parental abandonment could have on a person. However, he did not examine Hudson and did not connect the evidence of sexual abuse and abandonment in Hudson's past to the murder or to Hudson's actions or motivations in the case. The evidence, including portions of Hudson's own testimony, suggested that the murder was business-related and not personal or the result of rage or any other mental condition. The rejection of statutory mitigators is supported by the record, and the trial court's findings and weight given to the many nonstatutory mitigators found is both reasoned and supported. The trial judge correctly weighed the aggravators it found against the mitigators proven by the evidence and we will not reweigh the sentencing circumstances in this appeal. See Rodgers v. State, 948 So.2d 655, 669 (Fla.2006), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 59, 169 L.Ed.2d 50 (2007). No error has been shown in either the rejection of the statutory mitigators or in the weighing of the nonstatutory mitigators. Hudson also contends that the trial court failed to make the specific written findings required under section 921.141(3), Florida Statutes (2001), expressly stating that sufficient aggravating circumstances exist and that there are insufficient mitigating circumstances to outweigh the aggravating circumstances. This precise claim was found to be without merit in Williams v. State, 967 So.2d 735, 761 (Fla. 2007) (citing Holmes v. State, 374 So.2d 944, 950 (Fla.1979)), and we reject it here. We said in Holmes that [t]here is no prescribed form for the order containing the findings of mitigating and aggravating circumstances.... It must appear that the sentence imposed was the result of reasoned judgment. 374 So.2d at 950. In this case, the trial judge entered a detailed sentencing order in which he stated the applicable law and made specific findings of fact as to each aggravator and mitigator. The sentencing order stated that statutory aggravators were found, that no statutory mitigators were found, that twelve nonstatutory mitigators were established, and that the aggravators far outweigh the mitigators. The court also found that the aggravators were overwhelming. This sentencing order was the result of reasoned judgment, id., and meets the requirements of the statute under the analysis set forth in Williams and Holmes. Thus, we deny relief on this claim.