Opinion ID: 1801025
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Relief Pursuant to Roper

Text: Melton's final argument contends that Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005), stands for the proposition that the Eighth Amendment precludes reliance upon criminal acts committed before the age of eighteen from serving as a basis for the imposition of the death penalty. This Court recently addressed this question in England v. State, 940 So.2d 389 (Fla.2006), which likewise involved the application of aggravators based upon felony convictions that occurred before the defendant was eighteen years of age. In that decision, this Court unanimously held as follows: England argues that because the trial judge based two aggravating factors on felony convictions for crimes that occurred before England was eighteen years of age, Roper prohibits the imposition of the death penalty. In Roper, the United States Supreme Court held that [t]he Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid imposition of the death penalty on offenders who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed. Roper, 543 U.S. at 578, 125 S.Ct. 1183. The Court provided a bright line rule for the imposition of the death penalty itself, but nowhere did the Supreme Court extend this rule to prohibit the use of prior felonies committed when the defendant was a minor as an aggravating circumstance during the penalty phase. This claim has no merit. Id. at 406-07. Therefore, Melton is denied relief on this final claim.