Court Opinion

ID: 9871726
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-26 20:41:24.092881+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:46:21.741235
License: Public Domain

POLSTON, J.,
dissenting.
There was competent, substantial evidence to support the aggravating factors found, but rejected by the majority. Beating the victim senseless with a garden hoe, tying him up, and trying to set him on fire after dousing him with a petroleum product constitutes cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP). A unanimous jury recommendation for death is not surprising.
In striking CCP and the avoid arrest aggravators, the majority improperly reweighs the facts and substitutes its own view of Wood’s credibility in place of the trial judge and jury. See Brown v. State, 959 So.2d 146, 150 (Fla. 2007) (“[T]he question of evidentiary weight is reserved to the circuit court, and this Court does not reweigh the evidence. ... The determination of the credibility of witnesses also is reserved to the trial court.” (quoting Trotter v. State, 932 So.2d 1045, 1050 (Fla. 2006))).
I would affirm, and therefore, respectfully dissent.