Court Opinion

ID: 9887455
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 17:41:50.791501+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:59:20.727032
License: Public Domain

QUINCE, J., dissenting.
I do not agree with the majority's conclusion that there is no reasonable possibility that the Hurst error in this case did not affect Conahan's sentence. We declined to speculate about why the jurors voted for death in Hurst v. State , 202 So.3d 40, 69 (Fla. 2016). The majority's determination that the Hurst error in this case is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt amounts to pure speculation. This Court cannot know whether the jury would have found unanimously each aggravating factor, and that the aggravation outweighed mitigation as Hurst requires. The HAC and CCP aggravators in particular require findings of fact that the jury did not make. To find the error in this case harmless is to substitute our own evaluation of the evidence for the jury's. Therefore, I dissent.