Justia Civil Rights Opinion Summaries

Defendant pled guilty to first-degree murder and armed robbery and waived a penalty-phase jury. After penalty-phase proceedings in front of the trial judge, the trial court sentenced Defendant to death. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions and sentence of death, holding (1) Defendant's guilty plea was knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered; (2) any possible error in the trial court not considering polygraph results as mitigating evidence was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt; (3) the trial court did not err in not giving significant weight to the mitigator of Defendant's age, which was nineteen years old at the time of the crime; and (4) the death sentence in this case was proportional. View "Sanchez-Torres v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction and sentence of death, holding (1) the trial court did not err in instructing the jury on and in finding that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; (2) Defendant's death sentence was proportionate and constitutional; (3) the prosecutor did not commit misconduct in his statements during closing arguments; (4) the trial court did not err in precluding the defense from arguing a lack of violent criminal history during its penalty-phase closing argument; (5) the evidence was sufficient to support Defendant's conviction for first-degree murder. View "King v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and sentenced to death for each murder. The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences on direct appeal. The postconviction court later denied Defendant's unverified postconviction motion. Defendant appealed and filed a petition seeking habeas corpus relief. The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's order and denied the petition for a writ of habeas corpus, holding (1) Defendant waived right to prosecute his postconviction motion by refusing to sign a verification of his motion; (2) the trial court did not err in finding Defendant competent to proceed with his postconviction proceedings with the assistance of counsel; and (3) Defendant's petition for habeas corpus relief was not warranted on his claim that his case should be remanded for a determination of whether he should have been permitted to represent himself at trial. View "Hernandez-Alberto v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial in which the jury rejected Defendant's insanity defense, Defendant was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment and one sentence of death. The Supreme Court (1) affirmed the convictions for first-degree murder; (2) affirmed the sentences of life imprisonment; but (3) vacated the death sentence, finding that the sentence of death was disproportionate in this case, which involved substantial mental health mitigation due to evidence Defendant was suffering from some type of psychosis at the time of the offenses and Defendant's extensive history of abuse and neglect. Remanded for imposition of an additional sentence of life in prison. View "Davis v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a law enforcement officer and convicted of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery of two other law enforcement officers. The Supreme Court affirmed. Defendant subsequently filed amended and supplemental motions for postconviction relief, which the postconviction court denied after an evidentiary hearing. Defendant appealed that the denial and filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The Supreme Court affirmed the denial of postconviction relief and denied the petition for a writ of habeas corpus, holding (1) Defendant failed to establish that he was prejudiced by his counsel's representation, and thus he was not entitled to relief on his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel; (2) Defendant failed to establish that his appellate counsel was ineffective; (3) Florida's capital clemency process is constitutional; and (4) Florida's capital sentencing scheme is constitutional. View "Wheeler v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of armed kidnapping, armed sexual battery, and armed robbery. The trial court sentenced Defendant to concurrent, upward departure sentences of forty-eight years on each count. Defendant's sentences became final in 2000, after the U.S. Supreme Court's issued its decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey. In 2002, the trial court granted Defendant's postconviction motion to correct illegal sentence and resentenced Defendant to concurrent terms of forty years on two counts and reinstated the forty-eight-year sentenced for the armed robbery. In 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Blakely v. Washington. In 2007, Defendant filed a motion alleging that the upward departure sentences imposed at his 2002 resentencing exceeded the statutory maximum as defined by Blakely. The trial court denied the motion. The court of appeal reversed, holding that Blakely's new definition of "statutory maximum" applied retroactively to cases on collateral review in which sentences were imposed after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Apprendi. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Blakely does not apply retroactively to final sentences or resentences. View "State v. Johnson" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and sexual battery. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death on the murder conviction. The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentence of death on direct appeal. Defendant subsequently filed an amended motion to vacate judgment of conviction and sentence. After an evidentiary hearing, the circuit court vacated Defendant's judgment of guilt of first-degree murder and his sentence of death and ordered a new trial, concluding that Defendant established the deficiency and prejudice prongs of Strickland v. Washington for his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and had established cumulative error. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Defendant's trial counsel provided constitutionally deficient representation during the guilt phase; and (2) Defendant was entitled to a new trial. View "State v. Fitzpatrick" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for committing capital sexual battery. In a separate case, Defendant pled guilty to unlawful use of a motor vehicle. Defendant subsequently filed multiple pro se extraordinary writ petitions and other proceedings seeking relief from his conviction and sentence. In none of the petitions filed in the Supreme Court was any relief granted. The petitions in the instant consolidated cases were the ninth and tenth pro se proceedings initiated by Defendant in the Court. The petitions were dismissed as unauthorized. The Court subsequently sanctioned Defendant and concluded that Defendant's unauthorized petitions were frivolous proceedings, thus directing the Clerk of Court to reject any future filings submitted by Defendant related to his criminal cases unless signed by an attorney. View "McCutcheon v. State" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court affirmed. Defendant subsequently filed an extensive history of successive postconvictions motions and extraordinary writ petitions, which were all either denied or dismissed. In the current proceedings, Defendant had three cases pending before the Supreme Court, including appeals from the denials of two successive motions for postconviction relief and a petition for a writ of prohibition challenging the postconviction court's denial of his motion to disqualify the judge. The Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Defendant's successive motions for postconviction relief and denied the petition for a writ of prohibition challenging the postconviction court's denial of Defendant's motion to disqualify, holding that all of these proceedings were "utterly without merit." View "Lambrix v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for each murder. The Supreme Court affirmed. Defendant subsequently filed an amended motion for postconviction relief, raising twenty-five claims. The postconviction court granted an evidentiary hearing on five of Defendant's claims, after which the court denied relief. Defendant appealed and simultaneously petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus. The Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Defendant's postconviction claims and denied habeas relief, holding (1) Defendant failed to establish he was prejudiced by his counsel's representation, and therefore, he was not entitled to relief on his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel; (2) the postconviction court did not err in summarily denying three of Defendant's claims; and (3) appellate counsel did not provide ineffective assistance. View "Jennings v. State" on Justia Law