Edward J. Zakrzewski, II v. State of Florida

Supreme Court of Florida·Decided July 22, 2025·No. SC2025-1009·Published

Opinion

Supreme Court of Florida

No. SC2025-1009

EDWARD J. ZAKRZEWSKI, II, Appellant,

vs.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

July 22, 2025

PER CURIAM.

Edward J. Zakrzewski, II, has been sentenced to death for the murders of his wife, Sylvia, and two minor children, Edward and Anna. On July 1, 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant scheduling Zakrzewski’s execution for July 31, 2025. Zakrzewski unsuccessfully sought relief in the circuit court and now appeals. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We affirm. We also deny Zakrzewski’s motion for stay of execution and request for oral argument.

I

After experiencing marital problems and twice telling a neighbor that he would kill his family rather than go through a divorce, Zakrzewski carried out his plan on June 9, 1994. He killed Sylvia, seven-year-old Edward, and five-year-old Anna with a machete. We recounted the facts surrounding the murders in our opinion on direct appeal. Zakrzewski v. State (Zakrzewski I), 717 So. 2d 488, 490-91 (Fla. 1998). After the murders, Zakrzewski fled to Hawaii, changed his name, and lived there for four months before turning himself in. Id. at 491. Zakrzewski pled guilty to all three murders. Id. at 490.

At the end of a penalty-phase trial, the jury recommended sentences of death for the murders of Sylvia and Edward, each by a vote of seven to five, and a sentence of life imprisonment for the murder of Anna. Id. at 491. On April 19, 1996, the trial court imposed death sentences for all three murders, overriding the jury’s recommendation of life imprisonment for the murder of Anna. Id. 1

1. Florida’s capital sentencing regime in 1996 was, as it is today, a “hybrid system” in which “[a] jury render[ed] an advisory verdict but the judge [made] the ultimate sentencing

For each murder, the trial court found three aggravating factors: (1) Zakrzewski was previously convicted of other capital offenses (the contemporaneous murders); (2) the murders were committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without pretense of legal or moral justification (CCP); and (3) the murders were committed in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner (HAC). Zakrzewski I, 717 So. 2d at 491. The trial court gave significant weight to both of Zakrzewski’s statutory mitigators—no significant prior criminal history and the fact that the murders were committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance—and varying degrees of weight to twenty-four nonstatutory mitigators. Id. at 491 nn.1-2.

determinations.” Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 608 n.6 (2002). However, at the time, section 921.141, Florida Statutes (1996), provided in relevant part that a simple majority vote was sufficient for the jury to recommend a sentence of death. A jury’s advisory sentence of life imprisonment could be overridden by the trial court “after weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances,” so long as the court set forth in writing its findings upon which the sentence of death was based as to certain enumerated facts. § 921.141(3), Fla. Stat. (1996).

On direct appeal, this Court affirmed Zakrzewski’s convictions and sentences.2 Id. at 495. The sentences became final when the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review. Zakrzewski v. Florida, 525 U.S. 1126 (1999). In the next three decades, Zakrzewski unsuccessfully sought postconviction relief many times in state and federal court.

In federal court, Zakrzewski petitioned for habeas relief in the Northern District of Florida. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s denial of relief after reviewing two claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. See Zakrzewski v. McDonough (Zakrzewski III), 455 F.3d 1254, 1256, 1258-61 (11th

2. Zakrzewski’s issues on direct appeal were: (1) the trial court erred by finding HAC; (2) the trial court erred by finding CCP; (3) the death sentence is not proportionately warranted; (4) the trial court erred in overriding the jury’s recommendation of life for Anna’s murder; (5) the trial court allowed prejudicial photographs of the victims to be admitted into evidence; (6) the trial court permitted the State’s mental health expert to testify about certain topics; (7) the trial court permitted the State’s mental health expert to testify, when the testimony did not rebut the testimony of Zakrzewski’s mental health expert; (8) the trial court failed to instruct the jury that Zakrzewski’s ability to understand his conduct was substantially impaired; and (9) the trial court failed to instruct the jury on each of Zakrzewski’s nonstatutory mitigating factors.

Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 549 U.S. 1349 (2007).3 Zakrzewski then filed a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) motion to reopen his federal habeas proceedings, alleging that state counsel and federal habeas counsel perpetrated a fraud on him and the federal court. See Zakrzewski v. McDonough (Zakrzewski IV), 490 F.3d 1264, 1265 (11th Cir. 2007). The district court first dismissed the motion as a successive habeas petition, but the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded for reconsideration on the merits. Id. at 1267-68. On remand, the district court denied relief, finding that counsel made no material misrepresentation, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed. See Zakrzewski v. McDonough, No. 3:04CV66/RV, 2007 WL 2827735 (N.D. Fla. Sept. 26, 2007); Zakrzewski v. McNeil (Zakrzewski V), 573 F.3d 1210, 1211 (11th Cir. 2009).

In state court, Zakrzewski filed five motions for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851 and a petition for state habeas relief. Each was denied. See Zakrzewski v. State

3. The two ineffective assistance of counsel claims reviewed by the Eleventh Circuit were whether trial counsel was ineffective (1) for failure to object to statements made by the prosecutor in closing argument and (2) for failure to file a motion to suppress evidence contained in the house which constituted the murder scene. Zakrzewski III, 455 F.3d at 1256.

(Zakrzewski II), 866 So. 2d 688 (Fla. 2003) (affirming circuit court’s denial of Zakrzewski’s initial rule 3.851 motion); Zakrzewski v. State (Zakrzewski VI), 13 So. 3d 1057 (Fla. 2009) (unpublished table decision) (affirming the denial of Zakrzewski’s first successive rule 3.851 motion); Zakrzewski v. State (Zakrzewski VII), 115 So. 3d 1004 (Fla. 2012) (unpublished table decision) (affirming the denial of Zakrzewski’s second successive rule 3.851 motion); Zakrzewski v. State (Zakrzewski VIII), 147 So. 3d 531 (Fla. 2014) (unpublished table decision) (affirming the denial of Zakrzewski’s third successive rule 3.851 motion); Zakrzewski v. Jones (Zakrzewski IX), 221 So. 3d 1159 (Fla. 2017) (holding that Hurst 4 did not apply retroactively to Zakrzewski’s sentences of death and denying Zakrzewski’s habeas petition (citing Asay v. State, 210 So. 3d 1 (Fla. 2016))); Zakrzewski v. Jones (Zakrzewski X), 254 So. 3d 324 (Fla. 2018) (affirming the denial of Zakrzewski’s fourth successive rule 3.851 motion (citing Zakrzewski IX, 221 So. 3d at 1159)).

4. Hurst v. State, 202 So. 3d 40 (Fla. 2016), receded from in part by State v. Poole, 297 So. 3d 487 (Fla. 2020); see Hurst v. Florida, 577 U.S. 92 (2016).

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Edward J. Zakrzewski, II v. State of Florida, (Fla. 2025).

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