Hall v. State

246 So. 3d 210
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedApril 12, 2018
DocketNo. SC17–1355
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 246 So. 3d 210 (Hall v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hall v. State, 246 So. 3d 210 (Fla. 2018).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

This case is before the Court on appeal from an order denying a Successive Motion to Vacate Death Sentence pursuant to Hurst v. State , 202 So.3d 40 (Fla. 2016), cert. denied , --- U.S. ----, 137 S.Ct. 2161, 198 L.Ed.2d 246 (2017), under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. Because the order concerns postconviction relief from a sentence of death, we have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

FACTS AND BACKGROUND

This Court has previously detailed the underlying facts of this case. Hall v. State (Hall I ), 107 So.3d 262, 267-71 (Fla. 2012). Relevant to the instant proceeding, Hall, an inmate at Tomoka Correctional Institution (TCI), was convicted and sentenced to death for the first-degree murder of Correctional Officer (CO) Donna Fitzgerald. Hall v. State (Hall II ), 212 So.3d 1001, 1009 (Fla. 2017). After a penalty phase, the jury returned a unanimous death sentence. Id. at 1012.1 Hall appealed, and this Court ultimately affirmed his conviction and sentence. See generally Hall I , 107 So.3d 262.2 On October 7, 2013, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari, Hall v. Florida , 571 U.S. 878, 134 S.Ct. 203, 187 L.Ed.2d 137 (2013) ; thus Hall's case became final on that date.

This Court affirmed the denial of Hall's initial motion for postconviction relief and *213denied his petition for writ of habeas corpus. Hall II , 212 So.3d at 1036. During the pendency of his initial postconviction motion, Hall filed a Successive Motion to Vacate Death Sentence pursuant to Hurst , which was denied by the postconviction court. This appeal from the first successive motion for postconviction relief follows.

ANALYSIS

Hall's Claims for Relief under Hurst v. State

We affirm the postconviction court's denial of relief on this claim for the reasons discussed below. Most importantly, our opinion in Hall II , and our corresponding Hurst harmless error analysis denying relief within that opinion, already addressed the issues that Hall now attempts to present.

CCP Aggravator Stricken

We conclude that this subclaim of Hall's successive postconviction motion fails on the merits. Notably, aside from Wood v. State , 209 So.3d 1217, 1234 (Fla. 2017), which is distinguished below, Hall presents no binding precedent that supports his assertion that the stricken CCP aggravator in his case is sufficient to receive Hurst relief. Moreover, as discussed below, our recent decisions in Middleton v. State , 220 So.3d 1152 (Fla. 2017), cert. denied , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 829, 200 L.Ed.2d 326 (2018), and Cozzie v. State , 225 So.3d 717, 729 (Fla. 2017), cert. denied , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 1131, 200 L.E.2d 729 (2018), support the contrary conclusion.

In Wood , we struck both the CCP and avoid arrest aggravating factors, which were two of the three aggravators found by the trial court and to which it assigned "great weight." Id. at 1233. In ultimately determining that the error in Wood was not harmless, we emphasized:

In this case the jury was instructed on both aggravating factors that we have determined were not supported by competent, substantial evidence. This alone would require a finding that the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We note that our conclusion in this regard is also consistent with our pre- Hurst precedent in Kaczmar v. State , 104 So.3d 990, 1008 (Fla. 2012), where we held that, upon striking the CCP and felony-murder aggravating factors so that only one valid aggravating factor remained , such error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Post- Hurst , this conclusion is even more compelling.
... [T]he jury would have had to make these factual determinations that the sole valid aggravating factor -that the capital felony was committed while Wood was engaged, or was an accomplice in the commission of a burglary and or robbery-outweighed the mitigating circumstances established. "[W]e are not so sanguine as to conclude that [Wood's] jury ... would have found [this sole aggravating factor ] sufficient to impose death and that [this sole aggravating factor ] outweighed the mitigation."

Id. at 1234 (alterations in original) (emphasis added) (quoting Hurst , 202 So.3d at 68 ).

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Bluebook (online)
246 So. 3d 210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hall-v-state-fla-2018.