& SC15-1612 Joshua Lee Altersberger v. State of Florida & Joshua Lee Altersberger v. Julie L. Jones, etc.

216 So. 3d 621
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedApril 27, 2017
DocketSC15-628; SC15-1612
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 216 So. 3d 621 (& SC15-1612 Joshua Lee Altersberger v. State of Florida & Joshua Lee Altersberger v. Julie L. Jones, etc.) 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
& SC15-1612 Joshua Lee Altersberger v. State of Florida & Joshua Lee Altersberger v. Julie L. Jones, etc., 216 So. 3d 621 (Fla. 2017).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Joshua Lee Altersberger appeals an order of the circuit court denying his motion to vacate his conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851 and petitions this Court for a writ of habe-as corpus. For the reasons that follow, we [623]*623vacate the death sentence and remand for a new penalty phase.1

I. BACKGROUND

On direct appeal, this Court described the facts as follows:

Late in the morning of January 12, 2007, the [defendant drove to a friend’s home in Highlands County. Also at the home was Quentin Kinder, who was in Florida to avoid arrest for violating his Georgia probation. After drinking and playing videogames, Altersberger left the home with Kinder. Kinder testified that, at this point, Altersberger was not so affected by the alcohol that his speech was impaired but was “buzzing a little bit.”
Later that afternoon, around 3:00 p.m., Altersberger drove with Kinder to a restaurant in Lake Placid in an effort to meet a girl whom he believed to be working there. Upon learning that the girl was not at work, Altersberger drove with Kinder to a nearby convenience store so that he could buy a cigar. As Altersberger and Kinder were walking out of the store, the two noticed a deputy sheriff in a marked patrol car stopped at a red light. Kinder then heard Alters-berger state, as though he was speaking to the deputy, “You better not stop me or I’m going to shoot you.”
Altersberger left the store with Kinder and drove north on Highway 27 out of Lake Placid. Altersberger’s driving was aggressively erratic, and he swerved several times in and out of heavy afternoon traffic. At one point, Altersberger had to swerve in the midst of a lane change in order to avoid striking another car. This attracted the attention of Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant Nick Sottile who had been travelling in the opposite direction and who turned to pursue.
Kinder saw Sergeant Sottile turn around and notified Altersberger. Al-tersberger responded by saying that he was going “to push it,” or speed up to flee. Kinder told Altersberger not to try to flee and also said that, because of his Georgia probation violation, he was going to run from the car once Altersber-ger pulled over. As he was pulling over, Altersberger cut sharply from the left lane across the right lane, cutting off and nearly striking a semi truck. And, as Altersberger pulled off the roadway, he stated to Kinder that he was going to shoot Sergeant Sottile. Kinder told Al-tersberger not to shoot the officer, and then got out of the car and ran into a nearby orange grove.
Intending to complain to Sergeant Sottile about Altersberger’s driving, the semi truck driver pulled over behind the trooper’s patrol car. The truck driver then got out of his truck and walked toward Sergeant Sottile, who ordered him back to his truck. From the elevated cab of his semi truck, the driver was able to observe the events that followed.
Sergeant Sottile approached Alters-berger’s driver’s side window with his hand resting on his gun. Altersberger raised his hands as Sottile approached and kept them raised while he spoke with Sottile for a short time. Sottile, appearing to be more comfortable with the situation, took his hand from his gun. After Sottile took his hand off his gun, Altersberger lowered his hands and pulled a gun. Sergeant Sottile raised his hands and started to back away from Altersberger’s window when Altersber-ger shot him. Sergeant Sottile was hit near his left collar bone and fell backward to the ground. Altersberger then [624]*624reached out the window of his car to aim his gun at Sergeant Sottile and tried several times to shoot him in the head, but his gun would not fire. Altersberger then rapidly drove away. Sergeant Sot-tile died shortly thereafter as a result of internal bleeding from the gunshot wound.
Altersberger pled guilty to first-degree murder on March 13, 2009. At the penalty phase, the State presented testimony regarding the murder of Sottile. The defense presented laywitness testimony of Altersberger’s mother and aunt, one of his mother’s friends, and the testimony of former teachers and health department employees who remembered Altersberger as a child. These witnesses testified that Altersberger had an impoverished and unstable upbringing and a history of anger problems. They also testified that his mother had very poor parenting skills, did not make good decisions regarding the men that she brought around her children, did not treat or discipline Altersberger appropriately, and did not display affection toward him.
Altersberger also presented the testimony of two mental health experts. The first, Dr. Krop, a forensic psychologist, testified that Altersberger has anger issues that stem from his dysfunctional relationship with his mother and the insecurity caused by her poor parenting and decision-making throughout his childhood. Dr. Krop also explained that, despite his 103 IQ, Altersberger has problems with planning and impulse control and was extremely immature for his age, both socially and developmentally. Dr. Gur, a neuropsychologist who specializes in neuroimaging, testified that the orbital frontal and amygdala regions of Altersberger’s brain are significantly undersized and that such a condition would result in impaired ability to control and regulate emotions and impulses, an impairment that would be exacerbated by drug and alcohol use or abuse. However, Dr. Gur stated that, because he had never met Altersberger and was not familiar with the facts of the case, he could not connect his findings to the crime itself.
The jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of nine to three. After a Spencer[N.1] hearing, the trial court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Altersberger to death. In so doing, the trial court found the following aggravators; (1) the victim was a law enforcement officer engaged in the lawful performance of his official duties (great weight); and (2) the murder was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner (CCP) without any pretense of moral or legal justification (great weight). The trial court also found the following mitigators: (1) Altersber-ger was 19 years old at the time of the murder (slight weight); (2) Altersber-ger’s capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired (moderate weight);[N.2] (3) the offense was committed in an unsophisticated manner (very, very slight weight); (4) Altersberger was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the offense. (little weight); (5) Altersberger had a long-term history of substance abuse from age 15 (very slight weight); (6) Altersberger was brought up in a dysfunctional family and home environment (moderate weight); (7) Al-tersberger loves and is valued by his family (very slight weight); (8) Alters-berger loved .his grandfather and was devastated by his death (very slight weight); (9) Altersberger was the victim of racial discrimination within his own family (little weight); (10) Altersberger [625]*625maintained good behavior throughout the proceedings (very slight weight); and (11) Altersberger [pled] guilty and took responsibility for the offense (little weight).

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