Durousseau v. Florida
Annotate this CaseIn 1999, Mack’s family found Mack’s body, naked from the waist down, with a cord wrapped around her neck. Durousseau’s DNA was found inside Mack’s vagina. In 2003, Durousseau was indicted for first-degree murder for the deaths of five women. The similar methodology of the crimes caused investigators to conclude that Mack was one of Durousseau’s victims. Durousseau was convicted of Mack’s murder. The jury voted to impose a death sentence. The court found four aggravating factors: Durousseau was previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence; the murder was committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of a robbery or sexual battery, was committed for pecuniary gain, and was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. The court did not find any statutory mitigating circumstances, but found 16 nonstatutory mitigating circumstances and sentenced Durousseau to death. The Supreme Court affirmed. Durousseau sought post-conviction relief, arguing that counsel was ineffective for failing to request additional physical and psychiatric testing and for failing to conduct meaningful voir dire. Before the hearing, Durousseau abandoned his first claim. The court denied Durousseau’s claim. While his appeal was pending, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Hurst v. Florida (2016), holding that Florida’s death penalty sentencing statute violated the Sixth Amendment. The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief but vacated Durousseau’s sentences under Hurst because the jury did not make any of the requisite factual findings beyond a reasonable doubt.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.