Wood v. Florida
Annotate this CaseA high-speed pursuit on Alabama 167 ended when both vehicles crashed into a ditch after the Camry fired shots at the patrol car. After both cars stopped, the Camry returned more gunshots; its driver, Rafsky, fled but was apprehended. Wood, a passenger, was taken into custody at the scene. Officers discovered inside the Camry a wallet belonging to Shores, the Camry’s registered owner. Shores was found dead, with his hands and legs bound, with massive head trauma. Wood told investigators that he and Rafsky had been on Shores’s property, riding dirt bikes, when Shores confronted them. Wood claimed that he discovered that Rafsky had beaten Shores and that they subsequently bound Shores. At trial, Wood also testified about his drug use on the day of the murder and that Wood had shot him in the leg. The jury found Wood guilty of first-degree murder. The court instructed the jury on aggravating factors: the capital felony was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification; was committed while defendant was engaged, or was an accomplice in the commission of, or an attempt to commit burglary and/or robbery; and was committed to avoid arrest. The jury recommended a death sentence. After victim-impact testimony, the court considered mitigating circumstances, and sentenced Wood to death. The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed the conviction, but directed imposition of mandatory life sentence without parole. The court erred in finding two aggravating factors and in rejecting some uncontroverted mitigation. With respect to the remaining aggravating factor, that the felony was committed while Wood was engaged in commission of a burglary and robbery, the court concluded that this murder is not among the most aggravated and least mitigated, so that Wood’s death sentence was disproportionate.
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