Kimbrough v. State
Annotate this CaseAppellant was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary of a battery therein, and sexual battery with great force. Appellant was sentenced to death. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions and death sentence on appeal and later upheld the denial of postconviction relief and denied habeas relief. After Appellant was scheduled for execution, he filed a successive postconviction motion, claiming that Florida's death penalty statute violated the Eighth Amendment because most states require a unanimous jury verdict to recommend a death sentence and because alleged newly discovered evidence revealed that the number of defendants sentenced to death in Florida increased in 2012 compared to the rest of the nation. The circuit court denied relief. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) non-unanimous jury recommendations to impose the sentence of death are not unconstitutional; and (2) the circuit court accurately found that the studies cited by Appellant in support of his second claim did not qualify as newly discovered evidence.
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