Florida Supreme Court Decisions 2015
Date: December 17, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-749
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was tried and convicted of the 1979 robbery of a convenience store and the first-degree murder of the store clerk. Defendant later filed a motion seeking to vacate his death sentence on the ground that he is…
Date: December 17, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC13-244, SC13-1959
Justia Opinion Summary: Lucious Boyd was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Boyd filed a motion to vacate his conviction and sentence. The circuit court denied relief. Boyd appealed the circuit court’s order denying…
Date: December 17, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1582
Justia Opinion Summary: The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) found County Court Judge John C. Murphy of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit guilty of violating the Code of Judicial Conduct and the Rules of Professional Conduct.…
Date: December 17, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC15-1796, SC15-2002
Date: December 17, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-2149
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant was scheduled for execution on January 7, 2016 for first degree murder. In 2014, Appellant filed an amended first successive postconviction motion. The circuit court denied the amended petition. Appellant moved…
Date: December 10, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC13-819, SC14-22
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Roderick Orme was convicted of premeditated or felony murder, robbery, and sexual battery. The trial judge sentenced Orme to death. The Supreme Court found defense counsel ineffective for failing to…
Date: December 10, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-160
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was arrested after law enforcement officers discovered marijuana plants growing in Defendant’s home. The officers did not make any efforts to obtain a search warrant before entering the home. Defendant filed a…
Date: December 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1905
Justia Opinion Summary: This opinion was intended to bring finality to litigation concerning the state’s congressional redistricting that has spanned nearly four years in state courts. This case was before the Supreme Court for approval of a…
Date: November 25, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1077
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted and sentenced to death for the first-degree murder of an eleven-year-old girl. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence. This appeal concerned Defendant’s amended successive Fla. R.…
Date: November 25, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-319
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2012, the State charged Petitioner, a public school teacher, with sexual offenses against minors over the age of twelve, including eight counts charging second- or third-degree felonies alleged to have been committed…
Date: November 19, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-44
Date: November 12, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-2160
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death for both murders. The Supreme Court vacated the convictions and sentences of death, holding…
Date: November 12, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-817
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of manslaughter with a firearm, attempted home invasion robbery with a firearm, and armed burglary. Prior to sentencing, the State informed the trial court that dual…
Date: November 12, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-765
Date: November 5, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1007
Justia Opinion Summary: Landowners rejected a condemning authority’s (the Authority) presuit written offer to purchase a parcel of their land. The Authority subsequently filed an action to condemn the property. After a jury determined the fair…
Date: November 5, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC14-142, SC14-1248
Justia Opinion Summary: Tai Pham was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, armed kidnapping, and armed burglary. The trial court entered a sentence of death. The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences.…
Date: November 5, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1465
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from the claims of a group of owners of land abutting a railroad corridor who claimed that conveyances to the railroad by their predecessors in title granted only easements for a railroad right-of-way…
Date: November 5, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1625
Justia Opinion Summary: During a dissolution of marriage proceeding, Wife filed a motion for contempt for Husband’s failure to deliver one of the couple’s dogs into her custody. The trial court issued an order directing Husband to appear.…
Date: October 29, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-1040
Date: October 29, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-2075
Justia Opinion Summary: After Plaintiff contracted peritoneal mesothelioma, he sued Union Carbide Corporation (Defendant), claiming that his disease was caused by his exposure to an asbestos product designed and manufactured by Defendant. The…
Date: October 29, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2091
Date: October 29, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1530
Date: October 29, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-93
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder with a firearm and two counts of robbery with a firearm causing great bodily harm and was sentenced to a term of fifty-five years in prison. Three years…
Date: October 29, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-177
Date: October 29, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-761
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner was convicted of arson and second-degree murder and sentenced in 2012 to life in prison on both counts. Petitioner subsequently filed more than thirty-five other extraordinary writ petitions or notices in the…
Date: October 22, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-2469
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder with a weapon, burglary of an occupied dwelling while armed, and dealing in stolen property. The trial court…
Date: October 22, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-601
Date: October 22, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC15-780, SC15-890
Date: October 15, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1768
Justia Opinion Summary: Luke Joerg (“Luke”) was a developmentally disabled adult who had lived with his parents his entire life and had never worked. Luke was struck by a car in 2007. John Joerg (“Joerg”), Luke’s father, filed an action against…
Date: October 15, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC14-1603, SC14-1618
Justia Opinion Summary: The Florida Development Finance Corporation (FDFC), a corporate and political entity, filed a complaint in the circuit court of the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County seeking to determine the validity of a series of…
Date: October 15, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1730
Date: October 15, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-687
Date: October 8, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-1040
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to first-degree murder and robbery with a weapon. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death. The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences on appeal. Defendant subsequently filed an…
Date: October 8, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2091
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm or other deadly weapon. The trial court imposed a sentence of death for the murder conviction and a life sentence for the…
Date: October 8, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1852
Date: October 8, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-1582
Date: October 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-710
Date: October 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-147
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for each murder. After Governor Scott signed the death warrant Appellant filed a third successive motion for postconviction relief,…
Date: October 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-1580
Date: October 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-1594
Date: October 1, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2536
Justia Opinion Summary: After Harry Jones died, a notice to creditors was published. Neither Harry’s ex-wife, Katherine Jones, nor her guardian was ever served with a copy of the notice. Less than two years after Harry’s death, the guardian of…
Date: October 1, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1282
Justia Opinion Summary: Clean Energy Coastal Corridor, whose purpose is to finance through the issuance of bonds certain qualifying improvements to real property as authorized by the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Act, adopted a bond…
Date: October 1, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-710
Justia Opinion Summary: This case was before the Supreme Court on appeal from a circuit court judgment validating a proposed bond issue. The Court affirmed the circuit court’s decision to validate the bonds but remanded with instructions for…
Date: October 1, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-1580
Date: October 1, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-1594
Date: September 24, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-46
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of first-degree murder on theories of both premeditation and felony murder and related crimes. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death, finding that the aggravating…
Date: September 24, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-2126
Date: September 24, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-368
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC12-2102, SC13-1065
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2005, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted armed robbery, and grand theft of a motor vehicle. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death for the murder conviction. The Supreme Court affirmed on…
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC13-718, SC13-2330
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2004, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder. The trial court entered an order sentencing Defendant to death. The Supreme Court affirmed on appeal. Defendant filed a motion for postconviction relief under Fla.…
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1049
Justia Opinion Summary: The Condominium Association of La Mer Estates filed a complaint to quiet title to the condominium unit. The Association served Bank of New York Mellon, which was assigned the mortgage securing the property. The…
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-2112
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-98
Date: September 10, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-277
Justia Opinion Summary: Before they married, Dianne and Harry Hahamovitch entered into a prenuptial agreement. The two remained married for twenty-two years. In 2008, the parties filed for dissolution of marriage. The trial court concluded that…
Date: September 10, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-312
Justia Opinion Summary: On February 19, 2015, the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) filed in the Supreme Court a notice of formal charges charging Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judge Jacqueline Schwartz with violations of the Code of…
Date: September 10, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-497
Date: September 10, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-944
Date: September 3, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC13-5, SC13-2422
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and related crimes. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death for the murders. Defendant later filed a motion to vacate his conviction…
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2090
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Debra Pearce. Pearce was stabbed in her kitchen in 2004. The murder remained unsolved until 2008 when DNA from a hair found on Pearce’s body…
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-146
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-97
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1257
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant pled guilty to first-degree murder. The trial court imposed a death sentence after weighing the aggravating circumstances against the mitigating circumstances. The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant’s conviction…
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1550
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence, holding (1) the trial court did not err in denying Defendant’s motion for judgment of…
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2312
Justia Opinion Summary: Fla. Stat. 776.032, the “Stand Your Ground” law, provides immunity from prosecution when a defendant has used force as permitted by Fla. Stat. 776.012, 776.013, or 776.031. Defendant in this case was charged with…
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1165
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1341
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant in this criminal case was represented by an attorney who also represented Defendant’s codefendant. At issue on appeal was whether Defendant’s “waiver of the right to conflict-free trial counsel was invalid.”…
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1905
Justia Opinion Summary: A trial court found that the Legislature’s 2012 congressional redistricting plan was drawn in violation of the Florida Constitutional’s prohibition on partisan intent because Florida’s twenty-seven congressional…
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1990
Justia Opinion Summary: After an adjudicatory hearing, the trial court entered judgment terminating Mother’s parental rights to her child. Mother appealed, alleging ten claims of ineffective assistance of counsel regarding her counsel’s…
Date: July 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1076
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant was convicted of the 2002 first-degree murders of three individuals. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death for two of the murders and to life imprisonment for the third murder. The Supreme Court affirmed…
Date: June 25, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC12-1386, SC13-1787
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, armed burglary of a conveyance, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Appellant was sentenced to death. The conviction and…
Date: June 25, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC12-1760, SC13-1785
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of a correctional officer and an inmate. Defendant committed the murders while attempting to escape from prison where he was serving a life sentence for a…
Date: June 25, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-2468
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, two counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle, home-invasion robbery, two counts of burglary, and escape. The trial court imposed a sentence of death for…
Date: June 25, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-2107
Date: June 25, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-755
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with a single violation of Fla. Stat. 847.0135(3)(b), which prohibits the use of a computer to solicit the consent of a parent or legal guardian of a child to engage in unlawful sexual conduct with…
Date: June 25, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-799
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of sexual battery. On appeal, Defendant argued, among other things, that the trial court erred when it granted the State’s request for a special jury instruction informing…
Date: June 18, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1004
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder. The evidence presented at trial connecting Appellant to the murder consisted only of proof that his DNA was detected within scrapings collected from the victim’s left…
Date: June 18, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1333
Justia Opinion Summary: The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) determined that Laura Marie Watson, a judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, violated the Rules Regulating Professional Conduct and recommended that she be removed…
Date: June 18, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1470
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, and kidnapping. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction and sentence on appeal. The…
Date: June 18, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-2343
Date: June 18, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-865
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1951
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-838
Justia Opinion Summary: Certain counties filed a declaratory action against online travel companies (OTCs) arguing, inter alia, that the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) applies to the difference between the total monetary amounts the OTCs’…
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-2088
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-290
Date: June 4, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1812
Date: June 4, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-176
Date: May 28, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC13-1872, SC13-1874
Justia Opinion Summary: After Ereck Plancher, a University of Central Florida (UCF) football player, collapsed and died during football practice conditioning drills, Ereck’s parents (the Planchers) filed a negligence action against UCF and UCF…
Date: May 28, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2169
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder. The trial court sentenced Appellant to death. The Supreme court affirmed Appellant’s conviction and sentence of death. Appellant later…
Date: May 28, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2416
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1993, Petitioner and Respondent, who were in a romantic relationship, entered into an oral agreement in which they agreed to purchase lottery tickets and to share equally in the proceeds of any winning lottery…
Date: May 28, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-802
Date: May 21, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-54
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, joined by her husband, filed a lawsuit alleging that she suffered permanent injuries due to Defendant’s surgical malpractice. The jury returned a verdict for Plaintiff and awarded, along with economic damages,…
Date: May 21, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-2107
Date: May 14, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-2624
Justia Opinion Summary: The decedent in this case fell from a ladder, resulting in his death. Plaintiff sued the companies that manufactured and sold the ladder, alleging that Defendants were liable on the basis of strict liability and under…
Date: May 14, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1549
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant, an intellectually disabled man, was charged with sexual battery and, in 2004, was involuntarily admitted to nonsecure residential services under Fla. Stat. 393.11. In 2011, Appellant filed suit under 42 U.S.C.…
Date: May 14, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-889
Date: May 14, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-185
Justia Opinion Summary: After a condominium association (Association) prevailed in a breach of contract action against its insurance company (Insurer), it sued Insurer a second time, alleging a statutory first-party bad faith claim under Fla.…
Date: May 14, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-765
Date: May 7, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC12-629, SC13-706
Justia Opinion Summary: After a retrial, Defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death for both murders. The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences on direct appeal.…
Date: May 7, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-350
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2013, the City of Cape Coral issued a special assessment to provide fire protection services. The City passed an ordinance levying a special assessment against all real property in the City, both developed and…
Date: April 30, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC12-246, SC14-88
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Appellant was sentenced to death for the murders of four individuals. The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant’s convictions and sentences. Appellant subsequently filed a motion for postconviction relief.…
Date: April 30, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder. Appellant was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for one murder and to death for the second murder. The Supreme…
Date: April 30, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2295
Date: April 23, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-579
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of, among other crimes, first-degree felony murder for the murder of a police officer. Defendant was sentenced to death for the murder. Defendant raised three issues on appeal,…
Date: April 23, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-339
Date: April 16, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-1040
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and robbery with a weapon and pled guilty to both counts. At the conclusion of the penalty phase, the jury returned a unanimous recommendation of death. The trial…
Date: April 16, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-1314
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of second-degree murder, among other offenses. Defendant was received a sentence of life imprisonment for the murder conviction. On appeal, Defendant argued that the trial…
Date: April 16, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-1783
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against medical malpractice action against multiple defendants, including FMC Hospital, Ltd., d/b/a Florida Medical Center, and FMC Medical, Inc., d/b/a Florida Medical Center. A proposed settlement…
Date: April 16, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-2377
Justia Opinion Summary: Valerie Audiffred and her husband, Robert Kimmons, filed an action against Thomas Arnold that arose from an automobile collision. A settlement proposal was filed on behalf of Audiffred, which Arnold constructively…
Date: April 9, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-685
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the Third District Court of Appeal read Graham v. Florida as creating a homicide-case exception to the categorical rule against sentencing a juvenile offender to life without parole for a nonhomicide crime.…
Date: April 9, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-311
Justia Opinion Summary: The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) recommended that Jessica J. Recksiedler, Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court Judge, receive the sanction of a public reprimand for violating Canons 1, 2A, 4A(2), and…
Date: April 2, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC11-2083, SC12-2522
Date: April 2, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC11-219, SC12-2161
Date: April 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-1401
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a complaint against Philip Morris USA, Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (together, Defendants) alleging that her smoking of Defendants’ cigarettes proximately caused her to develop chronic…
Date: April 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-2153
Justia Opinion Summary: As surviving spouse of Stuart Hess and personal representative of his estate, Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Philip Morris USA (Defendant), asserting claims of fraudulent concealment and alleging that Mr. Hess…
Date: April 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-932
Justia Opinion Summary: Fifteen-year-old Abel Limones suddenly collapsed during a high school soccer game from a previously undetected underlying heart condition. Twenty-six minutes after Abel’s initial collapse, emergency responders revived…
Date: April 2, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-721
Date: March 31, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1055
Date: March 26, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-1668
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was the evidentiary standard of proof that applies in an initial license application proceeding under Florida’s Administrative Procedure Act. In 2011, a family day care licensed under Fla. Stat.…
Date: March 26, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2168
Date: March 26, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-775
Justia Opinion Summary: Clipper Bay Investments, LLC filed an action to quiet title and ejectment against the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) seeking to quiet title to a portion of land adjacent to an interstate in Santa Rosa County…
Date: March 26, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-150
Date: March 26, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-44
Date: March 19, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-1223
Justia Opinion Summary: When Defendant was fourteen years old he pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder, attempted armed robbery, and aggravated battery. The trial court adjudicated Defendant guilty as charged and imposed prison terms…
Date: March 19, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-578
Justia Opinion Summary: When he was seventeen years old, Defendant was tried as an adult and convicted of, among other nonhomicide offenses, three counts of sexual battery while possessing a weapon, two counts of robbery, and one count of…
Date: March 19, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC13-1938, SC13-2000
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was seventeen years old when he participated in the robbery of a convenience store, during which an owner was killed. The jury convicted Defendant of first-degree murder, among other charges. Defendant was…
Date: March 19, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-865
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was fifteen years old when she took part in an attempted robbery that resulted in a death. Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, among other crimes. The trial court imposed a mandatory sentence of…
Date: March 12, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2450
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to forty-five years in prison. Defendant appealed, arguing that the trial judge erred in instructing the jury on the lesser included…
Date: March 5, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-716
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of the first-degree murder of his father and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence, holding (1) the evidence supported the finding that the murder was…
Date: March 5, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1055
Date: March 5, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-30
Date: February 26, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-310
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with leaving the scene of a crash resulting in an injury under Florida’s hit-and-run statute. During trial, Defendant proposed a jury instruction that required the jury to find as an essential…
Date: February 26, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-516
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, burglary of a dwelling with a battery therein, and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon. Defendant was sentenced to death for the murder.…
Date: February 19, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2013
Justia Opinion Summary: Horace Mann issued an insurance policy to Richard Chase. Richard signed a form in which he selected reduced uninsured motorist limits. Horace Mann later removed Richard as the sole named insurance from the policy and…
Date: February 19, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-2048
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, false imprisonment, armed robbery with a deadly weapon, and grand theft of a motor vehicle. Defendant was sentenced to death for the murder conviction. The Supreme Court…
Date: February 19, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-150
Date: February 12, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-2409
Justia Opinion Summary: Give Kids the World, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides free vacations to seriously ill children and their families at its resort village. Stacy and Eric Sanislo were vacationing at the village with their…
Date: February 12, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-2416
Justia Opinion Summary: Two young adults were shot to death by unknown assailants inside their apartment. The apartment was located in an apartment complex marketed as a “gated community.” Plaintiff, as personal representative of the decedents’…
Date: February 5, 2015
Docket Number: SC11-476
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Emilia Carr was found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping. The trial court sentenced Carr to death, concluding that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances. The…
Date: February 5, 2015
Docket Number: SC13-159
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a complaint against Defendant. Defendant did not file an answer or other responsive pleadings and failed to appear at the hearing on Plaintiff’s motion for final default. Defendant later moved to set…
Date: January 29, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1977
Date: January 29, 2015
Docket Number: SC15-75
Date: January 22, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-555
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and burglary of a dwelling with a firearm. The trial court sentenced Defendant to death for the two murders. The Supreme Court affirmed…
Date: January 22, 2015
Docket Number: SC12-891
Justia Opinion Summary: In this “Craigslist killer case,” Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the trial court did not violate the Supreme Court’s holding in Muhammad v.…
Date: January 22, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-1507
Date: January 22, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-2343
Date: January 22, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-2434
Date: January 15, 2015
Docket Numbers: SC13-717, SC13-1675
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of the murder of a seventy-year-old woman. Appellant was sentenced to death. The Supreme Court affirmed on appeal. Appellant subsequently filed a motion to vacate his…
Date: January 15, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-211
Date: January 5, 2015
Docket Number: SC14-2428
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant was found guilty of first-degree murder and three counts of sexual battery with the use of a deadly weapon or physical force, among other crimes. Appellant was sentenced to death. Appellant later filed a motion…
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