Randolph v. State
Annotate this Case
Justia Opinion Summary
Want to stay in the know about new opinions from the Florida Supreme Court?
Sign up for free summaries delivered directly to your inbox. Learn More ›
You already receive new opinion summaries from Florida Supreme Court. Did you know we offer summary newsletters for even more practice areas and jurisdictions? Explore them here.
The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the circuit court denying Appellant's second successive postconviction motion filed pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, holding that the trial court properly denied postconviction relief.
Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. In his second successive postconviction motion, Appellant raised four claims based on the retroactivity of Hurst v. State, 202 So, 3d 40 (Fla. 2016), Hurst v. Florida, 577 U.S. 92 (2016), and chapter 2017-1, Laws of Florida and asserted that his sentence violated the Eighth Amendment. The trial court denied relief. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Appellant's arguments on appeal were unavailing.
Download PDF
Supreme Court of Florida ____________ No. SC20-287 ____________ RICHARD BARRY RANDOLPH, Appellant, vs. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. February 4, 2021 PER CURIAM. Richard Barry Randolph appeals a circuit court order denying his second successive postconviction motion filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. BACKGROUND Randolph was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1990, and this Court affirmed his conviction and sentence. Randolph v. State, 562 So. 2d 331, 332-34 (Fla. 1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 992 (1990). In 2003, Randolph filed a motion to vacate the judgment and sentence, and we affirmed the denial of that motion. Randolph v. State, 853 So. 2d 1051, 1069 (Fla. 2003). We also denied a petition in which Randolph sought relief under Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002). Randolph v. Crosby, 861 So. 2d 430 (Fla. 2003). In 2010, Randolph filed another postconviction motion, which the trial court denied for being untimely, successive, procedurally barred, and failing to present any new basis for relief that applied retroactively. In 2017, Randolph filed a second successive postconviction motion, raising four claims—all based on the retroactivity of Hurst v. State, 202 So. 3d 40 (Fla. 2016), Hurst v. Florida, 577 U.S. 92 (2016), and chapter 2017-1, Laws of Florida.1 Randolph amended his motion to add a fifth claim, asserting that his sentence violated the Eighth Amendment. He now appeals the denial of his most recent postconviction claims. ANALYSIS Randolph’s primary argument on appeal is that this Court’s decision in Hurst v. State established a new criminal offense—capital first-degree murder— and that the jury sentencing determinations described in Hurst are “elements” of that new offense. From that assertion, Randolph insists that Hurst created a substantive rule of law that dates back to Florida’s original capital sentencing statute, thereby requiring Randolph’s death sentence to be vacated on the ground that certain elements of his crime were never found by a jury. 1. Chapter 2017-1, Laws of Florida was a legislative enactment by which Florida’s capital sentencing statute was amended to require jury sentencing determinations of the kind described in Hurst v. State. -2- We rejected a similar argument in Foster v. State, 258 So. 3d 1248, 1251 (Fla. 2018). As we explained in Foster, there is no independent crime of “capital first-degree murder”; the crime of first-degree murder is, by definition, a capital crime, and Hurst v. State did not change the elements of that crime. Id. at 1251-52 (holding that when a jury makes Hurst determinations, “it only does so after a jury has unanimously convicted the defendant of the capital crime of first-degree murder”). Moreover, “[w]e have consistently applied our decision in Asay [v. State, 210 So. 3d 1 (Fla. 2016)], denying the retroactive application of Hurst v. Florida as interpreted in Hurst v. State to defendants whose death sentences were final when the Supreme Court decided Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002).” Hitchcock v. State, 226 So. 3d 216, 217 (Fla. 2017). Randolph echoes other preRing defendants who have advanced myriad legal theories that, in the end, turn on pleas for a retroactive application of Hurst. But this Court has rejected such arguments, however styled. See, e.g., Lambrix v. State, 227 So. 3d 112, 113 (Fla. 2017) (rejecting arguments based on “the Eighth Amendment,” “denial of due process and equal protection,” and “a substantive right based on the legislative passage of chapter 2017-1, Laws of Florida”). Randolph’s argument that his death sentence was insufficiently reliable to satisfy the Eighth Amendment is similarly unavailing. -3- Finally, Randolph offers an extensive critique of this Court’s decision in State v. Poole, 297 So. 3d 487 (Fla. 2020), where we partially receded from Hurst. We need not address Poole here, however, because Randolph’s claims fail even under our pre-Poole jurisprudence on Hurst and retroactivity. For these reasons, we affirm the trial court’s denial of postconviction relief. It is so ordered. POLSTON, LABARGA, LAWSON, MUÑIZ, COURIEL, and GROSSHANS, JJ., concur. CANADY, C.J., concurs in result. NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED. An Appeal from the Circuit Court in and for Putnam County, Howard Ogle McGillin, Jr., Judge - Case No. 541988CF001357CFAXMX Neal Dupree, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Marta Jaszczolt, Staff Attorney, and Rachel L. Day, Assistant Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Southern Region, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for Appellant Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, and Doris Meacham, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Appellee -4-
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.
