Supreme Court of the United States - Press Release
Supreme Court of the United States: Hurst v. Florida ruling
Cite as: 577 U. S. (2016) 3
Opinion of the Court
mendation. §921.141(2). “Notwithstanding the recommendation of a majority of the jury, the court, after weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, shall enter a sentence of life imprisonment or death.”
§921.141(3). If the court imposes death, it must “set forth in writing its findings upon which the sentence of death is based.” Ibid. Although the judge must give the jury recommendation “great weight,” Tedder v. State, 322 So. 2d 908, 910 (Fla. 1975) (per curiam), the sentencing order must “reflect the trial judge’s independent judgment about the existence of aggravating and mitigating factors,” Blackwelder v. State, 851 So. 2d 650, 653 (Fla. 2003) ( per curiam).
Following this procedure, Hurst’s jury recommended a death sentence. The judge independently agreed. See 819 So. 2d, at 694–695. On postconviction review, however, the Florida Supreme Court vacated Hurst’s sentence for reasons not relevant to this case. See 18 So. 3d 975 (2009).
At resentencing in 2012, the sentencing judge conducted a new hearing during which Hurst offered mitigating evidence that he was not a “major participant” in the murder because he was at home when it happened. App. 505–507. The sentencing judge instructed the advisory jury that it could recommend a death sentence if it found at least one aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt: that the murder was especially “heinous, atrocious, or cruel” or that it occurred while Hurst was committing a robbery. Id., at 211–212. The jury recommended death by a vote of 7 to 5.
The sentencing judge then sentenced Hurst to death. In her written order, the judge based the sentence in part on her independent determination that both the heinousmurder and robbery aggravators existed. Id., at 261–263. She assigned “great weight” to her findings as well as to the jury’s recommendation of death. Id., at 271.
