IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA CASE NO. SC09-568 BOBBY RALEIGH, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. ON APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR VOLUSIA COUNTY, STATE OF FLORIDA INITIAL BRIEF OF APPELLANT MARTIN J. MCCLAIN Florida Bar No. 0754773 McClain & McDermott, P.A. Attorneys at Law 141 NE 30th Street Wilton Manors, FL 33334 (305) 984-8344 COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT PRELIMINARY STATEMENT Citations in this brief to designate references to the records, followed by the appropriate page number, are as follows: AT. ___@ - Record on appeal to this Court in the 1981 direct appeal; APC-T. ___@ - Record on appeal to this Court from initial Rule 3.851 from the denial of post-conviction relief after an evidentiary hearing; APC-R2. ___@ - Record on appeal to this Court in the curret appeal from the summary denial of post-conviction relief; All other citations will be self-explanatory or will otherwise be explained. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PRELIMINARY STATEMENT ........................................ i TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................... ii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ........................................ iv STATEMENT OF THE CASE ........................................ 1 A. Procedural History ................................. 1 B. Relevant Facts ..................................... 8 STANDARD OF REVIEW .......................................... 15 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ......................................... 16 ARGUMENT I MR. RALEIGH=S SENTENCE OF DEATH VIOLATES THE EIGHTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS BECAUSE IT IS THE RESULT OF A PROCESS THAT PERMITTED AN ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS IMPOSITION OF A SENTENCE OF DEATH ...................... 17 A. Introduction ...................................... 17 B. The ABA Report .................................... 24 C. Florida - An Arbitrary and Capricious Death Penalty System ............................................ 25 1. The number of executions ..................... 25 2. The exonerated ............................... 26 a. The arbitrariness in the treatment of evidence of actual innocence ......... 28 b. DNA ..................................... 31 3. Representation ............................... 32 ii a. Trial level representation .............. 32 4. Issues related to the jury=s role in sentencing ................................... 34 a. Jury instructions ....................... 34 b. Unanimity ............................... 35 c. Judicial overrides ...................... 36 5. Racial and Geographic Disparities ............ 39 a. Racial disparities ................. 39 b. Geographic disparities ............. 40 6. Prosecutorial Misconduct ..................... 40 7. The Direct Appeal Process ................... 44 8. Retroactivity ............................... 45 9. Procedural Default ........................... 47 10. Clemency ..................................... 48 D. CONCLUSION ........................................ 49 ARGUMENT II IT WAS ERROR TO SUMMARILY DENY APPELLANT=S CHALLENGE TO FLORIDA=S PROCEDURES FOR CARRYING OUT A LETHAL INJECTION EXECUTION AS VIOLATIVE OF THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION ............ 49 CONCLUSION .................................................. 62 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ...................................... 63 CERTIFICATE OF FONT ......................................... 64 iii iv v TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page Agan v. Singletary, 12 F.3d 1012 (11th Cir. 1993)............................ 41 Arango v. State, 497 So. 2d 1161 (Fla. 1986)............................. 41 Baze v. Rees, 128 S. Ct. 1520 (2008).............................. 54, 55 Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78 (1935)...................................... 42 Callins v. Collins, 510 U.S. 1141 (1994).................................... 22 Cardona v. State, 826 So. 2d 968 (Fla. 2002).............................. 40 Cheshire v. State, 568 So. 2d 908 (Fla. 1990).............................. 36 Cleveland Bd. Of Ed. v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532 (1985)..................................... 55 Cochran v. State, 547 So. 2d 928 (Fla. 1989).............................. 38 Combs v. State, 525 So. 2d 853 (Fla. 1988).............................. 37 Duest v. Dugger, 555 So. 2d 849 (Fla. 1990).............................. 41 Floyd v. State, 902 So. 2d 775 (Fla. 2005).............................. 40 Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399 (1986)..................................... 56 Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972)................................. passim vi Garcia v. State, 622 So. 2d 1325 (Fla. 1993)............................. 41 Gaskin v. State, 737 So. 2d 509 (Fla. 1999).............................. 15 Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420 (1980)..................................... 21 Gorham v. State, 597 So. 2d 782 (Fla. 1992).............................. 41 Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976)................................. 19, 20 Guzman v. State, 2006 Fla. LEXIS 1398 (Fla. June 29, 2006)............... 41 Harbison v. Bell 129 S. Ct. 1481 (2009) ................................. 48 Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390 (1993)..................................... 48 Hoffman v. State, 800 So. 2d 174 (Fla. 2001).............................. 41 House v. Bell, 126 S. Ct. 2064 (2006).................................. 30 Jones v. State, 709 So. 2d 512 (Fla. 1998)...................... 29, 31, 48 Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262 (1976)..................................... 21 Kansas v. Marsh, 126 S. Ct. 2516 (2006).............................. 24, 26 Lightbourne v. Dugger, 549 So. 2d 1364 (Fla. 1989)............................. 15 Lightbourne v. McCollum, vii 969 So. 2d 326 (Fla. 2007).......................... passim Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586 (1978)..................................... 21 Maynard v. Cartwright, 486 U.S. 356 (1988)..................................... 21 Mordenti v. State, 894 So. 2d 161 (Fla. 2004).............................. 40 Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306 (1950).................................... 55 Parker v. Dugger, 498 So. 2d 308 (1991)............................... 38, 45 Peede v. State, 748 So. 2d 253 (Fla. 1999).............................. 15 Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302 (1989)..................................... 21 Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242 (1976)............................. 19, 20, 49 Raleigh v. State 705 So. 2d 1324 (Fla. 1997)........................ 1, 2, 3 Raleigh v. State 932 So. 2d 1054 (Fla. 2006) ............................. 4 Rogers v. State, 782 So. 2d 373 (Fla. 2001).............................. 41 Roman v. State, 528 So. 2d 1169 (Fla. 1988)............................. 41 Rompilla v. Beard, 545 U.S. 374 (2005)......................... 33, 45, 46, 47 Rutherford v. State 940 So. 2d 1112, 1117 (Fla. 2006) .................. 17, 49 viii Schwab v. State, 969 So. 2d 318 (Fla. 2007)...............50, 51, 52, 53, 62 Smith v. State, 931 So. 2d 790 (Fla. 2006).............................. 41 Smith v. Wainwright, 799 F.3d 1442 (11th Cir. 1986) ......................... 41 Spaziano v. Florida, 468 U.S. 447 (1984)..................................... 35 State v. Gunsby, 670 So. 2d 920 (Fla. 1996).............................. 41 State v. Huggins, 788 So. 2d 238 (Fla. 2001).............................. 41 State v. Steele, 921 So. 2d 538 (Fla. 2005).............................. 35 Stephens v. State, 748 So. 2d 1028 (Fla. 1999)............................. 33 Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984)......................... 32, 33, 46, 47 Swafford v. State, 828 So. 2d 966 (Fla. 2002)...................... 28, 31, 48 Tedder v. State, 322 So. 2d 908 (Fla. 1975).............................. 37 Teffeteller v. Dugger, 676 So. 2d 369 (Fla. 1996).......................... 56, 57 Ventura v. State, 794 So. 2d 553 (Fla. 2001).............................. 41 Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639 (1990)..................................... 22 Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510 (2003)......................... 33, 45, 46, 47 ix Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (2000)......................... 33, 45, 46, 47 Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976)..................................... 21 Young v. State, 739 So. 2d 553 (Fla. 1991).............................. 41 x xi xii xiii STATEMENT OF THE CASE A. Procedural History Mr. Raleigh and his co-defendant, Domingo Figueroa, were charged by indictment in the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, Volusia County, Florida, with two counts of first degree murder, one count of burglary, and one count of shooting into a building. Mr. Raleigh pled guilty on June 6, 1995. Thereafter, a jury was selected for a penalty phase proceeding. The jury, by a vote of 12-0, recommended a sentence of death on August 15, 1995. On February 16, 1996, the trial judge sentenced Mr. Raleigh to death. In his sentencing order, the trial judge found the following aggravating circumstances: (1) prior violent felony (applied to both Cox and Eberlin); (2) that the murders were committed while engaged in a burglary (applied to the murders of both Cox and Eberlin); (3) that the murder of Cox was cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP); (4) that the murder of Eberlin was committed to avoid arrest or effect escape; and (5) that the murder of Eberlin was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel (HAC). Raleigh, 705 So. 2d at 1327 n.1. The trial court found one statutory and fifteen nonstatutory mitigators. The statutory mitigator is Raleigh's age--he was nineteen at the time of the crime. Id. at 1327 n.2. The nonstatutory mitigators