Spencer v. State, 85119
| Citation | 691 So.2d 1062 |
| Decision Date | 12 September 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 85119,85119 |
| Parties | 21 Fla. L. Weekly S366 Dusty Ray SPENCER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
James B. Gibson, Public Defender and James R. Wulchak, Chief, Appellate Division, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Margene A. Roper, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.
Dusty Ray Spencer appeals the imposition of the death penalty on resentencing. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution. For the reasons expressed below, we affirm the death sentence.
Spencer was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife Karen Spencer, as well as aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and attempted second-degree murder. The facts surrounding these crimes are discussed in Spencer v. State, 645 So.2d 377, 379-80 (Fla.1994). Following the jury's recommendation, the trial court sentenced Spencer to death for the first-degree murder. On appeal, we affirmed the convictions but vacated the death sentence because the trial court improperly found the cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP) aggravating circumstance and improperly rejected the statutory mitigating circumstances of "committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance" and "substantial impairment of the defendant's capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law." Id. at 384-85. Consequently, we remanded the case for reconsideration of the death sentence by the judge. Id. at 385.
After hearing argument from the parties, the judge again imposed the death sentence. The judge found two aggravating circumstances: 1) Spencer was previously convicted of a violent felony, based upon his contemporaneous convictions for aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and attempted second-degree murder; and 2) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel (HAC). § 921.141(5)(b), (h), Fla.Stat. (1993). The judge also found three mitigating circumstances: 1) the murder was committed while Spencer was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance; 2) Spencer's capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired; and 3) the existence of a number of nonstatutory mitigating factors in Spencer's background, including drug and alcohol abuse, paranoid personality disorder, sexual abuse by his father, honorable military record, good employment record, and ability to function in a structured environment that does not contain women. § 921.141(6)(b), (f), Fla.Stat. (1993). In weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the judge gave "some weight" to the statutory mental mitigators and "very little weight" to the nonstatutory mitigators and concluded that "the aggravating circumstances outweigh all the mitigating circumstances."
On appeal to this Court, Spencer raises two issues, the first of which includes a number of subissues. In his first issue, Spencer argues that the death sentence was improperly imposed because: a) the sentencing order is insufficient in its factual basis and rationale; b) the judge considered inappropriate aggravating circumstances; c) the statutory and nonstatutory mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating factors; and d) the death sentence is not proportionately warranted in this case. In his second issue, Spencer argues that the use of hearsay testimony during the penalty phase proceeding violated his constitutional rights to due process, confrontation, and cross-examination.
Spencer raised the hearsay issue in his original appeal to this Court, and we found no error. See Spencer, 645 So.2d at 383-84. We will not revisit this issue after remand for a reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances by the judge. Spencer also argues that the trial court improperly found HAC because his mental impairments negated any intent to inflict pain or suffering on the victim. Spencer challenged the applicability of the HAC factor on a different ground in his original appeal to this Court, and we concluded that HAC applied under the facts of this case. Id. at 384. We will not revisit this issue in the guise of a new argument. Moreover, we find no merit to that argument.
Spencer also contends that the trial court considered other inappropriate aggravating circumstances in imposing the death sentence. Specifically, Spencer argues that although the court did not list CCP as an aggravating circumstance it still relied upon this factor to justify imposition of the death sentence. He also contends that the court improperly considered the following as nonstatutory aggravating factors: attacks and threats by Spencer in December that were directed to his wife but which never resulted in convictions; Spencer's successful business record; and his military heroism. We find no merit to this claim. While the sentencing order discusses certain circumstances that are indicative of planning and premeditation by Spencer, it does so in the context of determining how much weight to ascribe to the mental mitigating circumstances. The judge concluded that although the statutory mental mitigators had been established in this case, they should be assigned only "some weight" because this other evidence indicated a "deliberate thought process by [Spencer] to kill Karen Spencer." The judge also assigned less weight to the mitigating factors because, despite mental and emotional impairments and chronic substance abuse, Spencer was still capable of running a successful business and performing heroic acts in the military. Thus, we do not find that the judge considered improper aggravating circumstances.
Spencer also argues that the court improperly limited mitigation to matters directly connected with the murder and erred in assigning little weight to the mitigating circumstances. Mitigating factors include all matters relevant to the defendant's character or record or to the circumstances of the offense proffered as a basis for a sentence less than death. Rogers v. State, 511 So.2d 526, 534 (Fla.1987) (citing Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 604-05, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 2964-65, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978)), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1020, 108 S.Ct. 733, 98 L.Ed.2d 681 (1988). The sentencer may not refuse to consider any relevant mitigating evidence. Id. However, it is within the sentencing judge's discretion to determine the relative weight to give to each established mitigator, and that ruling will not be disturbed if supported by competent, substantial evidence in the record. Johnson v. State, 660 So.2d 637, 646 (Fla.1995), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 1550, 134 L.Ed.2d 653 (1996); Johnson v. State, 660 So.2d 648, 663 (Fla.1995), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 1550, 134 L.Ed.2d 653 (1996).
Contrary to Spencer's contention, the judge did not limit his consideration of the mitigating factors to those directly connected with the murder. The judge found the two statutory mental mitigators to be applicable and also found Spencer's history and background to be a nonstatutory mitigating factor. It appears that Spencer's real complaint involves the weighing process and the weight accorded the mitigating factors. The sentencing order addresses the weighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances in great detail--ten pages of the sixteen page order deal with the weighing of these circumstances. As discussed above, the judge evaluated the mitigation in light of the other evidence presented, the facts leading up to the killing, and the nature of the killing. Based upon this evaluation and assessment, the judge concluded that the mitigation could not be accorded overwhelmingly great weight and thus did not outweigh the aggravating circumstances. Because there is competent, substantial evidence in the record to support that ruling, we find no error. Johnson.
In summary, we find no deficiency in the sentencing order and instead...
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