Duval County: Markas Fishburne sentenced to death
Earlier this month, a Duval County trial court sentenced Fishburne to death.
In February, during trial, Markas Fishburne pled guilty to one count of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping for crimes that occurred in December 2019. After the penalty phase, the jury recommended that Fishburne be sentenced to death by a vote of 10-2.
Earlier this month, a Duval County trial court sentenced Fishburne to death.
The jury unanimously found that the State proved all four aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. In the Sentencing Order, the trial court agreed, finding the following aggravating factors and assigning each the noted weight:
Defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony or of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person (great weight);
The capital felony was committed while Defendant was engaged, or was an accomplice, in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit, a kidnapping (great weight);
The capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel (very great weight); and
The capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification (great weight).
For mitigation, the trial court found the following:
The crime was committed while Markas Fishburne was under the influence of mental or emotional disturbance (little weight);
Markas Fishburne’s father was not in love with his mother, did not marry her, and had to be taken to court and placed in jail to compel the payment of child support (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne's mother suffered from a mental or emotional disorder that at times caused her to isolate herself in her bedroom (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne’s parents were at odds with each other while Markas was growing up (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne is devoted to his mother in spite of her treatment of him (little weight);
Markas Fishburne never had a consistent male role model (little weight);
Markas Fishburne felt abandoned by his father, who was usually far away and remained largely unaware of the problems his son was having (some weight);
When Markas Fishburne did stay with his father and stepmother he helped around the house, particularly by washing dishes (no weight);
Starting when Markas Fishburne was ten years old, he and his older brother helped take care of their three younger brothers (slight weight);
Through no fault of his own, Markas Fishburne was born with Autism Spectrum Disorder, a lifelong developmental disorder, which was not properly diagnosed during childhood (little weight);
For his entire life Markas Fishburne has suffered from a severe expressive and receptive language disorder (slight weight);
For his entire life Markas Fishburne has suffered from a profound pragmatic
communication disorder (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne has borderline intellectual functioning (some weight);
Markas Fishburne moved frequently throughout his childhood, and that interfered with his special education plans and treatment (some weight);
Markas Fishburne's mother struggled financially throughout his life (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne was taunted with racial slurs while growing up in Indiana (little weight);
Some of Markas Fishburne's behavior problems in school were the result of frequent racial taunting by other students (little weight);
Markas Fishburne started using methamphetamine in his early teens and continued using it into adulthood. Methamphetamine is a very addictive drug which can permanently change the chemistry and functioning of the brain (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne used meth within days of the murder and was showing signs of paranoia while he was staying with Spencer Smith-Parker (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne learned maladaptive coping strategies throughout his life (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne was in special education classes in school and was transitioned into adult learning classes before he stopped going to school in ninth grade (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne has never lived alone (very slight weight);
Markas Fishburne has never obtained a driver's license (no weight);
Markas Fishburne has talent as an artist (no weight);
Markas Fishburne has a sense of humor and makes other people laugh (no weight);
Markas Fishburne has the ability to learn positive coping strategies if provided healthy social and emotional therapy (slight weight);
Markas Fishburne loves his son and his son loves him (little weight);
Markas Fishburne loves his family and his family loves him (little weight);
Markas Fishburne pled guilty to first-degree murder during trial (slight weight);
In addition, the trial court determined that the fact that, if Fishburne was given a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, he will live in prison until he dies is not mitigation.
After weighing the aggravation and mitigation, the trial court concluded death is the appropriate sentence:
The full Sentencing Order can be downloaded here.