Miami-Dade County: Life verdict for Tavares Calloway
Late Thursday, a Miami-Dade jury recommended that Tavares Calloway be resentenced to life in prison without parole (LWOP) rather than death.
A Miami-Dade jury recommended that Tavares Calloway be resentenced to life in prison without parole (LWOP) rather than death.
Background on Calloway’s Case
In 2010, Tavares Calloway was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and other charges for crimes that occurred in the late 1990s. Calloway was sentenced to death for each murder after the jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of 7-5.1 In its sentencing order, the trial court found six aggravating factors and one mitigator.2
On direct appeal, Calloway raised several issues. In a decision dated January 26, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Calloway’s guilt phase claims but reversed and remanded the case for a new penalty phase in light of Hurst.3
Resentencing
After Gov. DeSantis signed into law Florida’s 2023 capital sentencing scheme, Calloway, through his attorneys challenged the constitutionality of the statute and its application to his case. The trial court ruled that the new 8-4 statute applied in Calloway’s resentencing.
Calloway’s new penalty phase began in late March. The State intended to present six aggravating factors to the jury. After the trial court struck one of the aggravating factors, the State proceeded with five that were presented to the jury for consideration:
Contemporaneous convictions
Felony murder to wit: kidnapping
That the murder was committed for financial gain
That the murder was particularly heinous, atrocious, or cruel (HAC)
That the murder was particularly cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP)
The jury ultimately determined that the State proved only the first aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt. Late Thursday, after deliberating for seven hours, the jury returned a life verdict. The jury verdict form is not available on the docket. This page will be updated with the verdict form when it is.
Under the 2023 statute, because the jury recommended a sentence of LWOP, the judge must sentence Calloway to LWOP and cannot override the jury’s recommendation.
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Calloway v. State, 210 So. 3d 1160, 1175 (Fla. 2017).
Id. at 1176.