Miami-Dade trial could apply 8-4 statute in penalty phase
Robert Holton’s first-degree murder trial started last week in Miami-Dade County. It is the first trial in Miami-Dade County in which the new 8-4 statute applies.
Robert Holton’s first-degree murder trial started last week in Miami-Dade County and is scheduled to resume this morning. Holton is on trial for crimes that occurred in 2013. He was arrested in October 2014.
Before the trial, Holton, through his attorneys, filed various motions challenging the application of Florida’s new capital sentencing scheme to his case. The docket does not reflect any written ruling on the motions, but a news article reported late last week that Florida’s 2023 capital sentencing statute, which requires a jury’s recommendation for death by only a vote of 8-4, will apply in Holton’s trial. The article further reported that “Holton’s trial is the first one in Miami-Dade that will honor [the] new death penalty law . . . .”
The trial is currently in the guilt phase. Any conviction must be unanimous. If the jury unanimously convicts Holton of first-degree murder, then the trial will proceed to the penalty phase, where the 8-4 standard in Florida’s new capital sentencing statute will apply.
Rulings Across the State on the New Statute
Here’s the most up-to-date list on how courts across the State have ruled regarding the 8-4 statute.
Broward County
Duval County - Applied the 8-4 statute to Michael Jackson’s Hurst resentencing proceeding. The jury voted 8-4 to recommend death. His sentencing is scheduled for August 11. More here.
Escambia County - Ruled that the 8-4 statute applies to Leonard Gonzalez’s Hurst resentencing proceeding. Gonzalez filed a petition for writ of prohibition at the Florida Supreme Court seeking relief from the ruling. The petition remains pending. The latest is here.
Highlands County - Ruled that the 8-4 statute applies to Zephen Xaver’s upcoming trial for crimes that occurred in 2019. More here.
Lee County - Applied the 8-4 statute to Joseph Zieler’s case. He was sentenced to death in late June after a jury recommended death by a vote of 10-2. More information here.
Miami-Dade County - Applied the 8-4 statute to Robert Holton’s case.
Nassau County - Rescheduled Patrick McDowell’s penalty phase pending the Florida Supreme Court weighing in on the new statute. More here.
Polk County - Ruled in two cases that applying the 8-4 statute to new cases pending when the statute went into effect violates Ex Post Facto. More here. In one case, the State has filed a petition at the Sixth DCA.
Volusia County - Ruled that the 8-4 statute did not apply to Hurst resentencing of Hunter and Victorino. The Fifth District Court of Appeal granted the State’s petition and directed that the 8-4 statute would apply. The resentencing proceedings are still pending.
Wakulla County - Ruled that the 8-4 statute applies to the Hurst resentencing proceedings of Guerry Hertz and Jason Looney. Hertz and Looney filed petitions for writ of prohibition at the Florida Supreme Court seeking relief from the ruling. Hertz’s petition was dismissed last week. Looney’s petition remains pending, but the State’s Motion to Dismiss is pending. The latest is here.