Jones v. StateJones v. State
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, and Carol M. Dittmar, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, FL, for Appellee/Respondent.
PER CURIAM.
Randall Scott Jones appeals the denial of his motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In 1988, Jones was convicted and sentenced to death for the first-degree murders of Matthew Paul Brock and Kelly Lynn Perry.1 The underlying facts were detailed in this Court‘s opinion in Jones‘s first direct appeal:2
During the evening of July 26, 1987, Jones and his codefendant, Chris Reesh, went target shooting with a 30-30-caliber rifle near Rodman Dam in Putnam County. Jones‘s car became stuck in the sand pits. At about midnight, they flagged down a fisherman who was leaving the area and asked if he could pull them out. The fisherman indicated that he could not but told them to seek help from the driver of a Chevrolet pickup truck parked in the parking lot. Inside the cab of the pickup Matthew Paul Brock and Kelly Lynn Perry were sleeping.
Between 12:30 and 1:30 a.m., a twelve-year-old boy who was camping at the Rodman Dam Campground awoke to the sound of three gunshots fired in rapid succession. Later that morning, a Rodman Dam concession worker noticed cigarette packets, broken glass, and blood in the parking lot. She followed a trail of blood and drag marks across the parking lot for about 160 yards to a wooded area where she discovered Brock‘s body lying in the underbrush. She called the Putnam County Sheriff‘s Office. During the search of the area, deputies discovered Perry‘s partially clothed body about twenty-five feet deeper into the underbrush.
At trial, Dr. Bonofacia Flora, a forensic pathologist, testified that Brock died instantly from two wounds to the head from a high-powered rifle. Perry died from a single shot to the forehead, also caused by a high-powered rifle.
Matthew Brock‘s brother and sister-in-law testified to having seen the victim‘s pickup, while in Jones‘s possession, parked at a convenience store in Green Cove Springs at approximately 7 a.m. on July 27. They observed bullet holes in the windshield and a 30-30-caliber rifle inside. Richard Brock confronted Jones, who was a stranger to him, and asked him where he got the truck.
Jones told him he had just purchased the truck for $4,000 and drove away. On August 16, Jones was arrested in Kosciusko, Mississippi, by the Mississippi Highway Patrol for possession of a stolen motor vehicle. The next day, Detective David Stout and Lieutenant Chris Hord of the Putnam County Sheriff‘s Office interviewed Jones in Mississippi. Lieutenant Hord testified that after advising Jones of his Miranda [v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966)] rights, Jones gave a statement implicating himself at the scene but blaming Reesh for having shot both victims. Jones admitted driving the pickup to Mississippi, wherе he planned to get rid of it. In addition to signing a waiver-of-rights form, Jones also signed a consent to search the trailer in which he had been living at the Lighthouse Children‘s Home in Mississippi. In the trailer, Detective Stout recovered pay stubs from Perry‘s employer in Palatka bearing her fingerprint. A calendar bearing Perry‘s name was also recovered from the bottom of a nearby dumpster.
On August 20, Jones was transported from Mississippi to Florida. Lieutenant Hord testified that at the outset of the trip, he reminded Jones that his Miranda rights were still in effect. Jones then volunteered a second statement which was reduced to writing and signed after their arrival at the Putnam County jail. In this statement, Jones admitted that his earlier statement was true, except that he had reversed his and Reesh‘s roles in the murder.
The state‘s case was completed with the testimony of Rhonda Morrell, who was Jones‘s ex-fiancee. She testified that Jones had told her that he had taken her father‘s rifle for target shooting and that “he had shot those two people. He didn‘t remember doing it, but he had done it.” She also testified that Jones had told her that he had pawned the rifle, and she identified Jones‘s signature on a pawn ticket dated August 19, 1987. The rifle was retrieved from a Jacksonville gun and pawn shop.
Jones offered no evidence during the guilt phase. The jury returned guilty verdicts on all charges.
During the penalty phase, Jones presented the testimony of Dr. Harry Krop, a forensic psychologist, who diagnosed Jones as having a borderline personality disorder. He testified that Jones‘s stepmother described Jones as “almost like an animal.” At the age of eleven, Jones was hospitalized for three weeks for psychiatric treatment. He was diagnosed as a borderline schizophrenic due to his difficulty dealing with reality and his environment. After his release from the hospital, a court adjudicated Jones dependent, later delinquent, and finally referred him to a children‘s home.
The court instructed the jury on three aggravating [Note 4] and three mitigating circumstances, [Note 5] and the jury recommended the death sentence for both murders by а vote of eleven to one. As to each murder, the trial court found two aggravating circumstances—that the murders were committed for pecuniary gain and committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner. The court found no mitigating circumstances and sentenced Jones to death.
[Note 4] The murders were committed during the commission of a robbery and/or burglary, the murders were especially wicked, evil, atrocious, or cruel, the murders were committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner.
[Note 5] The jury could consider that the defendant had no significant history of prior criminal activity, the defendant‘s age, and any other aspect of the defendant‘s character.
Jones I, 569 So. 2d at 1235-37 (footnote 3 omitted).3
In Jones‘s new penalty phase, the jury voted ten to two for a recommendation of death with regard to each murder. We upheld the two sentences of death imposed upon resentencing. See Jones II, 612 So. 2d at 1376.4
Jones‘s amended initial 3.850 motion, filed in 1997, is the subject of this appeal. Jones‘s motion contained thirty claims.5
3.850 APPEAL
In his first issue,8 Jones asserts that the trial judge improperly delegated his sentencing authority to, and engaged in improper ex parte contact with, the State. Jones contends that the trial judge allowed the State to write the sentencing order9 and did not engage in the required independent weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Moreover, Jones argues that on the whole the evidence produced at the evidentiary hearing on this claim establishes that the trial judge engaged in improper contact with the State during the sentencing proceeding. We disagree. As noted by the postconviction judge,10 Jones produced no direct evidence that the prosecutor in his resentencing, and not the trial judge, wrote the sentencing order. Jones‘s assertion that the trial judge engaged in improper contact with the State is also unsupported.
While evidence presented at the evidentiary hearing11 established that the prosecutor in Jones‘s initial sentencing proceeding, Mac McLeod, wrote the sentencing order without substantial input from the trial judge, the prosecutor in Jones‘s resentencing, Richard Whitson, testified without qualification that he did not write the sentencing order when Jones was resentenced. Moreover, Whitson provided a plausible explanation as to why he possessed, and had made a marginal comment on, a copy of a proposed sentencing order: The trial judge had likely circulated drafts of the proposed order to both the State and defense, seeking their comments.12 Such a circumstance is not the
The denial of relief was also proper with regard to the involvement of the trial judge‘s law clerk in Jones‘s resentencing proceedings. The law clerk, Pamela Koller, testified at the evidentiary hearing that she produced an initial draft of portions of a sentencing order during Jones‘s resentencing proceedings, and that she might have used as a “starting point” portions of the order13 originally entered after Jones‘s initial sentencing proceeding. Jones claims that Koller‘s involvement in drafting portions of a sentencing order conclusively establishes that the trial judge did not engage in the required independent weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. As further support, he notes the similarities between the sentencing orders for his initial and resentencing proceedings and contends that they buttress the conclusiоn that the trial judge did not engage in the required independent weighing. We disagree as to both points.
Jones failed to offer competent evidence that the trial judge did not engage in independent weighing of aggravators and mitigators. The draft version of the order in the resentencing proceeding, drafted initially by Koller at the instruction of the trial court, is not identical to the version signed and entered by the original trial judge. Most important, the sentencing order signed by the trial judge pursuant to Jones‘s resentencing in 1991 differs significantly from the order signed after Jones‘s initial sentencing proceeding in 1988. For instance, the 1988 order, with regard to the murder of victim Brock, finds only pecuniary gain as an aggravating factor; the 1991 order discusses both pecuniary gain and armed robbery as aggravating factors and subsequently merges them into a single aggravator. Moreover, the 1988 order does not contain the discussion of specific nonstatutory mitigating circumstances which is present in the 1991 order. Given these significant dissimilarities between the two orders, we determine that the postconviction judge did not err in concluding that the trial judge independently considered the aggravating and mitigating factors in Jones‘s case. See Morton v. State, 789 So. 2d 324, 332-35 (Fla. 2001) (noting that distinctions between initial sentencing order issued by one judge and subsequent order issued by different judge in resentencing provided sufficient indicia that judge in resentencing proceeding undertook independent weighing of aggravators and mitigators despite presence of some similarities between initial sentencing order and resentencing order).14 One would reasonably expect that orders relating to the same or similar evidence would, of necessity, be somewhat similar.
The next issue15 Jones presents is that his counsel was ineffective for failing to confer with the court-appointed confidential mental health expert, Dr. Krop, with regard to Jones‘s competency to waive his Miranda16 rights and his right to an extradition hearing. Jones further argues that his defense counsel should have consulted with Dr. Krop with regard to Jones‘s competency to give consent for the search of his trailer in Mississippi, where police seized inculpatory evidence.17 We disagree and determine that the trial judge did not err in denying an evidentiary hearing. Jones‘s defense counsel was not ineffective with regard to these matters.
Pursuant to Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), a successful assertion of ineffective assistance of counsel must satisfy two prongs. Under the first prong, the defendant must show that counsel was deficient, i.e., “the defendant must show that counsel‘s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness” based on “prevailing professional norms.” Ragsdale v. State, 798 So. 2d 713, 715 (Fla. 2001). Under the second prong, “[t]he defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel‘s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would hаve been different.” Id. A reasonable probability is “a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.” Id. To be entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a claim of ineffective assistance, the defendant must allege specific facts that are not conclusively rebutted by the record and which demonstrate a deficiency in performance that prejudiced the defendant. See Roberts v. State, 568 So. 2d 1255, 1259 (Fla. 1990). A mere conclusory allegation of ineffective assistance is insufficient to warrant an evidentiary hearing. See Kennedy v. State, 547 So. 2d 912, 913 (Fla. 1989). Reasonable strategic decisions of trial counsel should not be second-guessed by a reviewing court. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689-91.
To the extent that Jones asserts the ineffectiveness of his trial counsel on this issue, the postconviction judge‘s determination that a procedural bar existed as to the relevant claims is incorrect. The ineffectiveness of Jones‘s counsel at his resentencing was not considered or determined on direct appeal.18 Nevertheless,
JONES‘S COUNSEL: I think that certain things should be made clear. Is it not true that Randy Jones, at the date of the commission of the offense, was not insane, as that term is legally understood?
DR. KROP: That‘s right. He knew right from wrong.
JONES‘S COUNSEL: And, from that day to this, he has not suffered from an incompetence, mental incompetence, to stand trial, to understand the proceedings which have been brought against him?
DR. KROP: That‘s right.
Jones‘s trial counsel had no reason to challenge the waiver of rights on competency grounds. Dr. Krop had considered and determined Jones‘s competency from the time he perpetrated the killings and at all points thereafter, which necessarily included the time at which Jones waived his Miranda and other rights.19 There is no reason to even suspect that competency was an issue based on the expert conclusions. Therefore, trial counsel‘s decision not to challenge the waiver based on Jones‘s competency was not unreasonable.20
The record does demonstrate that trial counsel did challenge Jones‘s waiver of his rights based on the lack of voluntariness. The record establishes that counsel filed a motion to suppress Jones‘s inculpatory statements along with evidence from a search (to which Jones had consented) of a trailer in Mississippi where incriminating evidence was found. Trial counsel also deposed Jones‘s primary interrogators to explore the voluntariness of his statements, requested and received a suppression hearing at which he again questioned Jones‘s interrogators, and subsequently moved after formal trial proceedings had begun to suppress incriminating statements and physical evidence. The trial court denied the motions to suppress. It appears that, in the end, Jones‘s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is an expression of frustration concerning the result of his trial. Such frustration is not a viable basis for granting postconvictiоn relief. See Teffeteller v. Dugger, 734 So. 2d 1009, 1019-20 (Fla. 1999). In Teffeteller, we determined that no evidentiary hearing was warranted on the alleged failure of counsel to litigate properly the issue of suppression of the defendant‘s inculpatory
that trial counsel filed several motions to suppress Teffeteller‘s statements and the evidence obtained from the search of his vehicle ..., that a hearing was conducted on the motions, and that counsel objected to the introduction of [this] evidence at trial. Thus, trial counsel vigorously litigated these issues and his performance was not deficient in this regard.
Teffeteller (footnote omitted). Circumstances similar to Teffeteller obtain in the instant case. Based on Teffeteller, the assistance rendered by counsel in the instant case was not deficient.21 The postconviction judge properly denied an evidentiary hearing.
Jones next claims that his counsel was ineffective during voir dire for not preventing the State from making overly prejudicial comments and for not moving for a mistrial.22 Specifically, he cоntends that the prosecutor informed prospective jurors that they were required to recommend a sentence of death if they found Jones guilty of murder. Our review of the record fails to confirm that the prosecutor engaged in such conduct. The strongest phraseology employed by the prosecutor was his line of questioning in which he asked prospective jurors whether they could vote to recommend the death penalty “if the facts, circumstances, and the law warrant it.” This line of questioning is not a significant deviation from the standard jury instructions.23 Moreover, during voir dire the trial judge properly instructed prospective jurors that their role was to “decide whether or not to recommend one of two available sentences,” one being “the death penalty, which is a recommendation, the second [being] life imprisonment with a minimum of twenty-five years.” Jones‘s counsel was not ineffective during voir dire, nor did Jones suffer any prejudice. No evidentiary hearing was warranted. We further note that the postconviction judge properly determined that Jones‘s claim that the prosecutor engaged in misconduct during voir dire was procedurally barred because it should have been presented on direct appeal.
Jones also asserts that his rights under Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 105 S.Ct. 1087, 84 L.Ed.2d 53 (1985), were
The record reveals that Cаrbonel [Mann‘s confidential mental health expert] performed an extensive evaluation of Mann that included neuropsychological testing based on his history of serious alcohol and substance abuse and his history of head injury. Carbonel testified that, in addition to interviewing Mann, she reviewed numerous documents including affidavits from family members, Mann‘s childhood health records, records from correctional institutions, hospital records, and expert testimony from prior proceedings. Carbonel also testified that she did a lengthy psychological evaluation of Mann and conducted various tests including a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and a Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale test, among others. Based on this evaluation, Carbonel was able to testify to the existence of the two statutory mental mitigators.
The record demonstrates that Mann‘s expert performed all the essential tasks required by Ake. Thus, Mann‘s request for an evidentiary hearing was properly denied.
Id. at 1164. The mental health evaluation detailed above is substantially the same as that provided Jones in the instant case. Specifically, Dr. Krop testified during Jones‘s resentencing that he administered a battery of tests similar to those detailed in Mann.25 Equally important, Dr. Krop related not only that Jones suffered from no severe brain damage, but also that brain damage did not contribute to his actions on the day of the murders. Furthermore, he stated that Jones has an IQ of 107. Thus, the record refutes any suggestion that Dr. Krop ignored the type of serious brain damage or mental retardation we detailed in Sireci. An evidentiary hearing on this portion of the Ake claim was properly denied.
Jones further presents the related argument that his rights under Ake were violated due to his trial counsel‘s ineffectiveness in failing to provide Dr. Krop with necessary background information required for a competent mental health examination.26 We disagree. The
We consider next the issue presented by Jones as to whether his trial counsel was ineffective during the guilt phase closing argument because he allegedly conceded Jones‘s guilt on charges of premeditated murder without first subjecting those charges to an adversarial testing and, most important, without obtaining Jones‘s consent.31 We note that the record clеarly refutes Jones‘s contention that his trial counsel conceded guilt to charges of premeditated murder. When he addressed the jury, Jones‘s counsel did state that “the evidence prove[d] beyond a reasonable doubt that Randy Scott Jones killed Kelly Lynn Perry and Matthew Paul Brock.” However, trial counsel proceeded to argue that the trial judge would “define... the crimes involved and their lesser, what are called lesser included offenses.” Jones‘s counsel then stated:
Let me read to you, if I may, the definition of second degree murder from those instructions, which you will hear from the Judge.... “A person commits second degree murder by an act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life.” Ladies and Gentlemen, I submit to you that beyond doubt at the time and place where these killings occurred and the other lesser crimes were committed that Randy Jones did in fact evince a depraved mind regardless of human life and his conduct throughout the episode indicates a depraved and evil intent and inability to understand the feelings of other people, an inability to relate with othеr people, but I think that specifically blueprints this crime as second degree murder.
(Emphasis supplied.) Taken in its whole context, the above argument is nothing more than a “concession ... made to a lesser crime than charged ... after a meaningful adversarial testing32 of the State‘s case.” Atwater v. State, 788 So. 2d 223, 231 (Fla. 2001). Jones‘s counsel conceded guilt to second-degree murder as “a trial strategy intended to save [Jones‘s] life.” Id. at 232. Jones‘s argument would require counsel to present arguments with no credibility and contrary to fact to satisfy his theory of representation. We decline to follow such a path. We have previously determined that:
“[t]o be effectual, trial counsel should be able to do this without express approval of his client and without risk of being branded as being professionally ineffective because others may have different judgments or less experience.”
Id. at 230 (quoting McNeal v. State, 409 So. 2d 528, 529 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982)). We therefore conclude that “the trial court properly denied [Jones‘s] claim that defense counsel was ineffective for making certain concessions without [Jones‘s] consent.” Atwater, 788 So. 2d at 232.
Jones next claims that his counsel was ineffective because he labored under conflicts of interest which prevented him from rendering impartial advice.33 Specifically, Jones contends that both his counsel‘s status as an honorary deputy sheriff34 and counsel‘s motion to withdraw from representation affected the quality of representation that he received to the point that it became substandard. We addressed much of this issue in the direct appeal of Jones‘s resentencing, noting that Jones‘s counsel had resigned from his position as an honorary deputy sheriff before the resentencing proceeding commenced.35 We determined that counsel was not ineffective in his representation at points prior to the resentencing proceeding. See Jones II, 612 So. 2d at 1372-74. Furthermore, we noted that Jones could allege ineffectiveness of counsel in the resentencing phase in a motion for postconviction relief. No error occurred in the postconviction judge‘s decision to deny an evidentiаry hearing on this matter. Jones could not establish the requisite prejudice under Strickland because his counsel had resigned from the honorary deputy sheriff position before resentencing proceedings had begun. Nor did counsel‘s representation during the resentencing “f[a]ll below an objective standard of reasonableness” based on “prevailing professional norms.” Ragsdale v. State, 798 So. 2d 713, 715 (Fla. 2001). No relief is warranted on this issue.36
In his next issue, Jones asserts violations of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).37 Jones contends that the State violated Brady by failing to disclose that it had
Jones presented no reliable evidence in his 3.850 motion that the State made a deal with Tipton either before or during Jones‘s trial. The only “evidence” Jones presents of a deal between the State and Tipton is a July 1988 letter from the state attorney‘s office to the trial judge in an unrelated case in which Tipton was a defendant. Jones‘s trial had concluded before this letter was written. The letter recommended a reduced sentence for Tipton due to his favorable testimony in Jones‘s case. Tipton stated under oath at Jones‘s initial sentencing phase, after being questioned both by Jones‘s counsel and by the State, that he did not have a deal with the State to provide favorable testimony in Jones‘s case. Jones also received a new sentencing phase at which Tipton did not even testify. Moreover, during Jones‘s resentencing it was his trial counsel who asked Dr. Krop, the mental health expert, about Tipton‘s previous testimony in an attempt to shed the most mitigating light on Jones‘s mental state at the time of the murders. Given these facts, it is clear that Jones cannot establish prejudice under Brady and that he is entitled to no relief.
Jones‘s other Brady issue requires little discussion. He contends that the State violated Brady by failing to disclose its knowledge of Jones‘s possible substance abuse. This claim is entirely misplaced because no one was in a better position to know if Jones had a substance abuse problem than Jones himself. “[A] Brady claim cannot stand if a defendant knew of the evidence allegedly withheld or had рossession of it, simply because the evidence cannot then be found to have been withheld from the defendant.” Occhicone v. State, 768 So. 2d 1037, 1042 (Fla. 2000). We further reject Jones‘s contentions of ineffective assistance with regard to the Brady issue as lacking in merit.
With regard to many of the remaining claims Jones presents, the postconviction judge correctly determined that they were procedurally barred.38 Jones contends that ineffective assistance of counsel occurred with regard to a few of these claims, and we briefly address that aspect. Jones first asserts that his counsel was ineffective for not challenging the jury instructions with regard to the aggravators of cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP), commission in the course of a robbery, and pecuniary gain.39 For each of these aggravating circumstances, the instruction given to the jury conformed to the approved standard jury instruction. No relief is due because “[c]ounsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to prevail on a meritless issue.” Teffeteller, 734 So. 2d at 1020. Moreover, trial counsel was not inеffective for failing to raise the issue of possible burden shifting in the penalty phase jury instructions.40 Those instructions also conformed to the approved standard jury instructions. Jones further contends that his trial counsel was ineffective for not litigating the issue of the constitutionality of the murder in the course of a
Finally, Jones contends that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to prevent the prosecutor from informing the jury that it was required to recommend the death penalty.43 Jones alludes to the closing argument made by the prosecutor in the penalty phase:
There‘s no doubt in this record, when Judge Perry instructed you, as a matter of law that this man had been convicted of the things for which he‘s being sentenced now, those convictions insofar as Brock‘s conviction is concerned, relates directly to the conviction establishing the aggravator on Kelli [sic] Lynn Perry.
Crimes of violence include the crimes of robbery, burglary and robbery, established as a matter of law in this case and about those things there can be no dispute. Those are established. Those are the aggravating circumstances for the two first ingredients. The cap felony was committed for pecuniary gain. I think the term is going to be defined as financial gain, when you are finally instructed on this case, ladies and gentlemen, and certainly, there‘s no dispute in this record and any evidence about the reason why Randy Scotty Jones exеcuted Paul Brock and Kelly Perry the night that he did. He wanted to take the truck.
The above argument did nothing more than review the evidence as to the relevant aggravating circumstances in Jones‘s case. It did not, as Jones contends, contain any implication that the jury was required to recommend the death penalty. Counsel was not ineffective for failing to object to these comments or to move for a mistrial.
PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS
Jones presents three issues in his petition for writ of habeas corpus. The first is that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the issue that Jones‘s trial counsel impermissibly conceded guilt to charges of premeditated murder.44 We determined supra that Jones‘s trial counsel merely presented a legitimate closing argument directed to the lesser charge of second-degree murder in an attempt to spare Jones‘s life. Therefore, this issue is meritless. Appellate counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to raise a meritless issue. See Johnson v. Singletary, 695 So. 2d 263, 266-67 (Fla. 1996).
Jones‘s other two claims require little discussion. Jones contends that his Eighth Amendment rights have been violated because he may be incompetent at the time he is executed. Jones concedes that this claim is made simply to preserve it for review in the federal court system, and that the claim is not ripe for review because Jones has not yet been found incompetent and a death warrant has not yet been signed. No relief is warranted. See Hall v. Moore, 792 So. 2d 447, 450 (Fla. 2001) (stating that it is premature for a death-sentenced individual to present a claim of incompetency or insanity, with regard to his execution, if a death warrant has not been signed).
Finally, Jones asserts that Florida‘s death penalty is unconstitutional under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). This Court addressed the contention that Florida‘s capital sentencing scheme violates the United States Constitution under Apprendi and Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), in Bottoson v. Moore, 833 So. 2d 693 (Fla. 2002), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1070 (2002), and King v. Moore, 831 So. 2d 143 (Fla. 2002), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1067 (2002), and denied relief. We find that Jones is likewise not entitled to relief on this claim. Additionally, two of the aggravating circumstances present here were that Jones had been convicted of a prior violent felony, and that the instant murder was committed while Jones was engaged in the commission of a robbery and burglary, both of which were charged by indictment and found unanimously by a jury.
CONCLUSION
After careful consideration of all of Jones‘s claims, we determine that he is entitled to no relief. Accordingly, we affirm the denial of Jones‘s motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to
It is so ordered.
WELLS, PARIENTE, LEWIS, and QUINCE, JJ., and SHAW and HARDING, Senior Justices, concur.
ANSTEAD, C.J., specially concurs with an opinion.
ANSTEAD, C.J., specially concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion in all respects except for its discussion of the decision in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002).