Harold Gene LUCAS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Supreme Court of Florida.
*944 James Marion Moorman, Public Defender and W.C. McLain, Asst. Public Defender, Tenth Judicial Circuit, Bartow, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Charles Corces, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Lucas appeals the reimposition of a sentence of death. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We remand for a new sentencing proceeding before a jury.
In 1977 a jury convicted Lucas of first-degree murder. The trial judge agreed with the jury's recommendation and sentenced Lucas to death. On appeal this Court affirmed Lucas' convictions, but, because the trial judge considered a nonstatutory aggravating factor, we remanded for resentencing without a new jury. Lucas v. State,
The original trial judge died before the second resentencing, and another judge took over Lucas' case. The new judge refused Lucas' requests for a new jury and for permission to present additional evidence. Instead, the judge reviewed all of the transcripts in the case. After considering this material and the jury's recommendation, the court again sentenced Lucas to death, finding previous conviction of violent felony, great risk of death to many persons, and heinous, atrocious, or cruel in aggravation and lack of significant history *945 of prior criminal activity in mitigation. § 921,141(5) (b), (c), & (h) & (6) (a), Fla. Stat. (1983).
On appeal Lucas claims, among other things, that the judge erred by not allowing him to present additional evidence, by not empanelling a new jury, and by finding an erroneous aggravating factor.
Our terminology in remanding for resentencing has varied from case to case. E.g., Dougan v. State,
in deciding the earlier appeal, we held that there had been no error at the original sentencing trial with regard to evidence and instructions, so that the jury's recommendation was valid and a new jury recommendation was not required. Therefore, the trial court's decision on remand not to convene a jury was in keeping with our mandate and was proper.
Id. at 314. This was in accord with a previous pronouncement as to when what type of resentencing proceeding is required:
In our original decision [Mikenas v. State], we specifically remanded for resentencing "without further deliberations by a jury."367 So.2d 606 at 610. Defendant contends that a contrary procedure is dictated by Elledge v. State,346 So.2d 998 (Fla. 1977), wherein we set aside a death sentence and remanded for a new sentencing trial because the trial court had considered as a nonstatutory aggravating factor evidence concerning an alleged murder not within the res gestae of the murder for which the defendant was being tried and which had not resulted in a conviction at the time of the trial. However, Elledge is not relevant. In this case, the evidence itself was not improper, only the manner in which it was considered by the court in its findings of fact.
Mikenas v. State,
This holding, however, does not end the instant inquiry. In Harvard v. State,
As the judge will explain to you, the law is very specific in spelling out what you may consider in making your decision. You may not go outside the aggravating and mitigating circumstances in reaching your decision... . But you may not go outside the specifically enumerated aggravating and mitigating factors.
Because we would rather have this case straightened out now rather than, possibly, in the far future in a post-conviction proceeding, we remand for a complete new sentencing proceeding before a newly empanelled jury.
As a final note, upon reconsideration, we find that the aggravating factor of creating great risk of death to many people is not applicable to this homicide. Notwithstanding the "raging gun battle,"
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, McDONALD, EHRLICH, SHAW and BARKETT, JJ., concur.
BOYD, C.J., and ADKINS, J., dissent.
