Lead Opinion
On September 1, 2017, when Governor Scott rescheduled Lambrix’s execution for October 5, 2017, Lambrix’s eighth successive postconviction motion was pending in the circuit court. The gist of Lambrix’s motion was an attack on the constitutionality of his death sentences based on the
Lambrix challenges the constitutionality of his sentences of death, which were imposed following the jury’s nonunanimous recommendations for death. Specifically, Lambrix claims a right to relief based on the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Hurst v. Florida, — U.S.—, 136 S.Ct. 616, 193 L.Ed.2d 504 (2016), and this Court’s opinions in Hurst v. State, 202 So.3d 40 (Fla. 2016), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 137 S.Ct. 2161, 198 L.Ed.2d 246 (2017), and Perry v. State, 210 So.3d 630 (Fla. 2016). He argues on appeal that: (1) his sentences of death are unconstitutional under chapter 2017-1, Laws of Florida, which requires a unanimous jury recommendation for death; (2) his former claims of newly discovered evidence must be reconsidered in light of Hurst v. Florida and Hurst; (3) his death sentences violate the Eighth Amendment; and (4) this Court’s decisions regarding the retroactivity of Hurst v. Florida and Hurst violate equal protection.
While it is true that the jury nonunani-mously recommended death for the 1983 murders of the two victims,
To the extent Lambrix now raises additional claims to relief based on the rights announced in Hurst and Perry—including arguments based on the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, denial of due process and equal protection based on the arbitrariness of this Court’s retroactivity decisions in Asay V and Mosley v. State, 209 So.3d 1248 (Fla. 2016), and a substantive right based on the legislative passage of chapter 2017-1, Laws of Florida, prospectively requiring unanimous verdicts—we reject these arguments based on our recent opinions in Hitchcock v. State, 226 So.3d 216, 2017 WL 3431500 (Fla. Aug. 10, 2017), and Asay v. State (Asay VI), 224 So.3d 695, 2017 WL 3472836 (Fla. Aug. 14, 2017).
For all the reasons set forth in Lambrix, 217 So.3d 977, Hitchcock, and Asay VI, we affirm the circuit court’s denial of Lambrix’s successive postconviction motion.
It is so ordered. No rehearing will be entertained by this Court. The mandate shall issue immediately.
. The jury recommended a sentence of death for the murder of Aleisha Bryant by a vote of 10-2 and death for the murder of Clarence Moore, a/k/a Lawrence Lamberson, by a vote of 8-4.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
I dissent: I would grant Lambrix a new penalty phase as a result of the jury’s nonunanimous recommendations for death in Lambrix’s case for the same reasons expressed in my recent dissenting opinions in Hitchcock
As I stated in my concurring in result opinion in Lambrix v. State, 217 So.3d 977 (Fla.), petition for cert. filed, No. 17-5539 (U.S. Aug. 9, 2017), “I would vacate Lam-brix’s sentences of death and remand for a new penalty phase under Hurst.” Id. at 990 (Pariente, J., concurring in result), But, even if this Court’s opinion in Asay V
As I stated in Hitchcock, “[f]or the same reasons I conclude that the right announced in Hurst under the right-to jury trial (Sixth Amendment and article I, section 22, of the Florida Constitution) requires full retroactivity, I would conclude that the right to a unanimous jury recommendation of death announced in Hurst under the Eighth Amendment requires full retroactivity.” Id. at 220, 2017 WL 3431500, at *4. “Reliability is the linchpin of Eighth Amendment jurisprudence, and a death sentence imposed without a unanimous jury verdict for death is inherently unreliable.” Id..at 220, 2017 WL 3431500, at *3. - The statute under'which Lambrix was sentenced, which only required that a bare majority of the twelve-member jury recommend a sentence of death, was unconstitutional, and therefore unreliable, under both the Sixth and Eighth Amendments.
Like other defendants whose attorneys had the foresight to challenge Florida’s capital sentencing scheme years before Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002),
•Death sentences in Florida are imposed irregularly, unpredictably, and whimsically in cases which are no more deserving of capital punishment, under any rational standard that considers the character of the offender and the offense, than many other cases in which sentences of imprisonment are imposed. Inconsistent and arbitrary jury attitudes and sentencing verdicts, uneven arid inconsistent prosecutorial practices in seeking or not seeking the death penalty, divergent sentencing policies of trial judges and erratic appellate review by the Supreme Court of Florida all contribute to produce an irregular and*115 freakish pattern of life or death sentencing results.
Motion to Dismiss the Indictment, State v. Lambrix, Case No. 83-12, at ¶ 13. Indeed, Lambrix’s attorneys made every argument they could to. justify retroactive application of Hurst to Lambrix’s case long before Hurst was ever decided.
Denying Lambrix “relief when other similarly situated defendants have been granted relief amounts to a denial of due process.” Hitchcock, 226 So.3d at 220, 2017 WL 3431500, at *3 (Pariente, J., dissenting). To avoid denying two of the most critical constitutional protections on the eve of the ultimate punishment, I would grant Lambrix a new penalty phase.
Accordingly, I dissent.
. Hitchcock v. State, 226 So.3d 216, 219-21, 2017 WL 3431500, *3-4 (Fla. Aug. 10, 2017) (Pariente, J., dissenting).
. Asay v. State (Asay VI), 224 So.3d 695, 704-03, 2017 WL 3472836, *8 (Fla. Aug. 14, 2017) (Pariente, J., dissenting).
. Asay v. State (Asay V), 210 So,3d 1 (Fla. 2016), cert. denied, No. 16-9033, — U.S. —, — S.Ct. —, — L.Ed.2d—, 2017 WL 1807588 ,(U.S. Aug. 24, 2017).
.See, e.g., Gaskin v. State, 218 So.3d 399, 401-02 (Fla.), petition for cert. filed, No. 17-5669 (U.S. Aug. 21, 2017) (Pariente, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
. See Mosley v. State, 209 So.3d 1248 (Fla, 2016); Asay V, 210 So.3d at 30 (Lewis, J., concurring in result).
