{"id":707,"date":"2020-05-19T09:19:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T13:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminallawyer.net\/?p=707"},"modified":"2024-09-06T12:28:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T16:28:39","slug":"florida-court-discusses-burden-of-proof-for-mitigating-circumstances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminalattorney.net\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-burden-of-proof-for-mitigating-circumstances\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Court Discusses Burden of Proof for Mitigating Circumstances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The sentence imposed on a criminal defendant convicted of a crime depends on numerous factors, including whether the sentence should be increased or reduced due to any aggravating or mitigating circumstances. Thus, if a jury is not properly advised of the weight of such circumstances or how they should be assessed, it can adversely affect a defendant\u2019s case. In a recent ruling issued by the Supreme Court of Florida, the court clarified the burden of proof that applies to mitigating circumstances, in a <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/cases\/florida\/supreme-court\/2020\/sc17-2244.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">case<\/a> in which the defendant was convicted of first-degree murder. If you live in St. Petersburg and are charged with murder or any other violent crime, it is advisable to consult a skillful St. Petersburg criminal defense attorney to discuss your case.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Facts Regarding the Case and Sentencing Hearing<\/p>\n<p>It is reported that the defendant was charged with and convicted of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to death, after which he filed a petition for relief. He was then granted a new penalty-phase trial and was sentenced to death a second time, after which he appealed, arguing, in part, that the trial court made a fundamental error by neglecting to instruct the jury regarding the burden of proof that applied to mitigating circumstances.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The burden of Proof that Applies to Findings Related to Mitigating Circumstances<\/p>\n<p>On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial court was required to advise the jury that it must find beyond a reasonable doubt that any aggravating factors were adequate to impose a death sentence and that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors. The court disagreed. Specifically, the court noted that while previous case law suggested that a jury must determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the weight and sufficiency of any aggravating factors required a recommendation that a defendant should be sentenced to death, the prior courts mischaracterized the standard.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminalattorney.net\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-burden-of-proof-for-mitigating-circumstances\/#more-707\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sentence imposed on a criminal defendant convicted of a crime depends on numerous factors, including whether the sentence should be increased or reduced due to any aggravating or mitigating circumstances. Thus, if a jury is not properly advised of the weight of such circumstances or how they should be assessed, it can adversely affect [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-violent-crimes"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Florida Court Discusses Burden of Proof for Mitigating Circumstances &#8212; St. Petersburg Criminal Lawyer Blog &#8212; May 19, 2020<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The sentence imposed on a criminal defendant convicted of a crime depends on numerous factors, including whether the sentence should be increased or &#8212; May 19, 2020\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminalattorney.net\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-burden-of-proof-for-mitigating-circumstances\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida Court Discusses Burden of Proof for Mitigating Circumstances &#8212; St. Petersburg Criminal Lawyer Blog &#8212; May 19, 2020\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The sentence imposed on a criminal defendant convicted of a crime depends on numerous factors, including whether the sentence should be increased or &#8212; May 19, 2020\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminalattorney.net\/blog\/florida-court-discusses-burden-of-proof-for-mitigating-circumstances\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"St. Petersburg Criminal Lawyer Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-19T13:19:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-06T16:28:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida Court Discusses Burden of Proof for Mitigating Circumstances &#8212; 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