STATE OF FLORIDA, PETITIONER,
v.
SAMUEL POOLE, RESPONDENT
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A twelve-person jury is required in first-degree murder trials unless waived by the defense, even when the prosecution waives the death penalty.
[1] A defendant's statutory right to a twelve-person jury in a first-degree murder trial is not eliminated by the prosecution's waiver of the death penalty and exists indepen…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“regardless of whether the state seeks the death penalty, a twelve-person jury is required in first-degree murder trials unless waived by the defense.”
The Court's statement of its holding regarding the jury composition requirement in first-degree murder cases.
Poole was tried for first-degree murder before a six-person jury over defense counsel's objection after the prosecution waived the death penalty.…
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McDONALD, Justice.
We review Poole v. State, 550 So. 2d 1144 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989), in which the district court certified as a question of great public importance the same question it certified in Griffith v. State, 548 So. 2d 244, 246 n. 2 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989), i.e.:
Whether a twelve-person jury is required in a first degree murder case in which the prosecution waives the death penalty?
Poole, 550 So. 2d at 1145. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. In State v. Griffith, 561 So. 2d 528 (Fla.1990), we answered the certified question with a qualified affirmative and held that, regardless of whether the state seeks the death penalty, a twelve-person jury is required in first-degree murder trials unless waived by the defense. This case was tried before a six-person jury over defense counsel’s objection, and, thus, there was no valid and effective waiver of Poole’s statutory right to a twelve-person jury.* Griffith. We therefore approve the district court’s decision.
It is so ordered.
EHRLICH, C.J., and SHAW, BARKETT, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur. OVERTON, J., dissents with an opinion.
*
The following exchange took place on the record.
MR. PTOMEY: [Prosecutor]: Your Honor again for the record the State is waiving the death penalty in this cause.
THE COURT: Once it’s waived it’s always waived.
MS. WOODS: [Defense Counsel]: If the court intends to proceed with selection of only a six person jury we would like to raise our previous objection to that.
THE COURT: That has already been made and ruled upon.
OVERTON, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent for the reasons I expressed in State v. Griffith, 561 So. 2d 528 (Fla.1990). Poole has no statutory right to a twelve-person jury since this is no longer a capital case.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Johnson v. State, 289 So. 3d 986 (Fla. 1st DCA 2020)…-person jury.” The Court held a defendant indicted for first-degree murder is entitled to a twelve-person jury unless that right is waived jointly by the State and the defense. Id. (distinguishing Hogan on the basis of waiver). In State v. Poole, 561 So. 2d 535 (Fla. 1990), the Florida Supreme Court answered a certified question of whether a twelve-person jury was required in a first-degree murder case in which the prosecution waives the death penalty in the affirmative, holding, “[R]egardless of whether t…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Griffith, 561 So. 2d 528 (Fla. 1990)
- Jones v. State, 548 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)
- Griffith v. State, 548 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)
- Poole v. State, 550 So. 2d 1144 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)