Roy Phillip Ballard, Appellant v. State of Florida, Appellee

Summary

The court affirmed Ballard’s first-degree murder conviction, upheld admission of evidence concerning his sexual relationship with the victim’s minor daughter, and upheld the cold, calculated, and premeditated aggravator. It nevertheless vacated the death sentence as disproportionate because the case involved only one aggravating circumstance and substantial statutory and nonstatutory mitigation, and it directed entry of a life sentence without parole. Justice Polston, joined by Chief Justice Canady, concurred in affirming the conviction and aggravator but would have affirmed the death sentence as proportionate.