Leo Louis Kaczmar, Iii v. State of Florida

Summary

The court affirmed Kaczmar's first-degree murder conviction but remanded for a new penalty phase. It held that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the attempted sexual battery conviction and that several death-sentence aggravators were improperly found, including the attempted-sexual-battery, cold-calculated-premeditated, and under-sentence-of-imprisonment aggravators; the resulting sentencing errors were not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The court rejected Kaczmar's remaining guilt-phase claims, including challenges concerning marital privilege, edited recordings, premeditation, arson, jury instructions, and closing argument. POLSTON, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part, would have affirmed the sentence because the attempted-sexual-battery aggravator was supported and the sentence remained proportionate even without the disputed aggravators.