Timothy Lee Hurst, Appellant v. State of Florida, Appellee

Summary

The court affirmed Hurst's death sentence, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying a successive mental-retardation hearing, that Hurst was not entitled to have a jury decide mental retardation as a bar to execution, and that the evidence supported the finding that he was not intellectually disabled. The court also adhered to its precedent rejecting requirements that the jury unanimously find specific aggravating circumstances or unanimously recommend death, and found the sentence proportionate. Justice Pariente, joined by Justices Labarga and Perry, concurred in part but would have vacated the death sentence because no jury unanimously found a death-qualifying aggravator.