Patrick Albert Evans v. State of Florida Corrected Opinion

Summary

The court vacated Evans's convictions for two first-degree murders and his death sentences because preserved errors during the guilt phase, considered cumulatively, were not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The errors included inadmissible voice-identification testimony from the lead detective, unsupported prosecutorial insinuations that Evans hired a private investigator, and multiple improper closing-argument comments. The court rejected Evans's challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence and to the burglary-based felony-murder instruction, but remanded for a new trial.