Mark James Asay, Appellant v. State of Florida, Appellee; Mark James Asay, Petitioner, v. Julie L. — Perry, J…

Summary

The dissent would apply the constitutional rule governing Florida's capital-sentencing procedure retroactively to every defendant sentenced under the former unconstitutional scheme, rather than limiting relief to cases not final when the relevant Supreme Court precedent was issued. It concludes that drawing a finality-date line arbitrarily treats similarly situated capital defendants differently and that fairness in life-or-death decisions outweighs administrative burdens. The dissent would further require the sentencing court to vacate Asay's death sentence and impose life imprisonment under the applicable Florida statute. Justice Pariente, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would also apply the rule fully retroactively but would not adopt the statutory remedy reducing every affected sentence to life; Justices Lewis, Polston, and Labarga took narrower or alternative positions on retroactivity.