Robert Pernell McCloud, Appellant v. State of Florida, Appellee

Summary

The court affirmed McCloud's convictions for two first-degree murders and related offenses, but vacated his death sentences and remanded for imposition of life imprisonment. It upheld admission of his confession, found the exclusion of false-confession expert testimony harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, rejected his jury-instruction, read-back, sufficiency, and double-jeopardy claims, and concluded that comparative culpability required reducing his death sentences because he was less culpable than codefendants who received lesser sentences. Justice Canady, joined by Justice Polston, concurred in affirming the convictions but would have affirmed the death sentences because the codefendants were convicted of lesser offenses or were otherwise ineligible for capital punishment.