Corey Smith, Appellant v. State of Florida, Appellee; Corey Smith, Petitioner, v. Julie L. Jones

Summary

The court affirmed the denial of postconviction relief on Smith’s collateral claims and denied habeas relief on his ineffective-assistance claims. It held that Smith’s death sentences could not stand because the jury’s nonunanimous recommendations and lack of required aggravator findings made the penalty-phase error not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, so it vacated both death sentences and remanded for a new penalty phase. Justice Polston, concurring in part and dissenting in part, agreed with the majority except for vacating the death sentence under the governing penalty-phase precedent.