Thomas Bevel, Appellant v. State of Florida, Appellee; Thomas Bevel, Petitioner, v. Julie L. Jones

Summary

The court held that the nonunanimous death recommendation for the Stringfield murder violated the unanimity requirements applicable to capital sentencing and that the error was not harmless, while the unanimous recommendation for the Sims murder independently satisfied those requirements. The court also held that penalty-phase counsel performed deficiently by conducting an inadequate mitigation investigation and that the undiscovered mitigation undermined confidence in the Sims death sentence, requiring a new penalty phase for both murders. The court denied habeas relief because appellate counsel was not ineffective for failing to raise meritless or unpreserved challenges to the prosecutor's comments. Justice Canady, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would have affirmed the postconviction denial, while Justice Lawson, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would have granted a new penalty phase only for the Stringfield murder.