Dontae R. Morris v. State of Florida

Summary

The court affirmed Morris’s first-degree murder conviction, concluding that the trial court properly denied a renewed request for a change of venue, admitted Morris’s redacted jail statement, and rejected his challenges to the prosecutor’s arguments. Any error in excluding evidence concerning Morris’s mental state when he made the statement was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, and competent, substantial evidence supported the conviction. The court vacated the death sentence because the nonunanimous ten-to-two recommendation did not establish the required unanimous findings for imposition of death and remanded for a new penalty phase.