Sean Alonzo Bush v. State of Florida

Summary

The court affirmed Bush’s convictions for first-degree murder and burglary and his death sentence. It abandoned Florida’s heightened appellate standard for wholly circumstantial evidence and held that sufficiency is reviewed under the competent-substantial-evidence standard applicable in all criminal cases; applying that standard, the evidence supported the murder conviction. The court also rejected Bush’s challenges to evidentiary rulings, penalty-phase instructions and arguments, victim-impact testimony, the constitutionality of Florida’s death-penalty scheme, and the proportionality of his sentence.