Allen Ward Cox v. State of Florida

Summary

The court affirmed Cox’s death sentence after resentencing, holding that the trial court acted within its discretion in rejecting or assigning no weight to the challenged mitigating circumstances and that the prosecutor’s unobjected-to closing remarks did not constitute fundamental error. The court also rejected Cox’s constitutional challenges to the mitigation instruction, execution of offenders with brain damage, Florida’s capital-punishment scheme, and the death penalty itself. Because the sentence was affirmed, the court declined to reach the State’s cross-appeal.