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Florida grants of relief

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday granted relief in Mark Anthony Poole v. State, SC05-1770,  and Gabby Tennis v. State, SC06-730.  Taking the cases in reverse order, a new trial (both guilty and penalty) is ordered in light of the denial to self-representation.  As to Poole, a new penalty phase trial was granted as: the questions on Poole?s lack of remorse do not individually amount to fundamental error, we find that the cumulative effect of this error and the error of presenting inadmissible nonstatutory aggravation of Poole?s criminal history and the content of his tattoo deprived Poole of a fair penalty phase. The combination  of these errors had the effect of unfairly prejudicing Poole in the eyes of the jurybecause these errors created a risk that the jury would give undue weight to this information in recommending the death penalty...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on December 11, 2008 (boomark / email).