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Amos v. State

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District
May 14, 1997
695 So. 2d 411 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1997)

Opinion

Case No. 95-0245.

Opinion filed May 14, 1997.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Mary E. Lupo, Judge; L.T. Case No. 86-5921 CF B02.

Bert Winkler, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Sarah B. Mayer, Michelle A. Konig and Melynda L. Melear, Assistant Attorneys General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.


Vernon Amos appeals his numerous convictions involving several victims: two counts of first-degree murder; three counts of robbery; and one count of attempted first-degree murder. We affirm all of the convictions except the last above-mentioned, which we reverse and remand for a new trial on attempted first-degree premeditated murder for the same reasons recited inSpencer v. State, 22 Fla. L. Weekly D589 (Fla. 4th DCA Mar. 5 1997), which case concerned the codefendant of appellant.

This appeal arises from the fifth trial in this case. The first trial's convictions and resulting death sentence of appellant were reversed due to a special districting jury selection process that resulted in an unconstitutional systematic exclusion of a significant portion of the black population from the jury pool.Amos v. State, 545 So.2d 1352 (Fla. 1989). The second trial ended in mistrial due to a hung jury. Appellant's third trial resulted in another hung jury. The fourth trial's convictions and resulting death sentence of appellant were reversed due to several errors at trial. Amos v. State, 618 So.2d 157 (Fla. 1993). Upon appellant's convictions in his fifth trial, which is the subject of this appeal, appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Appellant has raised nine issues, eight of which we find not to be persuasive. On the ninth issue, we reverse and remand as indicated above.

GLICKSTEIN, FARMER and KLEIN, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Amos v. State

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District
May 14, 1997
695 So. 2d 411 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1997)
Case details for

Amos v. State

Case Details

Full title:VERNON AMOS, APPELLANT, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Court:District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District

Date published: May 14, 1997

Citations

695 So. 2d 411 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1997)