06 July 2021 :
Florida Supreme Court strikes down Christian Cruz’s death sentence.
Cruz, now 27, White, was sentenced to death on March 8, 2019 (see) in the August 26, 2013 kidnapping and fatal shooting of 25-year-old Christopher Jemery, a man he mistakenly thought was a drug dealer.
The Supreme Court ruled that a judge erred by relying on evidence presented in a co-defendant’s trial to sentence Cruz to death.
In its ruling released Thursday, the Supreme Court said it is not requiring a new penalty phase, in which jurors are summoned to decide whether or not to recommend that Cruz be sentenced to death. The death recommendation from the trial will stand.
The Supreme Court instead ordered Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano to reevaluate the evidence and then issue a new sentence. Zambrano could apparently still sentence Cruz to death or send him to prison for life without parole.
Cruz teamed up with Justen Charles, 32, in the kidnapping and killing. Both Cruz and Charles were convicted of 1st-degree murder and other charges in 2 separate trials by 2 separate juries.
The jury in Charles’ trial recommended life in prison for him on Nov. 1, 2019. But the jury in Cruz’s trial recommended Cruz be put to death.
Investigators believe Cruz was the triggerman who shot Jemery in the head with a .22-caliber pistol.
Zambrano followed the jury recommendation and sentenced Cruz to death during a hearing at the S. James Foxman Justice Center.
Zambrano also sentenced Cruz to life in prison for each of the 3 other charges he was convicted of: burglary while armed, robbery with a firearm and kidnapping.
But the Florida Supreme Court ordered that Zambrano reevaluate and resentence Cruz solely on the evidence in Cruz’s trial. It found that Zambrano had incorrectly relied on evidence presented in Charles’ trial.
The Supreme Court said there was “no competent, substantial” evidence presented in Cruz’s trial that he was the triggerman.
