TALLAHASSEE — The convicted killer of two Tampa police officers wants his death sentence reduced to life as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down Florida's death penalty sentencing law.
Dontae Morris, 30, is on death row at Florida State Prison in Starke, where he is also serving a life term for a third Tampa murder.
He was sentenced to death for killing Tampa police officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab in 2010. He shot both officers in the head at close range as he was being taken into custody during a traffic stop.
Morris is among the first of dozens of convicted felons seeking to have their death sentences overturned by the Supreme Court because a judge, and not a Hillsborough County jury, made the critical findings of fact in his case. That system, used for decades, was held to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Hurst vs. Florida.
"In this case, this death sentence has to be vacated," Morris' attorney, Cynthia Dodge, told the Supreme Court in oral arguments Wednesday. Dodge asked the court to lift Morris' death sentence three days after the Hurst decision.
The justices could uphold Morris' death sentence, reduce his sentence to life or order a new trial.
Another death row inmate, Michael King of Sarasota, made similar arguments Thursday. King was convicted of the abduction, rape and murder of a North Port mother of two children, Denise Lee, in 2009.
"Mr. King is entitled to an automatic life sentence," his lawyer argued in papers filed with the court.
The state's high court is also keeping a watchful eye on the Legislature. The Hurst case has forced legislators to rewrite state law to require juries to make unanimous all findings of aggravating factors that must exist to justify a death sentence.
But Senior Assistant Attorney General Carol Dittmar argued that Morris' appeal should be rejected because the death penalty itself has not been held to be unconstitutional by the Hurst case.
"It's very narrow. It's very easy to fix," Dittmar told justices.
The fix, she said, is a new special verdict form to be given to juries in capital cases in which they find aggravating factors.
But Justice Barbara Pariente appeared openly skeptical of her argument.
"We put the jury front and center in the most critical decisions in this criminal justice system," she said. "So to say it's just procedural, I think, flies in the face of what our country has been about."
Morris is one of the 43 so-called pipeline cases whose direct appeals are coming up for review by the Florida Supreme Court in the immediate aftermath of the Hurst decision.
The state court on Tuesday granted an indefinite stay of execution to Michael Lambrix, 55, a convicted double murderer who was scheduled to die Feb. 11.
The Supreme Court on Thursday also reversed the death sentence of Pablo Ibar, who was sentenced to death for three notorious Broward County murders in what were known as the Casey's Nickelodeon killings, named for a bar by that name owned by one of the victims.
Ibar, 43, has maintained his innocence, presenting an alibi defense at trial. His co-defendant, Seth Penalver, was acquitted at his retrial.
In a 5-2 decision, justices said Ibar's rights were violated as a result of a poor representation by his defense lawyer, Kayo Morgan, and is entitled to a new trial.
Contact Steve Bousquet at bousquet@tampabay.com or (850) 224-7263. Follow @stevebousquet.