In light of this Court’s en banc decision in United States v. Vail-Bailon, 868 F.3d 1293 (11th Cir. 2017), we hereby vacate our prior panel opinion, published at 842 F.3d 1299, and substitute it with the following opinion, which has been revised only in Section II.D. Accordingly, Defendant’s motion for panel rehearing is denied as moot.
A jury convicted defendant Robert Green of being a felon ... More...   $0 (10-01-2017 - FL)

Tampa, FL - Florida Men Sentenced for Assault and Cross Burning Aimed at Intimidating an Interracial Couple Living Next Door

Thomas Herris Sigler, III, 46, and William A. Dennis, 56, were sentenced to serve 33 and 21 months incarceration, respectively. Sigler and Dennis both pled guilty to civil rights violations for their roles in attacking and intimidating an interracial couple in Port ... More...   $0 (08-30-2017 - FL)

This appeal requires us to decide whether Florida felony battery is a crime of
violence under the Sentencing Guidelines. Defendant Eddy Wilmer Vail-Bailon
was convicted in 2014 of illegally reentering the United States, in violation of 8
U.S.C. §§ 1326(a) and (b)(1), after having been deported following a conviction
for felony battery under Florida Statute § 784.041. Base... More...   $0 (08-25-2017 - FL)

We previously affirmed Appellant’s sentence for aggravated assault and
possession of firearm by a convicted felon based on our en banc decision in Walton v. State, 106 So. 3d 522 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013), which held that mandatory minimums under the 10-20-Life statute must be imposed consecutively regardless of whether the defendant possessed or discharged a firearm. However, the Florida
Sup... More...   $0 (07-06-2017 - FL)

The charges against Appellant stem from an incident late at night at a convenience store. According to the State,1 Appellant was in the store when he pulled a concealed firearm from his waistband and waved it around. Appellant stated that he wanted to kill or shoot someone that night, pointed the gun at a store employee, and later ordered both customers and employees alike out of the store. Bas... More...   $0 (07-06-2017 - FL)

Appellant Kevin Cutts was charged by indictment with first degree murder and armed burglary with assault. He was a juvenile at the time of the offense but was prosecuted as an adult. He pled guilty to murder and to burglary, and was initially sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1997. In 2015, appellant filed a motion for post-conviction relief and to correct illegal sentence, argu... More...   $0 (07-06-2017 - FL)

A Lancaster County grand jury indicted Thompson for first-degree burglary and attempted murder based on allegations he broke into Keasia Drafton's apartment and tried to kill her on July 2, 2014.1 Before trial, Thompson moved to suppress a trespass notice letter stating he was banned from the apartment complex where Drafton lived. Thompson argued (1) the letter was irrelevant, (2) the letter pres... More...   $0 (06-19-2017 - FL)

Lindsey raises four issues in this direct appeal from his conviction and
sentence for first-degree murder, burglary of a dwelling, and grand theft auto. We
affirm in all respects and write only to address Lindsey’s argument that the trial court
abused its discretion by denying his pretrial motion to sever the burglary charge from
2

the murder and theft charges. Beca... More...   $0 (06-19-2017 - FL)

On June 25, 1996, Michael Zack was indicted for the sexual assault,
robbery, and first-degree murder of Ravonne Smith. We described the facts of the
case on direct appeal as follows:
Although the murder of Smith took place on June 13, 1996, the chain of events which culminated in this murder began on June 4, 1996, when Edith Pope (Pope), a bartender in Tallahassee, lent her car t... More...   $0 (06-18-2017 - FL)

In 2007, Braddy was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree
murder, two counts of kidnapping, burglary of a structure with an assault or battery
therein, child neglect causing great bodily harm, and attempted escape. Braddy v.
State, 111 So. 3d 810, 826 (Fla. 2012). On appeal, this Court set out the facts of
the crimes:
The evidence presented at Braddy’s... More...   $0 (06-18-2017 - FL)

Hall was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2006 murder of Anthony
Bernard Blunt. On direct appeal, this Court described the background of this case
as follows:
The evidence at trial revealed that on September 8, 2006, 22year-old Hall learned that his girlfriend, 18-year-old Angel Glenn, had been hired to dance and strip at a house party that night. Angel had been told she w... More...   $0 (06-18-2017 - FL)

Gilchrease had rented an efficiency from Etta McKensie for about six
months prior to the February 28 incident. Sometime in January, water to the
efficiency was turned off. On February 25, the electricity was turned off.
Gilchrease confronted Ms. McKensie about the utilities, and, according to Ms.
McKensie, Gilchrease threatened her and pulled out the chair she was sitting on... More...   $0 (05-24-2017 - FL)

The victim in this case testified that Appellant and several other individuals jumped him, Appellant hit him in the face with a gun, and the victim’s cell phone and thirty dollars in cash were stolen. In addition to counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, Appellant was also charged with grand theft in the third ... More...   $0 (05-24-2017 - FL)

Glenroy Blackwood appeals the denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion for postconviction relief after an evidentiary hearing. Blackwood, a Jamaican citizen legally present in the United States, alleged that his trial counsel failed to warn him that he would be subject to automatic deportation as a result of entering a plea to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and that ... More...   $0 (05-01-2017 - FL)

Mr. Butner was charged in a three-count information. A jury convicted Mr.
Butner on count one, attempted second-degree murder, section 782.04, Florida
Statutes (2012); on count two, aggravated assault with a firearm, section 784.021,
Florida Statutes (2012); and on count three, shooting within a building, section 790.19,
Florida Statutes (2012). The trial court adjudged him t... More...   $0 (05-01-2017 - FL)

The instant case is Juan David Rodriguez’s second successive
postconviction appeal. “Juan David Rodriguez was convicted of first-degree
murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit a felony, attempted armed robbery,
armed burglary with an assault, aggravated assault, and attempted first-degree


- 2 -
murder.” Rodriguez v. State (Rodriguez I), 609 So. 2d 493, 49... More...   $0 (04-23-2017 - FL)

Robert Lee Rumph, Jr., appeals the judgment and sentence imposed upon him by the trial court after he pled no contest to second-degree murder with a firearm pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement. He argues that the trial court committed reversible error when it failed to follow the proper competency procedures and failed to enter a written order finding him competent to proceed before it permit... More...   $0 (04-14-2017 - FL)

Weatherspoon, along with four codefendants, was charged with the
November 2008 robbery of a Dunkin’ Donuts in Delray Beach, Florida. During
the course of the robbery, one of the codefendants shot two people in the store and
one in the parking lot. All four codefendants were charged pursuant to a single
information containing multiple counts, including attempted first-degree m... More...   $0 (04-08-2017 - FL)

On December 9, 2000, Severina Fernandez was found stabbed to death in
her Miami apartment. The case went cold until 2004, when DNA from blood left
at the crime scene was determined to match Victor Guzman’s DNA. As a result,
Guzman was indicted for first-degree murder, stood trial, and was convicted. The
jury recommended a sentence of death by a vote of seven to five, and the... More...   $0 (04-07-2017 - FL)

Miami, FL - Two Florida Men Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Provide Material Support to ISIL

Two Palm Beach County, Florida, residents pleaded guilty in federal court in West Palm Beach to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization. ISIL is also known by the acronym ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq an... More...   $0 (04-05-2017 - FL)

The State charged Mr. Rodriguez with two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm involving actual possession and discharge (counts 1 and 2), one count of discharging a firearm in public (count 3), and one count of shooting into an unoccupied vehicle (count 4). The State entered a nolle prosequi on count 4, and the jury found Mr. Rodriguez guilty as charged on the remaining counts. At sentenc... More...   $0 (04-02-2017 - FL)

Morgan Amanda Leppert appeals her judgment and sentence for first-degree murder, burglary with assault or battery, and robbery with a deadly weapon. Leppert raises four issues: 1) her lengthy sentence violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment laid out in Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010); 2) the trial court erred in not having a jury determine whether she... More...   $0 (04-01-2017 - FL)

The facts of this case were set forth in Ault’s first direct appeal:
Howard Steven Ault was charged with two counts of firstdegree murder in the deaths of two young sisters, eleven-year-old Deanne Mu’min and seven-year-old Alicia Jones. Ault was also charged with two counts of sexual battery on a child under twelve years old, two counts of kidnaping a child under thirteen years old, and two ... More...   $0 (03-13-2017 - FL)

The State of Florida timely appeals Robert Woodall’s resentencing for aggravated
battery with a firearm pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a), arguing
that the lower court failed to reimpose Woodall’s twenty-year mandatory minimum
sentence after it erroneously concluded that the jury did not make a clear finding that
Woodall discharged a firearm during the of... More...   $0 (03-06-2017 - FL)

Quentin Truehill, who was twenty-two years old at the time, was charged
with the kidnapping and murder of Vincent Binder, who was twenty-nine years
old. Truehill’s crime spree began on the evening of March 30, 2010, at the
Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office in Mansura, Louisiana, when Truehill and two
other cellmates, Kentrell F. Johnson1 and Peter Hughes,2 held the holding-cel... More...   $0 (02-24-2017 - FL)

Derrick Grantley appeals the revocation of his probation and the resulting
sentences for twelve underlying felonies he committed as a juvenile. We affirm
without further comment Grantley’s probation revocation, but we reverse and
remand for resentencing under the juvenile sentencing legislation enacted in 2014,
as required by the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Kelsey v. St... More...   $0 (02-12-2017 - FL)

Taylor Clark was known to sell marijuana occasionally. On the night of July 11,
2009, Taylor went to the home of his dealer’s girlfriend, Karen Hickinbottom, to return the
dealer’s cell phone. While Taylor was there, a man showed up and asked to talk to Taylor.
Taylor went outside with him. When Taylor came back inside, he said the man had wanted
to buy drugs. The man came to ... More...   $0 (02-04-2017 - FL)

On the evening of April 19, 2014, an Alabama State Trooper began a high-
speed pursuit of a gold-colored Toyota Camry on Alabama State Highway 167,
just south of the city of Enterprise, Alabama. The pursuit ended when the Camry
and the patrol car crashed into a ditch off a nearby county road after the patrol car
was shot at from the Camry during the chase. Once both cars were... More...   $0 (02-03-2017 - FL)

The factual events of the incident began in the early evening of Saturday,
April 17, 2010, at the home of Justin McCumbers, Brandon Junk, and Eric Blair.
At the time, Christopher Markus had an agreement under which he would live in
the home for two to four nights per week in a spare bedroom and pay $400 rent per
month. McCumbers testified that Markus was staying overnight on ... More...   $0 (02-03-2017 - FL)

On January 21, 1997, eighteen-year-old Anthony Strachan was at home in
his family’s apartment on 580 Northwest 64th Street in Miami, cutting a friend’s
hair. Strachan went into the kitchen and, through the kitchen window, saw one of
his neighbors, “Shorty,” standing outside on 64th Street with two unknown men.
One man, who wore a skull cap and a heavy brown coat that resemble... More...   $0 (01-27-2017 - FL)

In this direct appeal from appellant’s conviction and sentence as a principal
to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and shooting into a building, we affirm
the denial of appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal without discussion. ... More...   $0 (01-21-2017 - FL)

The State filed a three-count information charging Reed with 1) attempted
second-degree murder of Dwight Lamar Murphy; 2) attempted second-degree
murder of Stephanie L. Jackson (“Jackson”); and 3) burglary of an occupied
dwelling accompanied by an assault or battery. Following trial, the jury found
Reed guilty of the lesser-included offense of aggravated battery as to Count 1 a... More...   $0 (01-21-2017 - FL)

McCloud was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife,
Sandra McCloud. McCloud shot Sandra with a .357 magnum in her bedroom and
in the presence of their two small children. Sandra died from a single gunshot
wound to the chest. One of the children sustained a grazing wound from the same
gunshot. Both McCloud and Sandra had been drinking for hours before the ... More...   $0 (01-21-2017 - FL)