McLean v. State

Summary

The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed Derrick McLean's convictions and death sentence for first-degree felony murder and related offenses arising from a robbery and shooting. The court rejected challenges to pretrial identification procedures, an in-camera portion of a Nelson hearing, the jury instruction on the avoid-arrest aggravator, and the proportionality of the death sentence. The court also independently reviewed the evidence and found it sufficient to support the felony-murder conviction.

Holdings

1. Photographic and live lineups conducted before charges were filed were not critical stages of the proceedings, so McLean had no right to counsel at those lineups.
2. The trial court did not err by conducting part of the Nelson hearing outside McLean's presence because McLean was not entitled to a Nelson hearing on a disagreement concerning counsel's trial strategy rather than a formal claim of incompetence.
3. The trial court properly instructed the jury on the avoid-arrest aggravating circumstance because competent, substantial evidence supported submitting the aggravator to the jury, even though the trial court later declined to find that aggravator.
4. McLean's death sentence was proportionate under Florida's totality-of-the-circumstances review.
5. Competent, substantial evidence supported McLean's first-degree felony murder conviction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether photographic and live lineup identifications obtained before charges were filed violated McLean's right to counsel.
2. Whether the trial court erred by conducting part of a Nelson hearing in camera and outside McLean's presence.
3. Whether the trial court erred by instructing the jury on the avoid-arrest aggravating circumstance even though the trial court ultimately rejected that aggravator.
4. Whether McLean's death sentence was disproportionate.
5. Whether competent, substantial evidence supported McLean's first-degree felony murder conviction.

Disposition

affirmed