Convicted killer Delmer Smith back in court Monday

Delmer Smith will back in a Bradenton courtroom Monday as a four-day-long evidentiary hearing gets underway that will determine if he has a claim for a new trial.

Smith, 46, was convicted of first-degree murder in the fatal beating of Kathleen Briles in her Terra Ceia home on Aug. 3, 2009. The same jury unanimously recommended the death penalty, and he was sentenced to death May 28, 2013, by Circuit Judge Peter Dubensky.

On Friday, Smith was transported back to the Manatee County jail from Florida State Prison, a maximum security prison for men in Raiford, where he is housed on death row.

At 8:30 a.m. Monday, Smith will appear before Circuit Judge Diana Moreland for a four-day evidentiary hearing.

Moreland granted Smith the hearing on six of seven of his claims in a motion for post-conviction relief. The claims make several allegations of ineffective counsel and a claim that detectives didn’t have a search warrant for Smith’s cell phone.

The outcome of the hearing could get Smith a new trial if any of his claims are proven.

Smith’s case is one of many death row cases being considered for a new trial or sentencing hearing since Florida’s death penalty sentencing laws went into limbo following the Jan. 12, 2016, U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hurst vs. Florida. The Hurst decision ruled it was unconstitutional that in Florida a judge, not a jury, has the ultimate say in whether to sentence someone to death.

The state Legislature worked quickly to address the issue, passing corrective legislation on March 7, 2016.

The case was remanded back to the Florida Supreme Court, and on Oct. 14 it ruled that a jury must find that at least one aggravating factor was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, that the aggravating factor is sufficient and the aggravating factor outweighs the mitigating circumstance. In Hurst v. State, the court also ruled that a unanimous vote by the jury is necessary to impose death.

On the same date, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in Perry v. State that Hurst also required a unanimous vote by a jury to sentence someone to death. As a result, the decision ruled the new legislation passed did not address all the unconstitutional issues raised by Hurst.

Later in a Dec. 22 ruling in Asay v. State, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that only death row inmates whose cases were finalized after the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ring vs. Arizona qualified for a resentencing hearing. Ring vs. Arizona requires a jury to find aggravating factors in order for the imposition of the death penalty.

The Legislature again made it a top priority, and on March 13 Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill changing the state statute requiring a unanimous vote by a jury in order to impose the death penalty.

This story was originally published October 1, 2017 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Convicted killer Delmer Smith back in court Monday."