Criminal Cases Involving Execution-Style Killings

This Court has held that execution-style killing is by its very nature a "cold" crime. See Walls v. State, 641 So.2d 381, 388 (Fla. 1994). In Looney v. State, 803 So.2d 656, 678 (Fla. 2001), this Court noted the significance of the fact that the victims were bound and gagged for two hours, and thus could not offer any resistance or provocation. 803 So.2d at 678. Further, the defendants in that case had "ample opportunity to calmly reflect upon their actions, following which they mutually decided to shoot the victims execution-style in the backs of their heads." Id. In Geralds v. State, 601 So.2d 1157, 1163 (Fla. 1992), the Court struck a finding of cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP) because the circumstantial evidence in that case was "susceptible to . . . divergent interpretations." Id. at 1164.