Examples of Mitigating and Aggravating Circumstances

In Jimenez v. State, 703 So. 2d 437, 440 (Fla. 1997), the trial court found four aggravating circumstances: (1) the capital felony was committed by a person previously convicted of a felony and placed on community control; (2) the defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony or felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person; (3) the capital felony was committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit the crime of burglary of an occupied dwelling; and (4) heinous atrocious and cruel (HAC). In Jimenez, the court found one statutory mitigating circumstance (lack of capacity to appreciate the criminality of conduct), and two nonstatutory mitigating circumstances: (1) Jimenez's potential for rehabilitation; (2) Jimenez's potential sentence ("Life with a twenty-five year minimum mandatory is calculated by the Department as a ninety-nine year sentence with a release date at age eighty-one." Id. at 439 n.3.).