Florida Courthouse Shooting Spree Sentence

In Provenzano v. State, 497 So. 2d 1177 (Fla. 1986), the defendant killed a bailiff in a shooting spree when another bailiff attempted to stop Provenzano from reaching into his pocket for a weapon he had brought into a courtroom to effectuate his plan to kill the officers who had arrested him. This Court recognized that the facts did not fit the usual scenario for transferred intent, such as "when a defendant aims and shoots at a intending to kill him but instead misses and kills B." Id. at 1180. However, we held that the transferred intent doctrine supported the first-degree murder conviction because the premeditated design to kill the two officers "directly resulted in the death of another human being." Id. at 1181. In approving the finding of cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP) based on the same evidence, the court stated: Heightened premeditation necessary for this circumstance does not have to be directed toward the specific victim. Rather, as the statute indicates, if the murder was committed in a manner that was cold and calculated, the aggravating circumstance of heightened premeditation is applicable. The facts herein indicate that the manner in which Provenzano effectuated his design of death was cold, calculated and premeditated beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 1183.