Norman Blake McKenzie v. Florida
DueProcess Punishment HabeasCorpus
Whether the failure to require the jury, and the jury alone, to find that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors, beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt, and that death should be imposed, beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt, denied Mr. McKenzie his right to a jury trial and due process under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution?
QUESTIONS PRESENTED Mr. McKenzie had a right to a jury finding for each fact that subjected him to the enhanced penalty of death. This proof was required to be “beyond a reasonable doubt” according to well established constitutional law. In this case, Mr. McKenzie challenged the manner in which his death sentence was decided. Because he was denied his rights under the United States Constitution, he presents the following issue: Whether the failure to require the jury, and the jury alone, to find that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors, beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt, and that death should be imposed, beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt, denied Mr. McKenzie his right to a jury trial and due process under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution? ii