Whether the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the imposition of a death sentence that fails to comply with evolving standards of decency and constitutional protections for capital defendants

No question identified. : of kidnapping and sentenced to death in the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida. This case involves the decision of the Florida Supreme Court entered on May 25, 2023, affirming the denial of Mr. Arbelaez’s successive motion for postconviction relief and state habeas petition, including his claims that his sentence of death is unconstitutional under the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution in light of this Court’s decisions in Hall v. Florida, 572 U.S. 701 (2014); Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002); and Hurst v. Florida, 577 U.S. 92 (2016); as well as the Florida Supreme Court’s decisions in Hall v. State, 201 So. 3d 628 (Fla. 2016), and Hurst v. State, 202 So. 3d 40 (Fla. 2016), receded from by State v. Poole, 297 So. 3d 487 (Fla. 2020). See Arbelaez v. State, 369 So. 3d 1141 (Fla. 2023) (‘Attachment A”). The Florida Supreme Court denied Mr. Arbelaez’s motion for rehearing on August 24, 2023 (“Attachment B”). Mr. Arbelaez’s time to petition for certiorari in this Court regarding the Florida Supreme Court’s decision expires on November 24, 2023. See Supreme Court Rule 13.3; 30.1. This application for a sixty-day extension is being filed more than ten days before that date. Undersigned counsel shows the following good cause in support of this request. Mr. Arbelaez’s counsel is an Assistant CCRC at the Office of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel — South (CCRC-South), a Florida state agency charged with the responsibility of representing indigent death row inmates. As Assistant CCRC, undersigned counsel is responsible for the oversight of his own caseload at CCRC-South, as well as oversight of his own independent client caseload outside of the office. In recent weeks, for example, counsel prepared for and conducted an oral argument on October 24, 2023, in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in a capital habeas corpus appeal; is working on the preparation of an amended motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851 in another capital case, due on November 13, 2023; is preparing for a week-long trial commencing November 13, 2023, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida involving a §1983 lawsuit challenging provisions of Florida’s Sex Offender Registry Act; and is also researching for a brief due in Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal on December 13, 2023, in a non-capital appeal from the denial of postconviction relief pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850. Given undersigned counsel’s extensive duties as Assistant CCRC, as well as his own responsibilities in individual cases, counsel has not yet been able to prepare a proper petition for writ of certiorari in Mr. Arbelaez’s case. If the sixty-day extension of time is provided, counsel’s intention is to file a petition for certiorari on or before January 23, 2024. Wherefore, Mr. Arbelaez respectfully requests that an order be entered extending his time to petition for certiorari to and including January 23, 2024. Respectfully submitted, /s/ Todd G. Scher TODD G. SCHER Assistant CCRC Florida Bar No. 0899641 tscher@msn.com *Counsel of Record COURTNEY M. HAMMER Staff Attorney Florida Bar No. 1011328 Office of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel — South 110 SE 6th Street, Suite 701 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 Tel: (954) 713-1284 COUNSEL FOR MR. ARBELAEZ ATTACHMENT A Arbelaez v. State, 369 So.3d 1141 (2023) 48 Fla. L. Weekly S88 369 So.3d 1141 (Mem) Supreme Court of Florida. Guillermo Octavio ARBELAEZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. Guillermo Octavio Arbelaez, Petitioner, v. Ricky D. Dixon, Etc., Respondent. No. SC2015-1628, No. SC2018-0392 May 25, 2023 An Appeal from the Circuit Court in and for MiamiDade County, Diane Valentina Ward, Judge, Case No. And an Original Proceeding — Habeas Corpus Attorneys and Law Firms Suzanne Keffer, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, and Todd Scher, Assist