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Briefs
High court upholds death sentence
By Times Staff Writer
Published April 22, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the first-degree murder conviction and death sentence for Michael Peter Fitzpatrick, who was found guilty in March 2001 of raping and killing 28-year-old Laura Romines in Land O'Lakes.
But a technicality persuaded the state's highest court to throw out Fitzpatrick's 30-year prison sentence for sexual battery. According to the opinion, prosecutors failed to prepare a score sheet for the sexual battery offense. Score sheets provide guidelines to the judge before sentencing and are required by statute to encompass each pending offense. The decision upholds the sexual battery conviction but requires a trial judge to reconsider the sentence after a score sheet has been prepared.
[Last modified April 22, 2005, 00:44:19]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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