Here's what Florida's Death Penalty statute considers aggravating and mitigating circumstances:
(5) AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES. Aggravating circumstances shall be limited to the following:
(a) The capital felony was committed by a person under sentence of imprisonment or placed on community control.
(b) The defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony or of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person.
(c) The defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to many persons.
(d) The capital felony was committed while the defendant was engaged, or was an accomplice, in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit, any robbery, sexual battery, arson, burglary, kidnapping, or aircraft piracy or the unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb.
(e) The capital felony was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest or effecting an escape from custody.
(f) The capital felony was committed for pecuniary gain.
(g) The capital felony was committed to disrupt or hinder the lawful exercise of any governmental function or the enforcement of laws.
(h) The capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.
(i) The capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.
(j) The victim of the capital felony was a law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of his official duties.
(k) The victim of the capital felony was an elected or appointed public official engaged in the performance of his official duties if the motive for the capital felony was related, in whole or in part, to the victim's official capacity.
(6) MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES. Mitigating circumstances shall be the following:
(a) The defendant has no significant history of prior criminal activity.
(b) The capital felony was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance.
(c) The victim was a participant in the defendant's conduct or consented to the act.
(d) The defendant was an accomplice in the capital felony committed by another person and his participation was relatively minor.
(e) The defendant acted under extreme duress or under the substantial domination of another person.
(f) The capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired.
(g) The age of the defendant at the time of the crime.
Looking at the list is very interesting. Bold is from my personal opinion what based on the released evidence could apply. But KC also fits into a lot of the mitigating circumstances also. It sounds awful, but for "run of the mill" murder you don't usually get the death penalty against a 22 year old. The age thing gets a lot of people. IMO the SA has to have (1) serious evidence that would convince a reasonable person that KC absolutely did this- that can't be discredited on cross-examination. Like someone said DNA/soil on the shoes could do it. Just because the evidence of decomp in the trunk while believable, could be super confusing when LKB goes at it. (2) Some WEIRD evidence that shows this wasn't an accident- something we haven't seen.
I think this might also be a little bit of an attempt at strong-arming- to get JB off his high horse and scare into KC and her parents that this is really life or DEATH. JB messes up and KC dies- no more blindly following the white knight (which would cost FL years and years of appeals).
