FLORIDA APPEALS COURT RULES STATE CAN SEEK DEATH PENALTY AGAINST MAN AFTER MISTAKEN FILING

An appeals court has ruled that the State of Florida can continue to seek the death penalty against a first-degree murder defendant, reversing a lower court decision that held prosecutors to an administrative document filed by mistake.

The Third District Court of Appeal of Florida issued an opinion on July 15, 2026, granting the state’s petition for a writ of certiorari and quashing an order from Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Alberto Milian. The circuit court’s order would have forced the case against Julio Montez Morris to proceed as a non-death penalty case.

According to court records, Morris and a codefendant, Clifton Dickson, were originally indicted in November 2013 for the first-degree murder of Jazzmon Parker and the attempted murder of Donnel Parker. The state initially filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty.

During a January 2019 trial, a key eyewitness who reportedly saw Morris commit the murder, Ezell Finklea, was attacked and killed in his home along with another witness, Ira Williams. The trial court declared a mistrial.

In April 2019, prosecutors filed a superseding indictment against Morris, charging him with three counts of first-degree murder to include the original death of Jazzmon Parker and the mid-trial retaliation murders of Finklea and Williams. The state filed a new notice of intent to seek the death penalty under the consolidated case number.

In March 2021, a Deputy Chief Assistant for the state’s legal division, who was performing routine tracking audits on death penalty cases, filed a form titled “Announcement of Death Penalty Waiver” for Morris. The official was unaware of the 2019 superseding indictment and filed the waiver based on the older, resolved 2013 charges.

The document went unnoticed by both prosecutors and defense counsel for more than three years until an assistant state attorney discovered it in June 2024. The state filed a motion for clarification in June 2025 alongside an affidavit from the official stating the document was a administrative error.

Defense attorney J. Rafael Rodriguez stated during a hearing that the defense team was unaware of the filing until 2024. “In fact, we didn’t even know about this until 2024,” Rodriguez said. “That’s why we continued mitigation [be]cause I asked the State look into it with your legal department.”

Prosecutor Mr. Warfman noted that the typical review and recommendation process by the Death Penalty Committee did not take place, and no public statement was made. “If this were to be waived it would [have] gone through the process, it would have been an announcement in open court, so I’m not putting anything on defense counsel,” Warfman said during proceedings.

The circuit court acknowledged the filing was likely an error but ruled that the state was bound by the document, referencing the legal principle that “death is different.” The lower court blocked the state from pursuing a capital sentence against Morris and indicated the restriction would also apply to his codefendant.

The Third District Court of Appeal rejected that decision, finding that the trial court’s order violated the separation of powers under the Florida Constitution. The appeals panel noted that the executive branch holds exclusive discretion over charging and prosecuting decisions, including whether to seek the death penalty.

The court ruled that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law by transforming a mistaken administrative filing into a binding prosecutorial decision. The panel emphasized that no prosecutor had actually made a conscious decision to waive the death penalty for the 2019 charges.

The case will now proceed as a capital case unless the state enters a formal waiver on the record for the current charges.

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