Baxter v. Florida Department of Corrections

The State of Florida sentenced Sadik Baxter, at the age of 26, to spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole for an accidental death that he did not cause, intend, or play any role in bringing about.  The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside Mr. Baxter to bring an end to extreme sentences for felony murder that are wildly out of proportion to the person’s culpability. 

On an early Sunday morning in August 2012, Sadik Baxter and Obrian Oakley were rummaging through unlocked parked cars in a Florida residential neighborhood looking for valuables.  A resident spotted Mr. Baxter entering his parked SUV and called 911.  The police arrived within minutes and arrested Mr. Baxter.  

While Mr. Baxter was in handcuffs in the backseat of a police cruiser, the resident noticed Mr. Oakley drive by and pointed him out to police.  The Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) then initiated a high-speed chase through the residential neighborhood, in violation of their own policies prohibiting high-speed chases for non-violent property crimes.   After circling the neighborhood twice at speeds exceeding 80 mph, Mr. Oakley and the BSO deputies exited onto a main road and raced several more miles until Mr. Oakley ran a red light, collided with another car, and crashed into two passing cyclists, killing them instantly.

The cyclists’ deaths were a senseless tragedy that nobody should have to endure.  But Mr. Baxter wasn’t responsible for that tragedy—he had been sitting in police custody, handcuffed, miles away, for over ten minutes when the accident occurred.  Nevertheless, the State prosecuted him for first-degree murder under the “felony murder” doctrine, which holds that, if a death occurs during the course of, or as a result of, the commission of a felony—here, burglarizing parked cars, a non-violent property crime that in Florida carries a maximum five-year penalty—then any participant in that felony can be held liable as a murderer, whether or not he caused, intended, or was even present for the death.  A jury convicted Mr. Baxter of felony murder, and the state court sentenced him to life without parole (LWOP)—the mandatory sentence for first-degree felony murder in Florida if the State does not seek the death penalty.  

Mr. Baxter has been fighting for a fair sentence ever since.  After exhausting his state-level appeals, he brought a federal habeas petition—acting pro se, or without counsel—challenging his mandatory LWOP sentence as a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.  The district court denied Mr. Baxter’s petition but granted him a “certificate of appealability” on the Eighth Amendment issue.  The MacArthur Justice Center has taken up Mr. Baxter’s appeal to urge the Eleventh Circuit to recognize that sentencing someone to die in prison for an accidental death he did not cause, intend, or participate in bringing about is cruel and unusual punishment under clearly established Supreme Court law.

UPDATE

We asked the Eleventh Circuit to grant Mr. Baxter a certificate of appealability on three additional claims. The Court granted our motion in part, allowing us to brief two additional issues concerning serious failures by Mr. Baxter’s trial counsel.