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Lugo v. State2/20/2003
ave occurred was harmless at best.
We have reviewed Lugo's other assertions of error in the prosecutor's penalty phase closing argument and conclude that he is entitled to no relief. Finally, our cumulative error analysis convinces us that a new penalty phase is not warranted.
Aggravating Circumstances
As his next major issue, Lugo challenges the trial judge's findings with regard to aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Lugo first contends that the trial court erred in finding the aggravating circumstances of prior violent felony; pecuniary gain; heinous, atrocious, or cruel (HAC); and cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP).
With regard to the prior violent felony aggravator, the trial judge noted in his sentencing order that "[Lugo's conviction for] the Griga murder is an aggravator of the Furton murder and [Lugo's conviction for] the Furton murder is an aggravator of the Griga murder." The commission of concurrent violent felonies justifies the finding of this aggravating circumstance. See, e.g., Cole v. State, 701 So. 2d 845 (Fla. 1997). Moreover, the trial court noted that Lugo's convictions for the kidnaping and attempted murder of Marc Schiller also satisfied the requirements for finding the prior violent felony aggravator. The trial judge did not err in finding this aggravator.
Lugo next asserts that the pecuniary gain aggravator is inapplicable to his case, at least as it applies to the murder of Krisztina Furton. Lugo contends that the evidence in the record does not support the notion that he killed Furton with the motive of financial gain. We disagree. At one point during Furton's captivity, Lugo and Doorbal tortured her with handcuffs, a hood over her head, and injection with Rompun. The objective of this torture was pecuniary gain: to force Furton to disclose one or more security codes for Griga's Golden Beach home, which in turn would afford access to Griga's sources of wealth, particularly information with regard to his bank accounts. The fact that Furton died before Lugo could obtain access to the riches (or information about them) in Griga's home does not negate the fact that Lugo and Doorbal planned all along to kill both Griga and Furton after the assets had been obtained. Testimony from Jorge Delgado and other witnesses established that Lugo and Doorbal intended to kill Griga and Furton to eliminate the possibility that they might surface in the same manner as did Marc Schiller, who eventually went to the police after surviving Lugo and Doorbal's murder attempt. There was no error in finding this aggravator.
Nor do we find error in the trial court's decision to find the avoiding arrest aggravator. For the avoiding arrest aggravator to be applicable in the murder of a victim who is not a police officer, witness elimination must be the dominant motive. See, e.g., Consalvo v. State, 697 So. 2d 805, 819 (Fla. 1996). In his analysis of this aggravator, the trial judge stated:
In a discussion with . . . Delgado the day after Griga was killed, Lugo stated that he was angry because "Griga was not supposed to die at that moment." He explained that they [Lugo and Doorbal] were supposed to get all of his money and property before killing him. . . . Lugo explained to Delgado that . . . corrections officer John Raimondo was going to kill Furton for them and dispose of both of the bodies [i.e., Griga and Furton].[ ] Obviously, [Lugo and Doorbal] were not going to repeat the Schiller fiasco by allowing another witness to survive.
The evidence overwhelmingly shows that the plan was always to eliminate Griga and Furton as witnesses by killing them. The plan was ruined when Doorbal killed Griga while
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