Angelo Atwell v. State of Florida

I would approve the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s decision in Atwell v. State, 128 So.3d 167 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013), that the defendant’s life sentence with the possibility of parole does not violate the Eighth Amendment.

Although the majority takes issue with the extended presumptive parole release date, section 947.174, Florida Statutes, requires a subsequent interview to review this date within 7 years of the initial interview and once every 7 years after that. As explained in Franklin v. State, 141 So.3d 210 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014), by Judge Ray in the majority opinion, and Judge Thomas in…