Michael T. Rivera v. State of Florida

This ease is before the Court on appeal from an order denying a successive motion to vacate a judgment of conviction of first-degree murder and a sentence of death under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

BACKGROUND

Michael T. Rivera was convicted and sentenced to death for the first-degree murder of Staci Lynn Jazvac. Rivera v. State (Rivera I), 561 So.2d 536, 537 (Fla. 1990). In the opinion affirming the conviction and sentence, this Court detailed the facts of the murder:

Eleven-year-old Staci Lynn Jazvac left her Lauderdale…