No. 17-8148October Term 2017Decided Jun 18, 2018
Leo Louis Kaczmar, III, Petitioner v. Florida
This case asked whether Florida could deny the benefit of Hurst v.
Case status
- Current stage
- Decided
- Latest event
- Decision released Jun 18, 2018
- What it's about
This case asked whether Florida could deny the benefit of Hurst v. Florida—which said a jury, not a judge, must make the findings needed for a death sentence—to people whose death sentences became final before Ring v. Arizona in 2002. Leo Kaczmar argued that Florida’s cutoff rule unconstitutionally treated similarly situated death-row prisoners differently.
Question presented
1. Whether the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to limit the retroactivity of Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016), to cases that became final after Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002), violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. 2. Whether the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to limit the retroactivity of Hurst v. Florida to cases that became final after Ring v. Arizona violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
- Case path
Supreme Court of Florida / Decision released Jun 18, 2018
- Area
Civil Rights
Timing
Decided June 18, 2018
The Court released its decision on June 18, 2018 without hearing oral argument.
Documents
Related cases
Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Jul 25, 2026
- Method
- Methodology