The Florida Supreme Court has affirmed the denial of a successive postconviction motion filed by death row inmate Samuel L. Smithers, ruling that his advanced age of 72 does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment and therefore does not categorically exempt him from execution.
The Court issued a per curiam opinion on Wednesday in the case of Samuel L. Smithers v. State of Florida, upholding the circuit court’s summary denial of his motion to vacate his two sentences of death.
Smithers, who murdered Cristy Cowan and Denise Roach in 1996, is currently under an active death warrant signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on September 12, 2025.
Procedural and Constitutional Grounds for Denial
Smithers’ final appeal hinged on the argument that executing a person of his age is a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Florida’s corresponding constitutional provision, which prohibit cruel and unusual punishment.
However, the Supreme Court rejected this claim on two primary grounds: timeliness and Florida’s conformity clause.
Claim Deemed Untimely
The Court concluded that Smithers’ claim was untimely and procedurally barred under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851.
- Smithers had argued his claim—that his age exempted him from execution—only became “ripe” after the Governor signed his death warrant in September 2025.
- The Court disagreed, stating that Smithers has defined the “elderly” as those age 65 or older. Therefore, his claim became ripe when he turned 65 and should have been raised in prior proceedings rather than waiting until a death warrant was signed.
Binding Precedent and the Conformity Clause
The Court further held that even if the claim had been timely, it would have been foreclosed by Florida’s conformity clause. This clause mandates that Florida’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment must be interpreted in conformity with decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Eighth Amendment.
- “No opinion of the United States Supreme Court or this Court has held that the elderly are categorically exempt from execution,” the opinion stated.
- The Court noted that the U.S. Supreme Court currently recognizes only one age-based death penalty exemption, which applies to individuals who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crime (Roper v. Simmons, 2005).
- Citing its own recent precedent (Gudinas v. State, 2025), the Florida Supreme Court affirmed that it is “precluded from interpreting Florida’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment to exempt . . . those whose chronological age was over eighteen years” at the time of their capital crimes.
The Court therefore declined Smithers’ invitation to “expand the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment” to include individuals aged 65 and older.
Background of the Murders
Samuel Smithers was convicted of the 1996 first-degree murders of Cristy Cowan and Denise Roach on a property in Plant City where he was hired to do lawn maintenance.
- Cowan’s body was found floating in a pond on the property. Medical examiner testimony indicated she was strangled and sustained a laceration, blunt-impact injury, and a chop wound to the head that penetrated her brain.
- Roach’s body was found days later, severely decomposed. The medical examiner testified she sustained a fractured skull and face, sixteen puncture wounds to her skull, and injuries consistent with manual strangulation.
- DNA evidence linked Smithers to the victims and the crime scene, and he eventually confessed to the murders, though he later testified at trial and blamed an unknown man.
Smithers’ convictions and death sentences were first affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court in 2002. His subsequent initial postconviction appeals and federal habeas petitions were also denied, making the October 7, 2025, ruling on his age-based claim his latest denial in a decades-long appeal process.
READ: Curtis Windom Executed In Florida, Marking A Record-Setting Year For State
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