Death sentence upheld in murder of landlord

RandyW. Tundidor, who was sentenced to death for the 2010murder of his landlord, JosephMorrissey, will not be heading back to Broward for a new sentencing hearing, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Tundidor, 50, was asking the court for a new sentencing hearing in light of last year’s upheaval of Florida’s death penalty law. In March, the legislature passed a new law mandating a jury’s unanimous recommendation to sentence a convicted killer to death.

At the timeTundidorwas convicted, the only legal requirement for capital punishmentwas a majority vote, and the jury’s role was advisory — a judge could have imposed the death penalty even if the jury rejected it. But the jury in Tundidor’s case was unanimous after hearing details of Morrissey’smurder.

Morrissey had begun the process of evicting Tundidor and his family from a Plantation townhouse. Tundidor and his son, Randy H. Tundidor (referred to as “Junior” in Thursday’s Florida Supreme Court decision), broke into Morrissey’s home, kidnapped Morrissey and his wife and forced them to withdraw money from an ATM while holding their son hostage, according to trial testimony.

Though Morrissey pleaded for his life, the elder Tundidor stabbed him to death, then set the Morrissey home on fire withMorrissey’s wife and son still inside it.

Tundidor’s son pleaded guilty and testified against his father, ultimately getting sentenced to 40 years in prison.

For the sentencing phase ofhis trial, Tundidordidnot allowhis lawyers to present mitigating circumstances, facts about his past that would lead a jury to determine that although he committed the murder, he did not deserve to die for it.

The Supreme Court ruled that because the jury was unanimous, it would have made no difference if a unanimous vote was required. Oneof the sevenjustices, Peggy Quince, disagreed, arguing that there is no way to tell that the jury was unanimous about each of the aggravating factors used to argue for death.

rolmeda@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4457 or Twitter @SSCourts and @rolmeda