Reader’s guide · Florida
Aileen Wuornos: reading the Richard Mallory appeal
A guide to the Florida Supreme Court’s 1994 Mallory decision, separating the direct appeal, trial claims and other alleged crimes.
- Record
- Wuornos v. State, 644 So. 2d 1000
- Issued by
- Supreme Court of Florida
- Date
- September 22, 1994
- Document
- Court opinion
Reading the record
The Richard Mallory case has its own conviction, sentence and appeal. In this opinion, the Florida Supreme Court reviewed that judgment and death sentence. It did not issue one decision covering every prosecution associated with Aileen Wuornos.
The opinion considers trial and sentencing issues, including discovery, jury selection, instructions and evidence concerning other alleged crimes. The court upheld the judgment and sentence. The defense’s self-defense account appears as part of the record under review; its inclusion is not the same as the court adopting that account.
Keep two questions separate as you read: what happened at the trial, and whether a challenged ruling required reversal. An appellate opinion selects the record relevant to those questions. It does not replace the testimony, exhibits or other case files.
Questions to take to the source
- Which claims concern the Mallory prosecution rather than another alleged killing?
- How does the court distinguish the defense’s account from the jury’s verdict?
- Which arguments address the conviction, and which address the sentence?
Follow the evidence
Open the source record
These links open the cited documents on their hosts. No account or email is needed to read this guide.
- Wuornos v. State — 1994 Mallory opinion
Court opinion reproduced in Justia’s case-law archive.
Companion reading for True Crime Florida: The Complete South Florida Files, Volume One. This guide addresses the dated records above; later proceedings may have their own decisions.