The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the conviction and death sentence of Benjamin Davis Smiley, Jr. for the 2013 fatal shooting of a Lakeland man during a home invasion robbery.
In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Jamie Grosshans, the state’s high court affirmed a Polk County circuit court’s denial of Smiley’s motion for postconviction relief and denied his accompanying petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
Smiley was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and armed burglary in the death of Clifford Drake…