STATE v. RODRIGUEZ-ACOSTA

McDONALD, Justice.

We review Rodriguez-Acosta v. State, 548 So.2d 248, 249 n. 1 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989), in which the district court certified the following question as one of great public importance:

Whether a twelve-person jury is required in a first degree murder case in which the prosecution waives the death penalty?

Id. at 249, n. 1. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. In State v. Griffith, 561 So.2d 528 (Fla. 1990), we answered the certified question with a qualified affirmative and held that, regardless of whether the state seeks the death penalty, a twelve-person jury is required in first-degree murder trials unless waived by the defense. In this case defense counsel's agreement to trial by a six-person jury in exchange for the state's waiver of the death penalty constituted an effective and valid waiver of Rodriguez-Acosta's statutory right to trial by a twelve-person jury. Griffith. We therefore quash the district court's decision.

The following exchange took place on the record.
MR. McDONALD: [Defense Counsel]: For the record, I have discussed the matter with my client. He is willing to go with the six-person jury.
[THE COURT]: Okay. State?
MR. BERK: [Prosecutor]: No problem, Judge. We will waive our right to have a twelve-person jury.

It is so ordered.

EHRLICH, C.J., and SHAW, BARKETT, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur.

OVERTON, J., concurs in result only.