Blackwood was convicted of fatally choking Caroline Thomas-Tynes in January 1995 in Fort Lauderdale. The jury voted 9-3 to recommend a death sentence and he was condemned. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence and Blackwood filed his first post-conviction appeal in trial court. The judge upheld the conviction but overturned the sentence and ordered a new penalty hearing. In this appeal, Blackwood challenges the part of the ruling that upholds his conviction and the state challenges the part of the ruling that strikes the sentence.