State v. Woodel

• Decision Date: 28 August 2014
• Docket Number: No. SC12–132.,SC12–132.
• Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Thomas D. WOODEL, Appellee. Thomas D. Woodel, Cross–Appellant, v. State of Florida, Cross–Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

145 So.3d 782

STATE of Florida, Appellant,

v.Thomas D. WOODEL, Appellee.

Thomas D. Woodel, Cross–Appellant,

v.State of Florida, Cross–Appellee.

No. SC12–132.

Supreme Court of Florida.

June 5, 2014.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 28, 2014.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, and Carol M. Dittmar, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, FL, for Appellant/Cross–Appellee.

Marie–Louise Samuels Parmer and Maria E. Deliberato, Assistant Capital Collateral Regional Counsels, Middle Region, Tampa, FL, for Appellee/Cross–Appellant.

PER CURIAM.

This case is before us on the State's appeal from an order granting a new penalty phase based on the defendant's motion to vacate a sentence of death under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851 and the defendant's cross-appeal from the trial court's order denying a new trial as to both the guilt and penalty phases. We have jurisdiction. Seeart. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons addressed in this opinion, we reverse the trial court's order granting a new penalty phase, affirm the trial court's order denying an entirely new trial, and reinstate the defendant's sentence of death.

I. BACKGROUND

Thomas D. Woodel was convicted in Polk County, Florida, for the first-degree murders of Clifford and Bernice Moody, an elderly married couple, who he cut and stabbed. Woodel, who was twenty-six years old on the date of the crimes, was also convicted of burglary and robbery in the same case. The pertinent facts pertaining to Woodel's convictions are addressed in our decision issued in his first direct appeal:

Clifford Moody, who was seventy-nine years old, and his seventy-four year old wife, Bernice, lived in a mobile home trailer on lot 533 at Outdoor Resorts of America in Polk County. The Moodys owned another trailer on adjoining lot 532, which they sometimes rented. Bernice was seen by the newspaper delivery man cleaning lot 532 about 4:30 to 4:45 a.m. on December 31, 1996. Clifford was last seen by a security person at the Outdoor Resorts Laundromat at about 5:30 a.m. The Moodys were preparing to show the mobile home for rental that day.

The Moodys were found dead a little after 1 p.m. on December 31, 1996. Clifford was found lying on his back in the dining room area of the trailer on lot 532. His underwear and pants had been pulled down to below his knees. His eyeglasses lay approximately two feet from his head. Dr. Alexander Melamud, the medical examiner, testified that Clifford received a total of eight stab wounds, causing more internal than external bleeding, and that he died as a result of these stab wounds close in time to his wife's death.

Bernice was found in the same trailer with multiple stab wounds. She lay dead on a bed in the back of the trailer and was nude except for one sock. A nightgown and female underwear with a knot tied in it lay on the floor next to the bed. Additionally, pieces of a porcelain toilet tank lid were found underneath her. Dr. Melamud testified that Bernice incurred a total of fifty-six cut or stab wounds, many of which on her right arm he opined to be defensive. Her jugular vein had been slit. Additionally, she had received significant blunt trauma injuries to her head, and her nasal bones were fractured. Dr. Melamud testified that Bernice died as a result of her injuries sometime in the early morning hours of December 31, 1996. No semen was detected on Bernice.

With the permission and assistance of Outdoor Resorts, detectives searched the park's dumpsters the morning of January 3, 1997. The dumpsters had not been emptied since prior to December 31, 1996. During the search, detectives found three garbage bags containing pieces of a porcelain toilet tank lid, a wallet containing Clifford's identification and credit cards, keys with a tag stating “Cliff's keys,” glasses, bloody socks, paperwork with the address of lot 301, and paperwork bearing the names of the defendantand his son, Christopher Woodel.

That afternoon, detectives went to lot 301. Woodel lived there with his long-time girlfriend, Christina Stogner, and his sister, Bobbi Woodel. Woodel and his sister signed consent forms to have their trailer searched. Stogner was out of town at that time. Also present that day at lot 301 was Gayle Woodel. Although not known at that time, it would later be discovered that Gayle married Woodel in 1989, and they had a son together, Christopher. Gayle and Woodel separated in 1992 but never divorced. In 1996, Gayle and Christopher lived in North Carolina while Woodel lived in Florida. However, Gayle had just come to Florida from North Carolina so that Christopher could spend some time with Woodel. Gayle, Christopher, and two of Gayle's friends were staying at Woodel's trailer.

While some detectives searched the premises, Woodel agreed to be questioned by other detectives. As Woodel left with the detectives, Woodel went over to Gayle and whispered for her to get rid of the knife Woodel had hidden. Gayle told Woodel's landlady and friend about the content of the communication. Gayle later told deputies as well.

The detectives gave Woodel Miranda warnings, and he consented to talk with them. He initially told the detectives that he had been home asleep at the time of the murders. After further questioning, Woodel began to write out a statement. He then stopped and confessed to killing the Moodys, whom he said he had never met. The detectives then tape-recorded Woodel's confession. In this taped confession played for the jury, Woodel admitted to drinking with others that evening after work in the lot next to the Pizza Hut where he worked. Afterwards, Woodel walked to Outdoor Resorts, a little over a mile from the Pizza Hut. Woodel admitted to entering the Moody's rental trailer early in the morning after seeing Bernice through the window. He said he went in to ask for the time. According to Woodel, Bernice was alone in the trailer. Upon seeing him, she came at him with a knife, over which Woodel soon gained control. He then proceeded to stab her many times and hit her over the head with a porcelain toilet tank lid one to three times. The toilet lid shattered.

Clifford was last seen doing laundry at the Laundromat by security guard Elmer Schultz between 5:30 and 5:40 a.m. In his confession, Woodel said that he was leaving the trailer when Clifford came inside. Woodel then stabbed Clifford. As Clifford lay on the floor, Woodel picked up a bucket and placed pieces of the shattered toilet tank lid in it. He also placed the knife along with several other items in the bucket. Woodel said that after stabbing Clifford, he took Clifford's wallet.

Woodel also said in his confession that he threw some items into a canal in the mobile home park, threw some items away in his garbage, and hid the knife behind a dresser. Deputies would later find pieces of the toilet tank lid and Bernice's eyeglasses in the canal, and a knife in Woodel's room wedged between a wall and the dresser.

Woodel v. State ( Woodel I ), 804 So.2d 316, 319–20 (Fla.2001).

The jury voted twelve to zero for Mrs. Moody, and nine to three for Mr. Moody in recommending that Woodel be sentenced to death. Id. at 320. The trial court found the same aggravators ¹ and mitigators² for both murders. Id. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendations and imposed sentences of death for both murders. Id. On direct appeal, Woodel raised three guilt phase issues ³ and three sentencing phase issues. ⁴Id. at 321. We affirmed the convictions, but vacated the sentences of death because the sentencing order failed to assign weights to the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Id. at 327. The case was remanded with instructions “to reconsider the sentence.” Id.

However, when the case returned to the circuit court in 2001, the original trial judge was unavailable to reconsider the sentence. Therefore, Woodel was granted a new penalty phase with a successor judge presiding. Woodel v. State ( Woodel II ), 985 So.2d 524, 527 (Fla.2008). At the conclusion of the second penalty phase, held in 2004, the jury recommended a life sentence for the murder of Mr. Moody, and recommended by a vote of seven to five that the sentence of death be imposed for the murder of Mrs. Moody. Id. After holding a Spencer hearing,⁵ the sentencing court followed the jury's recommendations, and imposed the sentence of death only for the murder of Mrs. Moody. Id. The sentencing court found the same four aggravators that were found in Woodel's initial trial; ⁶ however, it found four statutory mitigators ⁷ and ten nonstatutory mitigators.⁸Id. On direct appeal, Woodel raised six claims.⁹Id. at 527–28. We determined that the sentence of death imposed on Woodel was proportionate to other cases in which the death penalty was imposed. Therefore, we affirmed Woodel's sentence of death. Id. at 532–34.

II. POSTCONVICTION PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In April 2010, Woodel filed a motion in the Circuit Court of the Tenth Judicial Circuit in and for Polk County, pursuant to rule 3.851, in which he sought postconviction relief. A second successor judge presided over the postconviction proceedings due to the unavailability of the circuit judge that presided over Woodel's second penalty phase in 2004.

The postconviction court ruled that an evidentiary hearing was necessary to address Woodel's allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. The evidentiary hearing was held in 2011 over nine nonconsecutive days. Woodel presented twenty-seven witnesses, including his former trial attorneys, expert witnesses, and other witnesses. No witnesses appeared for the State.

Woodel presented seven general claims for postconviction relief. In four of his claims, Woodel alleged that he was deprived of his constitutional right to reliable adversarial testing due to ineffective assistance of counsel. ¹⁰ Woodel sought a new guilt phase under Claim I, which consistedof four subclaims. He also sought a new penalty phase under Claim II, which consisted of seven...