Calloway v. State

• Decision Date: 26 January 2017
• Docket Number: No. SC10–2170,SC10–2170
• Citation: 210 So.3d 1160
• Parties: Tavares David CALLOWAY, Appellant/Cross–Appellee, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee/Cross–Appellant.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

210 So.3d 1160

Tavares David CALLOWAY, Appellant/Cross–Appellee,

v.STATE of Florida, Appellee/Cross–Appellant.

No. SC10–2170

Supreme Court of Florida.

[January 26, 2017]

Scott William Sakin of Scott W. Sakin, P.A., Miami, Florida, for Appellant/Cross–Appellee

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, and Melissa Jean Roca, Assistant Attorney General, Miami, Florida, for Appellee/Cross–Appellant

PER CURIAM.

Tavares David Calloway was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Derwin Copeland, Frederick McGuire, Adolphus Melvin, Gary St. Charles, and Trenton Thomas, along with armed robbery, armed kidnapping, and armed burglary with an assault or battery. A jury recommended a sentence of death for each count of first-degree murder by a vote of seven to five. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

1997

On January 21, 1997, eighteen-year-old Anthony Strachan was at home in his family's apartment on 580 Northwest 64th Street in Miami, cutting a friend's hair. Strachan went into the kitchen and, through the kitchen window, saw one of his neighbors, "Shorty," standing outside on 64th Street with two unknown men. One man, who wore a skull cap and a heavy brown coat that resembled a field or military jacket, was taller than Shorty. Strachan saw Shorty walk up the apartment stairs and past the jalousie kitchen door of his family's apartment with one of the unfamiliar men. At some point later in the day, Strachan heard loud booming noises that he assumed were from a neighbor's stereo. He opened the front door to see if anything outside might explain the noise, but saw nothing and closed the door.

Strachan later walked downstairs to retrieve something from his mother's car. On his way back to the apartment, he heard the door of Apartment 8 open and saw the unfamiliar man exiting the apartment complex. He and Strachan nodded at each other as they passed. The unidentified man appeared to be older than Strachan and held a small box the size of a shoe or cigar box that Strachan recognized as one often carried by Shorty. The brown coat he wore struck Strachan as unusually heavy for the weather in Miami.

Elsewhere that day, Latonya Taylor was concerned about her fiancé, Adolphus "Tank" Melvin. He was supposed to pick up their two-year-old son from day care, but the day care center called her and informed her that Melvin never arrived. She attempted to contact him via his beeper and cell phone, but he did not respond. She called her friend, Gwendolyn James, to ask if she had been in contact with Melvin or his friend Trenton Thomas, James's fiancé. James paged Thomas, who also did not respond.

Taylor drove to an apartment in Liberty City that was the residence of Gary "Shorty" St. Charles, where she had previously dropped Melvin off. She saw Melvin's car in the parking lot, heard loud music playing from one of the upstairs apartments, and assumed that it emanated from St. Charles's apartment. When she opened the door to Apartment 8, she found a grisly scene, ran with her son to the nearby home of Melvin's sister, and called the police.

When the police arrived, they found the bodies of Melvin, Thomas, St. Charles, and Derwin Copeland. Frederick McGuire was still alive, and paramedics transported him to the hospital for treatment, where he died the next day. All five men had been shot once in the head, execution style. Their ankles had been bound with duct tape, and their hands and wrists were bound behind their backs with duct tape. Duct tape also covered their eyes and mouths. The men were clad only in underwear and undershirts; their clothing and shoes were piled in a corner of the living room. Styrofoam containers filled with half-eaten food were found on the dining room table. Officers noticed that the music on the stereo was very loud, even over the noise of nearby I–95.

The initial investigation of the apartment and surrounding areas lasted for nearly twenty hours. The apartment appeared to have been ransacked before the officers arrived. Although crime scene investigators collected blood samples, they did not specifically search for DNA because DNA collection was not the standard practice of the City of Miami Police Department in 1997. Eighty-nine latent fingerprint cards were lifted from around the apartment, although most of the prints were later found to have matched the victims. All of the pieces of duct tape that were recovered from the apartment were commingled in one plastic bag, but the pieces were later separated. One empty roll of duct tape was found on the floor near the piles of clothing. Investigators also recovered five spent .45 caliber shell casings.

The medical examiner estimated that the time of death for Melvin, Thomas, Copeland, and St. Charles was between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Their wounds were consistent with a .45 caliber firearm, which resulted in an immediate loss of consciousness and death. McGuire was similarly instantly incapacitated, although he did not die until the following day. Additionally, Thomas's head wound featured stippling, which indicated that he was shot at close range. None of the men exhibited defensive wounds.

Although investigators found no significant quantity of drugs in the apartment, they did find marijuana residue and drug paraphernalia. Additionally, a small bag of marijuana was found in the clothing of Melvin. Investigators also recovered cash from under a waterbed mattress and a gold medallion under the body of Melvin, but there was no jewelry or marijuana found on any of the other victims. They concluded that Melvin was the leader of a small group involved in marijuana packaging and distribution. St. Charles, who resided in the apartment, served as his "second-in-command," and Thomas and McGuire oversaw the packaging of the marijuana. Copeland was not believed to have been formally involved in the group's activities, but he had recently been in a car accident and was dependent on Melvin, his uncle, for transportation. Despite several months of investigation by the City of Miami Police Department, the case went cold.

1998

On May 11, 1998, Detective George Law received a phone call from a woman who did not identify herself. Law had investigated the murder of Michael Gosha, whose family and friends had informed Law that Gosha was last seen alive with a man identified as "Black." The woman advised Law that "Black" was Tavares Calloway, who knew Gosha and was involved in the quintuple murders from 1997, along with "Tote."

On May 12, 1998, Detective Kelvin Knowles brought Antonio "Tote" Clark to the police station. Clark signed a Miranda ¹ waiver, and eventually told the police that he and Calloway had gone to St. Charles's apartment to commit a robbery at the direction of Dwight Campbell, who was also known as Frank. Clark said he was unarmed and did not expect anyone to die. Calloway had instructed the victims to remove their clothing to be sure they were not armed and told Clark to bind them with duct tape. Calloway shot the men, and he and Clark left the scene.

Based on Clark's statement, Detective Knowles was dispatched to pick up Calloway, who had a bench warrant for driving with a suspended license. Knowles was unable to make contact with Calloway initially, but he left a card indicating that Calloway should call him. When Calloway called, Knowles informed him of the bench warrant and indicated that detectives needed to speak with him about other matters. Calloway agreed to come to the station and asked Knowles for transportation. He was nineteen years old.

Calloway arrived at the station around 3:00 p.m. on May 13 and was directed to an interview room with a two-way mirror. He was not handcuffed, and officers elected not to record the interview. Detectives Law and Alberto Borges began to question him, and Calloway signed a Miranda waiver at 3:31 p.m. Law asked Calloway if he wanted water, which Calloway declined, explaining that he was fasting that day because he was a born-again Christian. Calloway appeared relaxed and calm. Although Calloway was nineteen years old, Law thought he looked older and seemed mature for his age.

Law initially questioned him about the Gosha homicide, and Calloway admitted that he and Gosha planned and participated in the home invasion robbery of Shellie Wilson ("Twin"), and that Calloway suspected Gosha was murdered in retaliation for that robbery. Borges then asked him about the quintuple homicides, but Calloway denied involvement and repeatedly told them to "find the facts." When Borges showed Calloway photographs of the victims taken from the apartment, Calloway did not respond, other than to repeat, "find the facts." Around 5:00 p.m., Law and Borges left Calloway alone in the interview room.

Detective Ervins Ford, who had viewed the questioning from the attached observation room, entered the interview room after 7:00 p.m. In an effort to build rapport, Ford asked Calloway about his background and upbringing. Calloway explained that his grandmother had raised him and imposed regular church attendance and nightly Bible study in the household. Ford retrieved a Bible from one of the desks in the homicide office and returned to the interview room. Calloway became noticeably more comfortable and confident with Ford as Calloway began to recite passages from the Bible. Calloway referenced many passages that concerned God's vengeance and seemed to identify with the Archangel Gabriel, whom Calloway described as God's punisher. When Ford asked him whether the victims had been punished by their deaths, Calloway replied that they should have seen it coming because they had been selling drugs for a long time and "were doing a lot of dirt." After watching Calloway from the observation room, Detective Tony Davis entered, told Calloway that the Bible states "thou shall not kill," and walked out of the room with the Bible. Ford exited the room as well.

Over the course of the evening,...