Caruso v. State

• Citation: 645 So.2d 389
• Decision Date: 06 October 1994
• Docket Number: No. 73507,73507
• Parties: 19 Fla. L. Weekly S508 Michael CARUSO, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 389

645 So.2d 389

19 Fla. L. Weekly S508

Michael CARUSO, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 73507.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Oct. 6, 1994.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 2, 1994.

Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Jeffrey L. Anderson, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Celia A. Terenzio, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant Michael Caruso, Jr., was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder. After the jury voted 11-1 to recommend life sentences on both counts, the trial judge sentenced Caruso to life imprisonment on one count and to death on the other. Caruso appeals his convictions and the death sentence. This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution. We affirm the convictions, but because the jury override was improper, we vacate the sentence of death and remand for imposition of a life sentence without eligibility of parole for twenty-five years.

This case arose from a violent encounter during the early morning hours of Sunday, December 6, 1987, in the Broward County community of Pembroke Pines. An assailant entered the home of Genevieve and Gordon Leland, went through some of their belongings, and murdered the couple. Caruso, who lived with his parents in the house next door, claimed to have discovered the murders and initiated the report to authorities. In numerous statements at the scene and later, he denied any involvement in the crimes. The State claimed that Caruso killed the elderly couple while he was burglarizing their home to obtain cash and goods with which he could buy crack cocaine.

Caruso told police on the morning of the murders that he was returning from a morning walk at about 7:00-7:30 a.m. when he saw an unidentified black male, about five feet, ten inches tall with a medium "Afro" haircut, looking through the curtains of the front window from inside the Lelands' house. He said he became suspicious and knocked on the front door and side windows. When nobody answered, he went home, told his parents what he saw, and returned to the Lelands' house with his mother. As his mother checked the front of the house, he said he went around to the rear screen door and through it saw Mrs. Leland's body. After his mother came over and saw the body, they returned to their house where Caruso's father called officials to report the incident. Caruso then went back to the Lelands' house to wait for the authorities, who arrived soon thereafter. He said he followed paramedics into the house, saw Mrs. Leland's body, and then saw Mr. Leland's body down the hallway.

The authorities discovered Mrs. Leland's body lying between the kitchen and livingroom, her face bloodied. She had been stabbed once in the upper back and once in the forehead above her right eye, and had been beaten about the face. Down a hallway at the entrance to one of the bedrooms, authorities saw a pile of "visqueen," a translucent tarp, with a broken champagne bottle and a "Saran Wrap" box nearby. The visqueen could be seen only by a person standing well inside the house. Beneath the visqueen lay Mr. Leland's body. He had been stabbed nine times in the upper back, once in the chest, and had blunt trauma and lacerations to the head. His head had been wrapped in Saran Wrap. Rigor mortis already had set in, and the medical examiner estimated the time of death as between midnight and 2 a.m.

Police testified that they first learned about Mr. Leland's head being wrapped in a substance when the medical examiner inspected the body at the crime scene, but they did not know it was Saran Wrap until the autopsy was performed. Police also said they did not know that Mrs. Leland has been stabbed above her eye until the autopsy. Officers said they kept those facts from the public during the course of the investigation because only the killer would know those details.

A reporter testified that at about noon Sunday Caruso told her he had walked into the house behind paramedics, saw Mr. Leland "with Saran Wrap or some plastic or something wrapped around his head," and saw that Mrs. Leland had been "stabbed in the eyes and everywhere else." Later that afternoon, Caruso appeared nervous when he discussed the murders with the mother of one of his friends. The mother said Caruso told her he discovered the bodies after he had gone to the Lelands' house that morning to do yard work for them, and he never mentioned having seen a black man inside the house. Two days later, Caruso discussed the murders with one of the Lelands' grandchildren and mentioned that Mr. Leland's head had been wrapped in Saran Wrap.

When officers first arrived at the Lelands' house, they found Caruso standing outside, his hair wet from a shower he said he had just taken. During the ensuing hours at the crime scene, officers noticed that Caruso had a fight with his father and had to be restrained. Officers observed Caruso experience mood swings throughout the day, ranging from fairly calm to hostile. His behavior was characterized as "bizarre" or "almost possessed." Detective Jorge Corpion testified that Caruso was combative in answering his questions that morning. When the bodies were removed, Caruso reportedly looked distressed, turned, and walked into his own house. Caruso also changed clothes during the day, and his mother laundered some of his clothes that morning, which she said was not unusual. Officials also testified that when they had someone stand at the window where Caruso said he saw a black male, they could only make out a silhouette, without any details of race or sex.

Police at the scene that morning noticed that Caruso's hands and arms were marked by relatively fresh cuts and abrasions, so they photographed them. The State's medical examiner testified that the marks had been made within the previous eight hours. Although Caruso allowed officials to photograph his hands, an officer testified that Caruso did not want to be fingerprinted.

Fingerprints identified as coming from the tips of Caruso's left middle and ring fingers were found in the Lelands' house on the front entrance door inside the middle panel. None of the other prints found at the scene matched Caruso's. Police said it appeared that someone wiped down objects in the house with a towel. Officers and others who entered the crime scene, as well as relatives of the Lelands, testified that they never saw Caruso enter the Lelands' house before or after the murders. However, Caruso's mother and father testified in his defense that they saw their son follow paramedics into the Lelands' house, and his parents cautioned him to mind his own business.

A canine officer's dog followed a track it found leading from the Lelands' house. The track took the form of a "U", going about 100 feet before turning and ending between the Caruso and Leland houses. Police also found fresh tool marks on the door showing that somebody recently attempted to pry it open, and they found the tip of a knife near the doormat. Caruso possessed a knife with a broken tip, but it did not match the tip found at the crime scene. Craig Quinn, a friend of Caruso's, testified that when he tried to get Caruso's broken knife for police to examine, Caruso told him that he "broke the tip off on the old lady next door."

Quinn also said that at some point after the murders, Caruso sold him a gold butterfly pendant and chain, which Caruso said he got "next door." The victims' grandson identified the necklace as having belonged to Mrs. Leland. However, Caruso's mother, testifying for the defense, identified that necklace as her own missing necklace, and additional evidence was presented to establish that Caruso's grandmother had given his mother a butterfly necklace in 1986.

Quinn testified that Caruso used crack cocaine regularly, that he got Quinn back into crack use after a long period of being off cocaine, and that he frequently went with Caruso to Miami where Caruso knew crack dealers. Before midnight Saturday, December 5, Quinn said Caruso called him to "go out and party," which Quinn said meant smoking crack. Quinn declined. He next spoke to Caruso on Sunday, saying that Caruso appeared to be on drugs at the time, although not crack. Caruso was acting sluggishly, falling around a little bit, and was short-tempered and unable to talk straight. Around 3 p.m. that afternoon, Quinn picked up Caruso and they drove together to a black, low-income housing development in Miami, where they often went when Caruso had cash. Quinn pulled the car into a parking lot and Caruso ran into a nearby field, where he threw something. Quinn testified that he did not see what Caruso threw. Quinn said Caruso then ran to several different areas, retrieved his father's bicycle, and returned to the car. Caruso explained that he had been "partying" there the night before, and he had left the bike. They brought the bike back to Caruso's house, where Caruso, who appeared to be high, had an argument with his father. Caruso then left with Quinn to go to work, but Caruso was unable to work effectively, twice tripping over a lamp and breaking the bulbs, and acting irritable, quick, and sluggish. They left work and went to Quinn's grandmother's house where Quinn gave Caruso $20. Then they headed back to the housing development in Miami where they bought crack. Quinn said the only money Caruso had was the $20 he gave him. About two weeks later, Caruso was about to trade his father's chainsaw for drugs when Quinn convinced him to pawn it for cash instead. They pawned other items for drug money, too.

Shortly after the murders, Myrel Walker, a neighbor of the Lelands and the Carusos, told police that at about midnight Saturday, June 5, she saw Caruso standing in front of her house with a shiny object in his pocket. Walker said Caruso told her his car had broken down, and he asked to use the phone. She refused,...