Castro v. State, 71982

Citation547 So.2d 111,14 Fla. L. Weekly 359
Decision Date13 July 1989
Docket NumberNo. 71982,71982
Parties14 Fla. L. Weekly 359 Edward CASTRO, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Florida

James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Michael S. Becker, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Carolyn N. Snurkowski, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Edward Castro appeals his convictions of first-degree murder and robbery with a deadly weapon. He also appeals the sentence of death and the five-and-one-half-year sentence imposed for the robbery. Our jurisdiction is mandatory. 1 We affirm the convictions but remand for a new sentencing hearing before a jury.

Castro lived in a small efficiency located in the rear of an Ocala apartment house. On January 10, 1987, he met Robert McKnight, who had just hitchhiked to Ocala from Iowa, and invited him to his apartment for a drink. At trial, McKnight testified that while at Castro's apartment, Castro had "ripped up a sheet[,] ... tied my hands and gagged me[,] and was standing over the bed ... asking me where I wanted to be stabbed." In his hand Castro held a steak knife. McKnight was released upon the arrival of John Gallagher, the man with whom Castro shared the apartment. McKnight, nevertheless, stayed with Castro for four days before moving to an upstairs apartment.

On the morning of January 14, when McKnight returned to the apartment to retrieve his clothes, he met Castro and an older man, Austin Scott, leaving the apartment. As Castro passed, he said to McKnight, "this is my hit," whereupon Castro and Scott left in Scott's car to buy beer.

Sometime later that morning, Castro invited McKnight downstairs "to be sociable." Upon arrival, McKnight found the door to Castro's apartment locked. When Castro admitted him, he saw that Scott was dead and that Castro's arms were covered with blood. McKnight testified that Castro then ordered him to pick up the steak knife and stab Scott or "I'd be next." McKnight obeyed and stabbed Scott four or five times in the chest, following which they wiped the blood from the apartment and removed Scott's wallet, change, rings and watch.

Castro and McKnight then left Ocala in Scott's car, heading toward Lake City. During the journey, Castro became "pretty well intoxicated" from drinking the vodka and whiskey which he had found in the trunk. The trip was interrupted when Castro was arrested 2 at a gas station for disorderly intoxication due to his belligerence toward two deputy sheriffs.

While in the holding cell at the jail, Castro indicated to the officer on duty that he had something to tell him which would "put a stripe on [his] sleeve" and asked to see an investigator. Investigator Kay Gallegos responded and after Castro was advised of his Miranda 3 rights he gave the first of three separate statements detailing the circumstances of the killing.

The jury found Castro guilty as charged. During the penalty phase, the state did not put on any evidence and Castro's sole witness was Dr. Barbara Mara, a clinical psychologist. The jury recommended the death penalty and the trial court concurred, finding three aggravating circumstances, 4 two mitigating circumstances, 5 and rejecting two other potential mitigating circumstances. 6

Castro asserts nine grounds for relief. Challenging the guilt phase, Castro first contends that because the trial court ruled that his initial statement to the corrections officer at the jail was inadmissible for lack of a Miranda warning, all of the subsequent statements he gave to Investigator Gallegos, Lieutenant Nydam, and Investigator Leary should also have been suppressed. The trial court, Castro argues, failed to find that the statements were voluntary.

At the outset, we note that the trial court's decision to exclude Castro's first statement due to the state's failure to properly warn Castro of his rights did not automatically obligate the trial court to suppress Castro's three subsequent statements. In Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 314, 105 S.Ct. 1285, 1296, 84 L.Ed.2d 222 (1985), the Court found that

absent deliberately coercive or improper tactics in obtaining the initial statement, the mere fact that a suspect has made an unwarned admission does not warrant a presumption of compulsion. A subsequent administration of Miranda warnings to a suspect who has given a voluntary but unwarned statement ordinarily should suffice to remove the conditions that precluded admission of the earlier statement. In such circumstances, the finder of fact may reasonably conclude that the suspect made a rational and intelligent choice whether to waive or invoke his rights.

In determining the voluntariness of Castro's subsequent statements, the trial court was required to consider the surrounding circumstances. See Elstad, 470 U.S. at 318, 105 S.Ct. at 1297-98; Bauza v. State, 491 So.2d 323, 324 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). Voluntariness in this context depends upon the absence of "coercive police activity," or "overreaching." Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 107 S.Ct. 515, 93 L.Ed.2d 473 (1986).

Consistent with the principles underlying Elstad, the trial court below held a pretrial evidentiary hearing on Castro's motion to suppress. The testimony established that officers gave Castro verbal Miranda warnings and that he executed written waiver forms on two of the three occasions in question. We are satisfied that the testimony was sufficient to support the conclusion that the confessions were voluntary and not influenced by Castro's previous consumption of alcohol.

We likewise find no merit to Castro's assertion that the convictions must be reversed because the jury propounded a request in the absence of counsel or the defendant to rehear certain testimony. The record reflects that counsel stipulated that the judge could discuss the luncheon arrangements with the jury in counsel's absence. During this colloquy, the foreman asked to have McKnight's testimony reread upon return from lunch. The trial court correctly deferred ruling on the request and gave both parties the opportunity to respond when court reconvened. See Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.410; Roberts v. State, 510 So.2d 885, 891 (Fla.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 943, 108 S.Ct. 1123, 99 L.Ed.2d 284 (1988). Both parties objected to replaying the testimony, whereupon the court instructed the jury to rely on its collective memory.

We also reject the contention that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to grant Castro's requests for additional peremptory challenges and for special interrogatory verdicts.

Castro next asserts that his conviction warrants reversal because the trial court erroneously admitted testimony which was irrelevant and prejudicial. First, Castro argues that the testimony of Officer Greg Stewart, who analyzed the blood spatter patterns on the walls and ceiling of Castro's apartment, should have been excluded because Officer Stewart could not connect the stains to the murder. Although Officer Stewart could not confirm that the bloodstains on the walls and ceiling were Scott's, he was able to determine that the spatters were created by a front-to-rear motion which originated from a source in the front of the room not exceeding three feet from the floor. That testimony was logically relevant to the testimony offered by the crime lab analyst, who testified that the stains identified by Officer Stewart were of human blood and not inconsistent with the blood of Mr. Scott. In addition, the spatter evidence was consistent and tied in with other evidence detailing the manner of the crime. Absent an abuse of discretion, a trial court's ruling on the admissibility of evidence will not be disturbed. Blanco v. State, 452 So.2d 520, 523 (Fla.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1181, 105 S.Ct. 940, 83 L.Ed.2d 953 (1985). We find no error on this point.

We do agree, however, that the court erred in admitting the testimony of William Kohler. William Kohler was an owner of the apartment house where the murder occurred and was permitted to testify that several days after the murder he found a steak knife outside Castro's apartment building. There is no question that the knife found by Kohler was irrelevant. It was undisputed that Castro had broken the murder weapon into pieces and thrown it out the window during the trip to Lake City.

Likewise, the trial court erred in admitting McKnight's testimony that Castro had tied him up and threatened to stab him several days prior to killing Scott. This evidence violated the dictates of Williams v. State, 110 So.2d 654 (Fla.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 847, 80 S.Ct. 102, 4 L.Ed.2d 86 (1959). In State v. Lee, 531 So.2d 133, 135 (Fla.1988), we considered Williams and said that

[e]vidence of collateral crimes or acts committed by the defendant is inadmissible if its sole relevancy is to establish bad character or propensity of the accused. Williams v. State.... Evidence of other crimes or acts is admissible, however, "if it casts light upon the character of the act under investigation by showing motive, intent, absence of mistake, common scheme, identity or a system or general pattern of criminality so that the evidence of the prior offenses would have a relevant or a material bearing on some essential aspect of the offense being tried." Id. at 662. See § 90.404(2)(a), Fla.Stat. (1983). The test for admissibility of evidence of collateral crimes is relevancy. Heiney v. State, 447 So.2d 210, 213 (Fla.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 920 [105 S.Ct. 303, 83 L.Ed.2d 237] (1984).

That is to say, similar fact evidence which tends to reveal the commission of collateral crimes is admissible if it is relevant to a material fact in issue, except where the sole relevance is the character or propensity of the accused.

The rationale underlying the Williams rule is that such evidence

"would go far to convince men of ordinary intelligence that the defendant was probably guilty...

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