Crump v. State, 74230
| Citation | 622 So.2d 963 |
| Decision Date | 10 June 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 74230,74230 |
| Parties | 18 Fla. L. Week. S331 Michael Tyrone CRUMP, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and A. Anne Owens, Asst. Public Defender, Tenth Judicial Circuit, Bartow, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Robert J. Landry, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
Michael Tyrone Crump appeals his conviction for the first-degree murder of Lavinia Clark and his resulting death sentence. We have jurisdiction based on article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution. We affirm Crump's conviction for first-degree murder; however, we vacate the death sentence and remand to the trial judge to reweigh the circumstances and resentence Crump.
On December 12, 1985, the police found the nude body of Lavinia Clark, a prostitute, in an open area adjacent to Shady Lawn Cemetery in Tampa. An initial examination of the body showed that Clark had been manually strangled and had ligature marks on her wrists consistent with being bound. After three months, the police discontinued the investigation of Clark's murder because of a lack of evidence.
Ten months later, on October 9, 1986, the police found the nude body of Areba Smith, a prostitute, in an open field adjacent to Centro Asturiano Cemetery in Tampa. Smith had been manually strangled and had ligature marks on her wrists consistent with having been bound. The police made a plaster cast of a set of tire tracks found within nineteen feet of Smith's body. In addition, the police found a witness who had seen Smith enter a truck on the night of her murder. One of the police officers recognized that the witness's description matched Crump's truck. The witness subsequently identified Crump's truck from a police photo-pack. Following the witness's identification, the police seized Crump's truck on a public street without a warrant and subsequently searched it. The police discovered a restraining device, a hair, and Clark's driver's license hidden underneath the truck's carpeting. Following the search, the police compared the tread on Crump's truck with the plaster casts of the tire tracks found near Smith's body and concluded that they were similar.
After the seizure of his truck, Crump went to the police department for an interview at which time the police advised him of his constitutional rights. 1 Detective Parrish of the Tampa Police Department confronted Crump with the evidence gathered from the search and interviews. At this time, Crump confessed to killing Smith. According to Crump, he contracted with Smith for oral sex. However, Crump told the detective that Smith began to argue with him and that she had threatened him with a knife, so he strangled her. Crump was convicted of the first-degree murder of Smith and received a life sentence.
During the initial interview with Crump, the Tampa Police Department contacted the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office about finding Clark's driver's license. Consequently, Detective Onheiser, the lead detective in Clark's murder investigation, questioned Crump about Clark's murder. During the questioning, Crump admitted to giving Clark a ride in his truck and arguing with her; however, he denied killing Clark. Detective Onheiser testified that Crump stated that he had given Clark a ride in his truck, but that he had pushed her out of the truck because of an argument. Further, Crump explained that Clark had left her purse in the truck and that he had thrown it away, but that he had kept her driver's license.
During the trial for Clark's murder, the State introduced evidence of Crump's murder of Smith to establish his identity as Clark's killer. Further, the State introduced evidence from the search of Crump's truck as well as expert testimony showing that Clark had ligature marks on her wrists and that she had been manually strangled, like Smith. The State also presented expert testimony that the hair found in Crump's truck was consistent with hair from Clark's head, and that the hair had been forcibly removed.
The jury found Crump guilty of first-degree murder, and recommended a death sentence by a vote of eight to four. The trial judge found in aggravation that: 1) Crump had previously been convicted of a capital felony or threat of violence to another person, pursuant to section 921.141(5)(b), Florida Statutes (1989); and 2) Crump committed the capital felony in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without moral or legal justification, pursuant to section 921.141(5)(i), Florida Statutes (1989). The trial judge found in mitigation that: 1) Crump committed the capital felony while under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance, pursuant to section 921.141(6)(b), Florida Statutes (1989); 2) Crump's ability to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired, pursuant to section 921.141(6)(f), Florida Statutes (1989); and 3) "[a]ny other aspect of [Crump's] character or record, and any other circumstance of the offense as evidenced by expert and lay testimony in the case." The trial judge followed the jury recommendation and imposed a death sentence.
Crump raises seven issues on appeal in the guilt phase of the trial: 1) whether the trial court erred by admitting Williams 2 rule evidence; 2) whether the trial court erred by overruling Crump's objections to the testimony of Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent Michael Malone that he investigated serial murders; 3) whether the trial court erred by allowing the State to introduce hearsay but precluding the defense from introducing hearsay; 4) whether the trial court erred by denying Crump's motion to suppress evidence obtained from a warrantless search of his truck; 5) whether the trial court erred by failing to grant Crump's motion for judgment of acquittal because of insufficient evidence; 6) whether the trial court erred by denying Crump's motion for judgment of acquittal of first-degree murder because the State failed to prove premeditation; and 7) whether the trial court committed fundamental error by allowing the prosecutor to make improper closing arguments in the guilt and penalty phases of the trial.
Crump's first claim is that the trial court erred in admitting Williams rule evidence of the Smith murder. On May 6, 1988, the State filed a notice to rely on Williams rule evidence. In response, the defense filed a motion in limine to exclude the evidence because it was irrelevant and the prejudicial effect outweighed its probative value. The State argued that the similar fact evidence established a modus operandi and Crump's identity as Clark's killer. Over the defense counsel's objection, the trial court allowed the testimony concerning Smith's murder and Crump's subsequent confession. The evidence, however, did not include Crump's conviction for the first-degree murder of Smith.
Under the Williams rule, similar fact evidence is generally admissible, even though it reveals the commission of another crime, as long as the evidence is "relevant to prove a material fact in issue, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident." Section 90.404(2)(a), Fla.Stat. (1989); see also Williams v. State, 110 So.2d 654, 662 (Fla.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 847, 80 S.Ct. 102, 4 L.Ed.2d 86 (1959).
Crump argues that the similarities between Smith's murder and Clark's murder are not sufficiently unusual to serve as evidence of identity. For support, Crump cites Drake v. State, 400 So.2d 1217, 1219 (Fla.1981), in which this Court found that the similar features of crimes, such as binding both victim's hands and meeting the victim at a bar, were not sufficiently unusual to point to defendant in that case, and therefore irrelevant to prove identity. We find Crump's argument without merit. This Court has upheld the use of collateral crime evidence when the common features considered in conjunction with each other establish a sufficiently unusual pattern of criminal activity. See Chandler v. State, 442 So.2d 171, 173 (Fla.1983). Although the common features between Smith's murder and Clark's murder may not be unusual when considered individually, taken together these features establish a sufficiently unusual pattern of criminal activity. The common features of the two crimes include: both victims were African-American women with a similar physical build and age (Clark was twenty-eight years old, five feet, two inches and weighed 117 pounds; Smith was thirty-four years old, five feet, five inches tall and weighed 120 pounds); Crump admitted to giving a ride to each victim in his truck in the same area, off Columbus Boulevard in Tampa; Crump admitted to the police that he argued with each victim while giving the victims a ride in his truck; both victims' bodies showed evidence of ligature marks on the wrists; both victims died from manual strangulation; both victims' bodies were found nude and uncovered in an area adjacent to cemeteries within the distance of a mile from each other; and the victims were murdered at different sites from where the bodies were discovered. The cumulative effect of the numerous similarities between the two crimes establishes an unusual modus operandi which identifies Crump as Clark's murderer. Thus, we find no error in the admission of the Williams rule evidence.
Crump's second issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred by allowing the State's expert witness, Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Michael Malone to testify, over objection, that he had investigated serial murders. During the State's direct examination, the following colloquy took place:
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