England v. State
| Citation | 940 So.2d 389 |
| Decision Date | 25 May 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. SC04-1521.,SC04-1521. |
| Parties | Richard ENGLAND, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
Todd G. Scher, P.L., Miami Beach, FL, for Appellant.
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, and Barbara C. Davis, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, FL, for Appellee.
Richard England appeals his conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the conviction and sentence.
On July 2, 2001, after receiving a call from concerned neighbors, the City of Daytona Beach police found the body of Howard Wetherell in the shower of his master bathroom. Wetherell had been brutally beaten to death. He had multiple lacerations, fractures, and bruises over his body.1 N. Leroy Parker, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab analyst and expert in the field of blood stain pattern analysis, analyzed the blood stain pattern in the upstairs master bedroom of Wetherell's condominium. He determined the pattern indicated that Wetherell was beaten while conscious and moving in different positions in several different locations in that room including on or near the floor, next to the door, near the dresser, and near the nightstand next to the bed.
The State's investigation of the crime scene was impeded by a white, powdery substance that had been sprayed over the bloody floor and furniture to cover up and destroy any potential evidence underneath, including fingerprints. However, crime scene investigators noticed that the poker was missing from the fireplace tools in the living room. They also recovered two cigarette butts from a second upstairs bedroom. Ultimately, Florida Department of Law Enforcement analyst Tim Pietre determined that the DNA on one of these cigarette butts belonged to Michael Jackson, and DNA on the other belonged to Richard England. Numerous items of value were missing from the condominium including antique guns, jewelry, silver, and the victim's green Mercury Sable automobile. Notably, a Rolex watch was found in the pocket of a pair of Wetherell's trousers.
Before the crime occurred, Michael Jackson lived with Wetherell trading sex for money and a place to stay. Several days after the murder, he was arrested in Walton County after wrecking Wetherell's green Mercury Sable. Shortly after his arrest, he gave a statement to State Attorney Investigator Shon McGuire implicating his friend, Richard England, in Wetherell's murder.
England was not immediately charged for this murder but was taken into custody within weeks of the murder for an unrelated violation of probation (VOP) charge.2 While incarcerated, England was questioned about Wetherell's murder by Investigator McGuire. Prior to and after this questioning, England gave several inculpatory statements. He also made statements to a fellow inmate. Cumulatively, these statements revealed that England knew of Wetherell through Jackson and was at the condominium the night of the murder; that he and Jackson stole property from the condominium and took the stolen property to Reynaldo DeLeon, a friend of England's in Orlando, so that DeLeon could fence it; and that on their way to DeLeon's home Jackson disposed of a bag of bloody rags and the missing fire poker, which was later determined to be the murder weapon.
On December 21, 2001, Investigator McGuire executed a search warrant on England to obtain a blood sample in order to compare England's DNA to that recovered from one of the cigarette butts found in Wetherell's condominium. England asked to speak to McGuire alone. During this interview, England offered to help find the murder weapon if he could get some consideration on his VOP charge. He said that he had been at the victim's condominium on June 25 when Jackson got a rod and went upstairs. England said he heard the victim screaming and yelling, "Why are you hitting me?" England said he did not go upstairs and never touched the victim. Instead, he went outside to smoke a cigarette, and when Jackson came downstairs they left. As stated earlier, the DNA on one of the cigarette butts found in the second upstairs bedroom matched England's.
On November 6, 2003, a grand jury in Volusia County, Florida, returned a two-count indictment against England. Count one alleged that on or about June 25, 2001, England killed the victim either in a premeditated manner, during the course of a robbery or attempted robbery of the victim by the use of blunt force trauma, or "by aiding, abetting, counseling, hiring, or otherwise procuring such offense to be committed by Michael Jackson." Count two alleged armed robbery of the victim with a deadly weapon (a metal rod).
At trial, the State called several witnesses to testify regarding England's involvement in Wetherell's murder. DeLeon testified via a translator that England came to his house with Jackson. They brought antique guns, jewelry, and silver.3 England told DeLeon that Jackson had hit a man, stolen the items, and then went to find England. England also said that he and Jackson went back to the man's house and found him alive, so England hit the man with a fire poker until he died.
The State called Steven Diehl, a jail house informant, who testified that he met England in jail in mid-December and that he and England had several conversations about Wetherell's murder. England first told Diehl that he was innocent and that Jackson committed the murder. Later, England told Diehl that he bludgeoned "an old pervert" to death with a pipe and that the victim deserved it because he had been engaging in sexual relations with a young man. England said he and Jackson took items they had stolen from the man's house to a drug dealer friend of England's in Orlando and that England said he regretted leaving behind a Rolex watch. England also admitted that he left a cigarette butt at the house but planned to cover this mistake by saying that he had been partying at the house a few days earlier. England insinuated that he committed the murder alone but could beat the charges because the evidence was all circumstantial. England also told Diehl that he was going to have someone write a letter in Spanish to the drug dealer in Orlando, DeLeon, asking him not to testify. Finally, England asked Diehl to sign an agreement that he would not testify against him.
The State also called Jackson's brother, Samuel, to testify about what Jackson had told him about the murder. Samuel testified that Jackson told him that Jackson and England committed the crime together. According to Samuel, Jackson stated that he and England took their clothes off and went into the victim's bedroom. They gave the victim a "hellish" beating. The victim screamed, hollered, and begged for his life; but Jackson and England told him to shut up and kept beating him until he died.
The State also introduced physical evidence into the record as well as testimony involving evidence that had been destroyed. The physical evidence included (1) crime scene and autopsy photographs used during the medical examiner's testimony to assist his description of the extent and nature of the victim's injuries, (2) a photograph recovered from the crime scene,4 and (3) telephone records showing calls made from Wetherell's number on the night of the murder to friends of England's who did not know Jackson or Wetherell. The testimony involving evidence that had been destroyed was given by Ivy Evans, a long time friend of England's, and DeLeon. Evans testified about telephone calls received the night of the murder. She testified that England left a message on the answering machine for her husband. She had erased the message, so the tape recording was not available as evidence at trial. DeLeon testified about a letter he received asking him not to testify against England. DeLeon had destroyed the letter, so it also was not available as evidence at trial.
The defense called Jackson to testify.5 Prior to the trial, Jackson had made a number of statements to the police.6 In those statements, Jackson said that England committed the murder. He said he and England decided to rob Wetherell, and while they were committing the robbery they heard a noise upstairs. England then stripped naked, picked up the fire poker, went upstairs, and hit Wetherell thirteen to fifteen times with the poker. Jackson said Wetherell was running around the room, hitting the wall, falling, and pushing things out of the way. After Wetherell died, they tried to get rid of any evidence connecting them to the crime. They put Wetherell's body in the shower; England got in the shower and rinsed off; England spread white powder around saying it would take off the fingerprints; and England wiped everything down with white socks.
At trial, Jackson recanted these prior statements. Jackson testified that he alone killed Wetherell with the fire poker because Wetherell was a pervert and that England did not assist. Jackson said that he gave the prior statements implicating England because he thought it was an easy way out. He thought that if he could give the police somebody else as a suspect, they would let him go.
Jackson also testified that England had smoked cigarettes in Jackson's second floor bedroom the night before the murder. He said that although England was at the condominium on the night of the murder, he left and they met up later. Jackson said that he returned to Wetherell's condominium around 3 a.m. intending to kill and rob Wetherell. Jackson said he then got the fire poker, went upstairs, and beat Wetherell until he was dead even though the victim yelled, struggled, and asked Jackson to stop. Jackson dragged the body to the shower, took his clothes off, and...
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