Henyard v. State
| Decision Date | 19 December 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 84314,84314 |
| Citation | 689 So.2d 239 |
| Parties | 22 Fla. L. Weekly S14 Richard HENYARD, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
James B. Gibson, Public Defender and Michael S. Becker, Assistant Public Defender, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; and Mark S. Dunn and Kenneth S. Nunnelley, Assistant Attorneys General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.
We have on appeal the judgment and sentence of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon Richard Henyard. We have jurisdiction, art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const., and affirm the convictions and sentence.
The record reflects that one evening in January, 1993, eighteen-year-old Richard Henyard stayed at the home of a family friend, Luther Reed. While Reed was making dinner, Henyard went into his bedroom and took a gun that belonged to Reed. Later that month, on Friday, January 29, Dikeysha Johnson, a long-time acquaintance of Henyard, saw him in Eustis, Florida. While they were talking, Henyard lifted his shirt and displayed the butt of a gun in the front of his pants. Shenise Hayes also saw Henyard that same evening. Henyard told her he was going to a night club in Orlando and to see his father in South Florida. He showed Shenise a small black gun and said that, in order to make his trip, he would steal a car, kill the owner, and put the victim in the trunk.
William Pew also saw Henyard with a gun during the last week in January and Henyard tried to persuade Pew to participate in a robbery with him. Later that day, Pew saw Henyard with Alfonza Smalls, a fourteen-year-old friend of Henyard's. Henyard again displayed the gun, telling Pew that he needed a car and that he intended to commit a robbery at either the hospital or the Winn Dixie.
Around 10 p.m. on January 30, Lynette Tschida went to the Winn Dixie store in Eustis. She saw Henyard and a younger man sitting on a bench near the entrance of the store. When she left, Henyard and his companion got up from the bench; one of them walked ahead of her and the other behind her. As she approached her car, the one ahead of her went to the end of the bumper, turned around, and stood. Ms. Tschida quickly got into the car and locked the doors. As she drove away, she saw Henyard and the younger man walking back towards the store.
At the same time, the eventual survivor and victims in this case, Ms. Lewis and her daughters, Jasmine, age 3, and Jamilya, age 7, drove to the Winn Dixie store. Ms. Lewis noticed a few people sitting on a bench near the doors as she and her daughters entered the store. When Ms. Lewis left the store, she went to her car and put her daughters in the front passenger seat. As she walked behind the car to the driver's side, Ms. Lewis noticed Alfonza Smalls coming towards her. As Smalls approached, he pulled up his shirt and revealed a gun in his waistband. Smalls ordered Ms. Lewis and her daughters into the back seat of the car, and then called to Henyard. Henyard drove the Lewis car out of town as Smalls gave him directions.
The Lewis girls were crying and upset, and Smalls repeatedly demanded that Ms. Lewis "shut the girls up." As they continued to drive out of town, Ms. Lewis beseeched Jesus for help, to which Henyard replied, "this ain't Jesus, this is Satan." Later, Henyard As Henyard and Smalls drove the Lewis girls away from the scene where their mother had been shot and abandoned, Jasmine and Jamilya continued to cry and plead: "I want my Mommy," "Mommy," "Mommy." Shortly thereafter, Henyard stopped the car on the side of the road, got out, and lifted Jasmine out of the back seat while Jamilya got out on her own. The Lewis girls were then taken into a grassy area along the roadside where they were each killed by a single bullet fired into the head. Henyard and Smalls threw the bodies of Jasmine and Jamilya Lewis over a nearby fence into some underbrush.
stopped the car at a deserted location and ordered Ms. Lewis out of the car. Henyard raped Ms. Lewis on the trunk of the car while her daughters remained in the back seat. Ms. Lewis attempted to reach for the gun that was lying nearby on the trunk. Smalls grabbed the gun from her and shouted, "you're not going to get the gun, bitch." Smalls also raped Ms. Lewis on the trunk of the car. Henyard then ordered her to sit on the ground near the edge of the road. When she hesitated, Henyard pushed her to the ground and shot her in the leg. Henyard shot her at close range three more times, wounding her in the neck, mouth, and the middle of the forehead between her eyes. Henyard and Smalls rolled Ms. Lewis's unconscious body off to the side of the road, and got back into the car. The last thing Ms. Lewis remembers before losing consciousness is a gun aimed at her face. Miraculously, Ms. Lewis survived and, upon regaining consciousness a few hours later, made her way to a nearby house for help. The occupants called the police and Ms. Lewis, who was covered in blood, collapsed on the front porch and waited for the officers to arrive
Later that evening, Bryant Smith, a friend of Smalls, was at his home when Smalls, Henyard, and another individual appeared in a blue car. Henyard bragged about the rape, showed the gun to Smith, and said he had to "burn the bitch" because she tried to go for his gun. Shortly before midnight, Henyard also stopped at the Smalls' house. While he was there, Colinda Smalls, Alfonza's sister, noticed blood on his hands. When she asked Henyard about the blood, he explained that he had cut himself with a knife. The following morning, Sunday, January 31, Henyard had his "auntie," Linda Miller, 1 drive him to the Smalls' home because he wanted to talk with Alfonza Smalls. Colinda Smalls saw Henyard shaking his finger at Smalls while they spoke, but she did not overhear their conversation.
That same Sunday, Henyard went to the Eustis Police Department and asked to talk to the police about the Lewis case. He indicated that he was present at the scene and knew what happened. Initially, Henyard told a story implicating Alfonza Smalls and another individual, Emmanuel Yon. However, after one of the officers noticed blood stains on his socks, Henyard eventually admitted that he helped abduct Ms. Lewis and her children, raped and shot her, and was present when the children were killed. Henyard continuously denied, however, that he shot the Lewis girls. After being implicated by Henyard, Smalls was also taken into custody. The gun used to shoot Ms. Lewis, Jasmine and Jamilya was discovered during a subsequent search of Smalls' bedroom.
The autopsies of Jasmine and Jamilya Lewis showed that they both died of gunshot wounds to the head and were shot at very close range. Powder stippling around Jasmine's left eye, the sight of her mortal wound, indicated that her eye was open when she was shot. One of the blood spots discovered on Henyard's socks matched the blood of Jasmine Lewis. "High speed" or "high velocity" blood splatters found on Henyard's jacket matched the blood of Jamilya Lewis and showed that Henyard was less than four feet from her when she was killed. Smalls' trousers had "splashed" or "dropped blood" on them consistent with dragging a body. DNA evidence was also presented at trial indicating that Henyard raped Ms. Lewis.
Henyard was found guilty by the jury of three counts of armed kidnapping in violation of section 787.01, Florida Statutes (1995), one count of sexual battery with the use of a After a penalty phase hearing, the jury recommended the death sentence for each murder by a vote of 12 to 0. The trial court followed this recommendation and sentenced Henyard to death. The court found in aggravation: (1) the defendant had been convicted of a prior violent felony, see section 921.141(5)(b); (2) the murder was committed in the course of a felony, see section 921.141(5)(d); (3) the murder was committed for pecuniary gain, see section 921.141(5)(f) and, (4) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, see section 921.141(5)(h).
firearm in violation of section 794.011(3), Florida Statutes (1995), one count of attempted first-degree murder in violation of sections 782.04(1)(a)(1) and 777.04(1), Florida Statutes (1995), one count of robbery with a firearm in violation of section 812.13(2)(a), Florida Statutes (1995), and two counts of first-degree murder in violation of section 782.04(1)(a), Florida Statutes (1995).
The court found Henyard's age of eighteen at the time of the crime as a statutory mitigating circumstance, see section 921.141(6)(g), and accorded it "some weight." The trial court also found that the defendant was acting under an extreme emotional disturbance and his capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was impaired, 2 see section 921.141(6)(b),(f), and accorded these mental mitigators "very little weight." As for nonstatutory mitigating circumstances, the trial court found the following circumstances but accorded them "little weight": (1) the defendant functions at the emotional level of a thirteen year old and is of low intelligence; (2) the defendant had an impoverished upbringing; (3) the defendant was born into a dysfunctional family; (4) the defendant can adjust to prison life; and (5) the defendant could have received eight consecutive life sentences with a minimum mandatory fifty years. Finally, the trial court accorded "some weight" to the nonstatutory mitigating circumstance that Henyard's codefendant, Alfonza Smalls, could not receive the death penalty as a matter of law. 3 The court concluded that the mitigating circumstances did not offset the aggravating circumstances.
Henyard raises eleven claims on appeal. 4 Claims (2)(b) and (8)(a) were not properly preserved for appellate review and are therefore procedurally barred. Assuming arguendo that claims (2)(b) and (8)(a) were preserved for...
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