Hernandez v. State
| Decision Date | 30 January 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. SC07-647.,SC07-647. |
| Citation | 4 So.3d 642 |
| Parties | Michael A. HERNANDEZ, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Nancy Daniels, Public Defender, and David A. Davis, Assistant Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, FL, for Appellant.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, and Ronald A. Lathan, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, for Appellee.
We have on appeal the judgment and sentence of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon Michael Albert Hernandez Jr. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons expressed below, we affirm Hernandez's convictions and sentences.
According to the testimony at trial, in the fall of 2004, Hernandez and his wife, Stephanie Hernandez, moved from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to Milton, Florida. In Milton, Hernandez worked with Richard Hartman Sr.,1 one of his mother's former husbands, and with Christopher Shawn Arnold, who was dating and had a baby with the daughter of Richard Sr.'s wife, Daveine (Tammy) Hartman.
On the morning of November 18, 2004, Arnold left the home he shared with Richard Sr.'s stepdaughter, Michelle Rose, in his car and returned an hour later with Hernandez. Arnold and Hernandez then left in Arnold's car, bought crack cocaine, and smoked it. Arnold had a crack addiction, and his primary connection for crack was David Everett, who was also known as "Snapper." David lived with his mother, Ruth Everett, who drove him to work before 8 a.m. on the morning of November 18. That same morning, Hernandez and Arnold later drove to the Everett house, looking for more crack or money.
Hernandez and Arnold went up to the door, knocked, and started talking with Ruth. They asked if David was home, and Ruth told them that he was not there. After finding out that David was not there, they decided to get money from her. Arnold told Hernandez to "grab her," and Hernandez grabbed Ruth and took her inside the house. Arnold made up a story about her son owing him money in an attempt to get money from her, and she told them that all she had was $20. Arnold then asked to use the bathroom and came back with a pillow. Arnold stuck the pillow over Ruth's face, and Arnold told Hernandez to grab Ruth's hands, which he did. Hernandez later told different stories about what happened next. Ultimately, Ruth's neck was broken, and Hernandez stabbed her in the neck with a pocket knife.
Arnold then took Ruth's purse, and they left. They found Ruth's debit card and PIN in her purse, and they used her debit card at several ATMs. In all, they took $500, which they spent on crack. They also stopped at Arnold's house and cleaned out his car, and Arnold threw the purse away in a dumpster near his house.
David, who had finished up work, called his house at noon. After he did not get an answer, he received a ride home from a coworker. When he entered his home, he saw his mother lying on the couch and called 911. Deputy Charles Stephens of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office responded. The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Meanwhile, Hernandez and Arnold spent all of the money from the ATMs on crack. Arnold then dropped Hernandez off at Hernandez's home and returned to his own home that evening.
The next morning, November 19, 2004, Arnold had a conversation with Rose, after which Rose called Tammy, who came over and spoke with Arnold. After they spoke, they went outside to Arnold's car, and Arnold pulled a pocket knife from under the passenger seat. Tammy placed the knife in a white cloth and observed a brown substance on the knife that she thought was blood. Arnold also told her that he had thrown the victim's purse in the dumpster and showed Tammy a trash bag with the purse in it. Tammy took the bag (with the purse in it) and the knife to the bed of Richard Sr.'s truck, which she had driven there. Tammy then drove to her home to get Richard Sr.
She and Richard Sr. then drove to Hernandez's house, where Hernandez was with his wife and children. Tammy asked Hernandez if "he wanted to talk to [her] about the crack party he just went on" and if he wanted to tell her "about the lady," and she told him that she had "the bloody knife and her purse." Hernandez told Tammy that "[h]e was hoping [she] only knew about the crack." He also said that the lady "was old and it was her time to go."
At some point while the Hartmans were at the Hernandezes' house, Tiffany Telin, Stephanie's sister, and her husband walked into the house. Hernandez and his wife had left their two children in Tennessee with Telin and her husband for a visit, and Telin and her husband had brought the children to Florida to be reunited with the Hernandezes the night before. Telin observed Stephanie crying and asked Stephanie what had happened. Stephanie said that Hernandez and Arnold had killed a woman. Telin then asked Hernandez what had happened. Hernandez told her that he and Arnold had gone over to the house of Arnold's friend, trying to get crack. Hernandez told Telin that Arnold had come up with the idea to get some money for crack when the friend was not there. Hernandez also told Telin that Arnold got a pillow and "stuck it over the lady's face." Hernandez told Telin that Hernandez killed the lady when she was "almost dead" by stabbing her in the throat. Hernandez also said that he and Arnold went to ATMs to get money with the lady's ATM card.
The Hartmans, the Hernandezes and their children, and the Telins then drove over to Arnold and Rose's house. After discussing it with his wife, Hernandez had decided to turn himself in and was going over there so he and Arnold could turn themselves in. Inside the house, Arnold, Hernandez, and the Hartmans began arguing, and somebody called the police. Hernandez and his wife left, passing the police in their car on their way out. Arnold turned himself in to law enforcement at the house. Richard Sr., who had moved the trash bag with the knife and purse in it from his truck back into the dumpster, got it out, and the bag was turned over to law enforcement.
Later that day, Hernandez drove to the Milton Police Department and turned himself in. His wife also brought to the police station the clothing, including a grey T-shirt, which Hernandez had been wearing on November 18. Detective Jeffrey Shuler of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office Major Crime Unit transported Hernandez to his office, and he and Detective Lawrence Tynes interviewed Hernandez. An audio recording of Hernandez's statements was introduced at Hernandez's trial.
According to Hernandez's statements, the following events occurred on November 18 and 19, 2004. Hernandez left his house at 8:30 a.m. on November 18 to go to work, but he and Arnold instead "went to a crack friend's house and got some crack ... with the gas money and cigarette money [Hernandez] had for the day." Although he had used crack before moving to Florida, Hernandez had not used it since moving to Florida. They were "doing crack," and Arnold suggested going to the house of "Snapper," an individual whom Arnold knew. Arnold had done cocaine with "Snapper" before, but Hernandez did not know him. Arnold told him "he was going to try and get some money." Hernandez and Arnold drove to "Snapper's" house in Arnold's car. They went to the door and spoke with an "old lady" at the house. Arnold told Hernandez to "grab her," and Hernandez grabbed the lady by the mouth and pulled her into the house. Hernandez "got her quiet" and told her, The lady sat down in a chair. Arnold told the lady that "Snapper" owed him $300 and that Arnold had a gun put to his head over this money. Arnold had made up this story. Arnold told her that they would try to get the money from her and that they would leave her son alone if they got the money. The lady told them that all she had was $20. Arnold said, "All right," and then asked to use the bathroom and came back with a pillow. Arnold stuck the pillow over the lady's face while she was still in the chair. Arnold told Hernandez to grab the lady's hands, and Hernandez did. Hernandez and Arnold were "suffocating her" and she was "struggling." While Hernandez and Arnold were "choking her," "she stopped moving for a minute." Hernandez said the following then occurred: Hernandez had grabbed Arnold's pocket knife before entering the house and had used it to "chop up a crack block earlier." Hernandez said he did not know why he cut the lady's neck.
According to Hernandez's statements, Arnold then took the lady's purse, and they left carrying it as well as the pillow. They threw the pillow away on the highway.2 Hernandez and Arnold also went through the lady's purse together, finding only $40. Hernandez remembered seeing that the lady's name was "Ruth something." Hernandez and Arnold then went to get some crack and tried to use the debit card in the purse. Arnold found the PIN written on a card in the wallet, and Hernandez and Arnold then stopped at several ATMs. Arnold obtained money from one of the ATMs, and Hernandez obtained money from the others. They spent the money on crack. They also stopped at Arnold's house and cleaned out his car, and Arnold threw the purse away in a dumpster near his house. They then went back out and got more crack, using the money taken from the lady's account. They spent all of the money, and Arnold dropped off Hernandez at his home after they took a last hit of crack that afternoon. The next day, Richard Sr. showed up at Hernandez's house, and Hernandez told him and Stephanie what had...
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