Hill v. State
| Citation | 688 So.2d 901 |
| Decision Date | 27 November 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 84838,84838 |
| Parties | 21 Fla. L. Weekly S515, 22 Fla. L. Weekly S2112 Paul Jennings HILL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
We have on appeal the judgment and sentence of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon Paul Jennings Hill. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.
Early on the morning of July 29, 1994, Hill went to the Ladies Center in Pensacola, Florida, where he had been protesting against abortion for six months, and waited outside. About one hour later, a pick-up truck driven by James Herman Barrett, also containing his wife June Griffith Barrett and Dr. John Bayard Britton, arrived at the Center. The Barretts volunteered at the Center on the last Friday of every month. On those days, they met Dr. Britton at the airport and escorted him to the Ladies Center, which he visited every Friday to perform legal abortions. As the truck entered the parking lot, Hill was standing in the middle of the driveway. He moved to the side, allowing the truck to pass him. As the truck drove by, it came within several feet of Hill, so that he was able to see the truck's occupants.
James Barrett parked the truck near the steps of the Center. As Barrett got out of the truck, Hill shot and killed him. Hill also shot and wounded June Barrett. He then moved closer to the truck before shooting and killing Dr. Britton. Hill was arrested shortly thereafter while walking away from the Center.
Hill was charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle. He pled not guilty to all counts. The Public Defender's Office was appointed as counsel. After Hill indicated that he wished to represent himself, the trial court conducted a hearing pursuant to Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975). The trial court determined that Hill had knowingly and intelligently waived his right to counsel and granted the Public Defender's motion to withdraw. However, the trial court also appointed the Public Defender's Office as "standby counsel" to aid Hill if he requested help and to be available to represent him in the event representation became necessary.
The State filed a motion in limine to prevent Hill from presenting a defense of necessity/justification. The trial court denied Hill's request to have an out-of-state attorney argue at the hearing on the State's motion, but renewed the offer of counsel, whereupon Hill reaffirmed his desire to represent himself. At trial, Hill repeated his desire to present the defense of justification or necessity, but the trial court did not permit it. Hill's participation otherwise throughout the trial was minimal. He was subsequently convicted on all four counts.
The jury recommended a sentence of death on both counts of murder by a vote of 12-0.
The trial court's sentencing order found that the following two aggravators had been established beyond a reasonable doubt for both murders: (1) the defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony or of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person, as evidenced by the contemporaneous convictions; and (2) the murder had been committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification. This second aggravator was proven with evidence establishing that Hill had stated previously that abortionists should be executed, had purchased a shotgun and ammunition two days before the murders and practiced at a firing range on two separate occasions during those two days, had modified the shotgun, had arrived at the Center one hour before the victims, and had proudly stood looking over the bodies after he shot them. With respect to Dr. Britton's murder, the trial court found a third aggravator of especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, established by the agony Dr. Britton had to endure in having time to anticipate and contemplate his own imminent death while he watched Hill reload his gun and approach the Barretts' vehicle.
In statutory mitigation, the trial court found that Hill had no significant history of prior criminal activity. Finding that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances presented, the trial court sentenced Hill to death on each of the two murder convictions.
Hill first contends that the trial court's inquiry did not meet the dictates of both Faretta and Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.111(d) because he was not apprised of the difficulty and complexity involved in mounting the defense of justification. Specifically, Hill argues that the trial court did not inform him that because he was in jail, he would not be able to research, investigate, and obtain witnesses, thereby making it impossible for him to establish the factual predicate for his complex defense. Nor, Hill asserts, was he sufficiently educated and experienced in the law to understand how difficult it would be to present this defense.
In Faretta, the United States Supreme Court held that an accused has the right to self-representation so long as the right to the assistance of counsel is knowingly and intelligently waived. To achieve a valid waiver, a defendant must be made aware of the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation, so that the defendant "knows what he [or she] is doing and ... [the] choice is made with eyes open." Faretta, 422 U.S. at 835, 95 S.Ct. at 2541 (quoting Adams v. United States ex rel. McCann, 317 U.S. 269, 279, 63 S.Ct. 236, 242, 87 L.Ed. 268 (1942)). In Faretta, the Court was satisfied that the defendant in that case had knowingly and intelligently waived the right to counsel. The record showed that the defendant "was literate, competent, and understanding, and that he was voluntarily exercising his informed free will." Id. The trial judge had admonished the defendant that it was a mistake not to accept the assistance of counsel, and that he would be required to follow the rules of procedure. Id. at 835-36, 95 S.Ct. at 2541. In finding that the defendant's waiver was valid, the Court explicitly noted that a defendant's technical legal knowledge is irrelevant to the determination of whether he or she has made a valid waiver of the right to counsel. Id. at 836, 95 S.Ct. at 2541.
Rule 3.111(d)(2) precludes a trial court from finding a valid waiver "until the entire process of offering counsel has been completed and a thorough inquiry has been made into both the accused's comprehension of that offer and the accused's capacity to make an intelligent and understanding waiver." Paragraph (d)(3) requires a trial court to reject a defendant's waiver "if it appears that the defendant is unable to make an intelligent and understanding choice because of a mental condition, age, education, experience, the nature or complexity of the case, or other factors."
In this case, the trial judge conducted an exhaustive inquiry before concluding that Hill's waiver was valid. He made sure that Hill knew the State would seek the death penalty. He made sure that Hill understood he would be in jail and therefore unable to prepare as well as counsel could on his behalf. The judge further explained that the legal system has its own terms of art and procedure that would be unfamiliar to a layperson. More importantly, he made sure that Hill would not expect any special help simply because he was representing himself and that Hill knew he would be treated the same as an attorney. We conclude that Hill was adequately warned of the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation as required by Faretta.
The trial judge also inquired into Hill's age, education, and experience, as well as his physical and mental condition. 1 As to the nature and complexity of the case, there is nothing particularly complex about the defense of justification or necessity that would lead us to conclude that Hill was unable to make a fully intelligent and understanding choice to waive counsel under rule 3.111(d). In any event, the prosecutor specifically explained to Hill that he might be thwarted in his efforts to present a defense if he could not properly lay a foundation. Nor does the fact that this is a death penalty case make it so complex that a defendant cannot make an intelligent choice to represent him or herself. It was sufficient that the judge made sure that Hill knew the State would be seeking the death penalty. E.g., Hamblen v. State, 527 So.2d 800 (Fla.1988); Muhammad v. State, 494 So.2d 969 (Fla.1986); Goode v. State, 365 So.2d 381 (Fla.), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 967, 99 S.Ct. 2419, 60 L.Ed.2d 1074 (1979).
In sum, we conclude that the inquiry in this case complied with both Faretta and rule 3.111(d). We emphasize that a defendant does not need to possess the technical legal knowledge of an attorney before being permitted to proceed pro se. As the Supreme Court stated in Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389, 399, 113 S.Ct. 2680, 2686-87, 125 L.Ed.2d 321 (1993), "the competence that is required of a defendant seeking to waive his right to counsel is the competence to waive the right, not the competence to represent himself." Thus, the judge was not required to give Hill a lesson on how to try a lawsuit before finding that Hill was making a knowing waiver of his right to counsel. It was enough for Hill to be alerted generally to the difficulties of navigating the legal system, and in this case the inquiry went...
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