Jones v. State

• Decision Date: 12 May 1976
• Docket Number: No. 44669,44669
• Citation: 332 So.2d 615
• Parties: Jimmy Lee JONES, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 615

332 So.2d 615

Jimmy Lee JONES, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 44669.

Supreme Court of Florida.

May 12, 1976.

James A. Gardner, Public Defender, and Charles H. Livingston and Marion Moorman, Asst. Public Defenders, for appellant.

Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and George R. Georgieff, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant was convicted by a jury of rape and of murder in the first degree. He is appealing the conviction and sentence for rape to the District Court of Appeal, Second District, but that proceeding is stayed pending disposition of this direct appeal of Appellant's conviction and death sentence for murder in the first degree. ¹

The facts of this case are as follows.

On Saturday, May 12, 1973, a postal carrier discovered a slumped and bloody body on a porch in Dade City at approximately 11:45 a.m. The decedent, Estelle Berkowitz, was last seen alive at about 6:00 p.m. on May 11th. The State's medical examiner attributed death to 'blood loss from multiple stab wounds.' The pathologist stated that the 'majority of these wounds were quite superficial,' being generally 3/4 to 1/2 inch in depth with the deepest would being 1 1/4 inches in depth. The pathologist counted 38 'significant' wounds as well as many other superficial scratches. The wounds' nature indicated to the pathologist 'some kind of a frenzied attack rather than a--coldly--calculated stabbing, homicide premeditated.' The pathologist also found sperm in the deceased's vagina and noted a laceration in the back part of the lower end of the vagina. Such a laceration sometimes results from forceable sexual assault. There is overwhelming circumstantial evidence of Appellant's guilt in the record.

In investigating the scene of the homicide the police discovered pieces of broken glass, blood, matches, a pair of glasses, two small bone-like chips of materials, apparently from the handle of the bloody knife used as a murder weapon and found in Appellant's abandoned shack, a piece of metal about an inch long, small chips taken from the decedent's clothing, and a thumb print of Appellant on a piece of glass. There appeared to be signs of a struggle inside the apartment. The police detected a trail of spots that appeared to be blood and followed it; the last spot of blood was on a cinder block about 50 to 75 feet from the residence of Annie 'Momma Chicken' and Leo 'Poppa Hawk' Moorer. The blood on the cinder block was the same type taken from Appellant. Since the police surmised that the suspect was injured on one of his extremities, they publicly sought information about anyone who might have bandages on his hands. As a result, they received information that a man with a cut right thumb was seen coming out of the Moorer yard. Appellant lived alone in a shack behind the Moorer residence. 'Momma Chicken' saw Appellant on Saturday morning when he asked for a bandage for his hand; he had been drinking that Saturday and spent all day Sunday in his shack drinking. 'Momma Chicken' said that Appellant left on Monday after borrowing a small amount of money from her which she assumed would be spent on something to drink. On Monday police officers searched both the Moorer residence and the shack vacated a few hours earlier by Appellant. In the shack they found two knives, one apparently with dried blood, an unmade bed, clothing, apparent blood stains on a pillow and shirt, a match box, and a knife sheath. Appellant was apprehended in Pennsylvania a week or ten days later.

At trial a convenience store clerk testified that Appellant had purchased wine in her store on various occasions; that on May 7 Appellant purchased a knife, writing materials, and a fifth of wine; that Appellant was acting very strange and looked like he had something dreadful or something on his mind. The witness feared Appellant was going to kill himself, and she thought that the knife purchased on May 7 was similar to one of the knives seized from Appellant's shack. One of Appellant's co-workers at a local citrus packing house testified that on either the day of the homicide or the day it was discovered Appellant appeared at work, that he was acting strangely, that he stated that he was going to kill somebody about his money and that he started throwing heavy barrels at another co-worker; the co-worker testifying had asked his foreman to assign him to another job because he didn't want to be near Appellant 'with him acting like that.' Appellant called both lay and expert witnesses to establish his defense of insanity. Appellant's 'wife' testified that Appellant felt he was being pursued and threatened by persons unknown. Appellant admitted he drank a lot of wine both generally and during the period of the crime. A court-appointed psychiatrist found Appellant to be insane under the M'Naghten rule. A clinical psychologist specially selected by the prosecution concurred. Their examinations were brief and over three months after the crime. They recognized he was an alcoholic but said without alcohol he, in their opinion, did not know right from wrong when the crime occurred, due to health problems.

During the sentencing proceeding, the State emphasized three matters relating to aggravation: the commission of the homicide during the perpetration of burglary or rape; the heinous, atrocious and cruel nature of the homicide; and Appellant's previous three convictions of robbery, including one involving a weapon. Regarding mitigating circumstances, Appellant relied on the previously adduced psychiatric testimony; two written psychiatric reports were also admitted into evidence, showing that Appellant is suffering from a chronic paranoid schizophrenic illness associated with alcoholic addiction. Finally, Appellant introduced into evidence two letters from him to his 'wife' which indicated his feelings of persecution. The jury unanimously recommended that Appellant be sentenced to life imprisonment, but the trial court sentenced Appellant to death without entering the required written findings of fact in support thereof. However, this Court issued an order of remand directing the trial court to make written 'findings in support of sentence of death,' which was done.

As a matter of great concern, this Court has examined carefully the aspect of the case raised in Appellant's Motion to Suppress Crucial Evidence taken from a shack occupied by Appellant at the time of the crime. The building was a small structure formerly used as a chicken house on the rear of the premises owned by the Moorers. Three days following the murder and after borrowing money from his landlady, which was not repaid, Appellant, who had been previously convicted of felonies and has used two names other than his own, left town hurriedly on an obviously one-way trip north. Therefore, when police officers had traced the trail of blood of approximately 50 feet of the lot on which Appellant resided and, later, when the police had been informed that the man who had been living in the shack behind the Moorers had a seriously cut hand, it is our view that the consent given to the police by the landlady to examine the shack which she properly considered to be abandoned by Appellant was not a violation of the prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. ² He simply did not live there anymore and had joined his 'common law wife' in Pennsylvania.

The principle defense worthy of serious consideration by this Court is the defensive allegation that at the time of the murder Appellant was legally insane under the M'Naghten rule, which prevails in Florida, that is, he did not know right from wrong. After the State-selected psychologist and court-appointed psychiatrist examined Appellant, at least three months after the crime their evaluations indicated that his mental and emotional health coupled with his constant and almost unbelievable consumption of wine on a daily basis, prevented him from knowing right from wrong. On the other hand, the record is clear that the Appellant watched a television show with his landlady on Friday night prior to the murder, at which time he was sober and apparently speaking coherently; that he then expressed an intention to attend a late motion picture and left the premises apparently intending to do so. The record also shows that the following day he was sitting with his landlady on her front porch only a few feet from his shack when police officers appeared in the area following the trail of blood caused by his bleeding hand; and that upon seeing the police officers he was sufficiently sane to leave the porch immediately, demonstrating an obvious recognition of his crime. Further, it appears in the record that thereafter within hours he had borrowed money from his landlady and, although normally wearing a hat, had rushed away from the premises bareheaded, leaving with personal effects for Pennysylvania where he was later apprehended. At the time of his arrest in Pennsylvania he gave evasive answers, which indicates that he was trying to hide his crime. The ultimate question of insanity, like all other factual questions, is left for determination by the jury which weighed all the evidence. The jury, while deliberating, returned to ask the court whether it could grant mercy. Having carefully and objectively evaluated this record, we feel that the jury had a sufficient basis to determine, either by the M'Naghten rule or some of the other standards currently prevailing in the United States, that the Appellant was sufficiently sane to answer to the penalty imposed by law.

Appellant's second point on appeal relates to the trial court's restriction of his right to peremptorily challenge a potential juror before that juror is sworn in chief. At the prosecutor's request the court announced its policy toward the exercise of peremptory challenges prior to voir dire. The relevant colloquy follows:

'MR. YON: (Chief Prosecutor) Judge, what is your ground rule, if...