Jones v. State
| Decision Date | 10 November 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 80827,80827 |
| Parties | 19 Fla. L. Weekly S577 Harry JONES, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
James C. Banks, Sp. Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Gypsy Bailey, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.
Harry Jones, a prisoner under sentence of death, appeals his convictions of first-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft of an motor vehicle and the attendant sentences. We have jurisdiction, pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution, and affirm.
On July 18, 1991, Jones was charged with first-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft of a motor vehicle. Jones' first trial resulted in a hung jury and a mistrial. The following facts were revealed during his second trial. On June 1, 1991 sometime between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m., the victim in this case, George Wilson Young, Jr., went to a liquor store on the west side of Tallahassee. While Young was talking with his friend Archie Hamilton, who worked at the store, Harry Jones and Timothy Hollis came in. When Hollis, who was intoxicated, appeared to get sick, Jones took him to the rest room. According to Mr. Hamilton, Jones returned from the rest room to see Young pay for a half pint of gin from money Young pulled from his pocket. Young then helped Jones take Hollis outside, and agreed to give the two men a ride home. Several witnesses testified that they saw the three men leave the liquor store in Young's red Ford Bronco II a little before 7:00 p.m. Hollis's mother testified that Jones and a white-haired man brought her son home in a red truck and then left the house together. A clerk at a local convenience store testified that he saw Young and Jones together sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m., when they purchased a six-pack of beer.
According to other testimony, at approximately 8:05 p.m., Young's truck was involved in an accident on the north side of town. Jones, the only occupant, was taken to the emergency room and admitted to the hospital.
When authorities realized that the owner of the truck Jones was driving was missing, a detective was sent to question Jones. Jones told the detective he borrowed the truck from a black man in "Frenchtown" for twenty dollars. The next day, when authorities learned that Jones had been seen with Young prior to the accident, two officers went to question Jones again. While in Jones' hospital room, the officers seized a bag of clothing that had been placed in the corner of Jones' room. The clothing had been removed from Jones by hospital personnel after the accident. The following day, law enforcement seized lottery tickets and cash that had been removed from Jones' pockets and placed in hospital security.
On June 6, 1991, Young's body was found in Boat Pond on Horseshoe Plantation in Northern Leon County, to the east of where the accident occurred. Witnesses who found the body testified that they previously had seen Jones fishing in other ponds on the plantation. Experts testified that soil and pollen samples taken from the shoes and pants that were seized from Jones' hospital room were similar to samples taken from Boat Pond. There also was testimony that the lottery tickets seized from hospital security had been purchased at the same place and time as tickets found in Young's truck.
According to the medical examiner, Young died as a result of fresh-water drowning. Although the medical examiner was unable to determine whether Young was conscious at the time he drowned, he was able to determine that Young was alive at the time he was submerged because of plant material that had become lodged in his lungs and throat. The medical examiner further testified that, among other injuries, Young suffered a fractured arm and several fractured ribs that were consistent with premortem defensive injuries.
Kevin Prim, who had been housed in the medical cell with Jones, testified that Jones told him that he met a "guy" at a liquor store. After observing the guy pull money from his pocket to pay for his purchase, Jones talked the guy into giving him and his intoxicated "cousin" a ride home. After dropping the cousin off, Jones and the guy went to a pond where a struggle ensued when Jones attempted to take the guy's money. Jones also admitted breaking the man's During the penalty phase, Jones took the stand. He testified that on May 31 he and Hollis drank most of the night and began drinking again the next morning. They continued to drink continuously throughout the day. Jones also testified that when he was taken to the hospital after the accident, his blood alcohol level was .269.
arm during the struggle and then holding him down in the water until he stopped "popping up." Although Jones presented evidence in an attempt to discredit this testimony, another cellmate testified that he overheard Jones tell Prim that he had killed a man. Jones was found guilty as charged
The jury recommended that Jones be sentenced to death by a vote of ten to two. The trial court followed the recommendation, finding three aggravating circumstances and three mitigating circumstances. In aggravation, the court found: 1) Jones was previously convicted of another violent felony; 1 2) the murder was committed while Jones was engaged in the commission of a robbery; 3) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. 2 In mitigation, the court found: 1) Jones' capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform this conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired; 3 2) Jones has suffered from a traumatic and difficult childhood; 3) Jones had the love and support of his family. Jones appeals both his convictions and death sentence. 4
First, we address Jones' contention that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence that was seized from the hospital in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 12 of the Florida Constitution. According to testimony that was received during the suppression hearing, a detective from the Leon County Sheriff's Department questioned Jones the morning after the accident. At that time, Jones maintained that he had gotten the vehicle that was involved in the accident in Frenchtown and that he did not know anything about the missing man. Later that day, authorities became aware that Jones had been seen leaving a liquor store with Young the evening of the accident and that he had been seen leaving a residence with Young later that evening.
After learning that Jones had been seen with the missing man, Lieutenant Livings and Detective Wood, of the Leon County Sheriff's Department, went to the hospital approximately twenty-four hours after the accident to question Jones. The officers asked Jones if he knew the whereabouts of the owner of the vehicle. Jones responded with a head shake that he did not. When Lieutenant Livings confronted Jones with the fact that he had been seen with Young, Jones became uncooperative and refused to answer further questions. Prior to leaving Jones' room, the officers seized a bag of clothing.
According to Lieutenant Livings' testimony at the suppression hearing, prior to entering Jones' room, the officers had "determined from hospital personnel" that the clothing Jones was wearing at the time of the accident had been removed and put in a bag that had been placed in Jones' hospital room. Lieutenant Livings further testified that based on everything that his department had Lieutenant Livings further testified that not long after the clothing was seized, an officer was posted outside Jones' room. The next day, authorities checked with hospital personnel and discovered that some cash and lottery tickets had been removed from Jones' pockets and were being held by hospital security. Authorities were aware that Jones did not have much money in his possession at the time he left the liquor store with Young and that Young had been seen with a rather large sum of money prior to leaving the store. They also were aware that lottery tickets had been recovered from Young's truck. Because he was concerned that the money and tickets might be released to Jones' family, Lieutenant Livings also had these items seized prior to obtaining a warrant.
uncovered, "suspicion was very high that there may have been foul play involved in this situation." According to the lieutenant, he also was concerned that Mr. Young had been in the vehicle at the time of the accident and may have been "out in the woods somewhere injured." Lieutenant Livings decided that the clothing should be seized because, from his experience, he believed that evidence taken from Jones' clothing might assist in the search for the missing man. The lieutenant further testified that having dealt with hospitals in the past, he was concerned that the clothing "could very well" disappear due to a deliberate act of the defendant or inadvertent act of hospital personnel. According to Lieutenant Livings, on the way out of Jones' room, he looked into an unsealed bag in the corner of the room. After confirming that it contained the clothing, Lieutenant Livings instructed Detective Woods to seize the bag
On cross-examination, Lieutenant Livings testified that it generally took between three and six hours to obtain a search warrant in an emergency situation. He also testified that a guard could have been posted outside Jones' room to observe the clothing until a warrant was obtained.
After hearing the testimony and argument, the trial court denied Jones' motion to suppress the evidence. The court concluded that although Jones' "might have had some slight reasonable expectation of privacy [in his hospital room], it was not with the strength it would be in his private home." The court went on to explain that it looked upon "the...
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