Lebron v. State
| Decision Date | 21 December 2017 |
| Docket Number | No. SC13–442,SC13–442 |
| Citation | 232 So.3d 942 |
| Parties | Joel LEBRON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Eugene Zenobi, Regional Counsel, Philip L. Reizenstein, Assistant Regional Counsel, and Roy D. Wasson, Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Third District, Miami, Florida, for Appellant
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, and Stephen D. Ake, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, Florida, for Appellee
As explained below, we affirm Joel Lebron's convictions but vacate his death sentence and remand for a new penalty phase.1
On Saturday, April 27, 2002, Ana Maria Angel and Nelson Portobanco, both high school students, decided to go for a walk on the beach in Miami Beach after a dinner date. After walking along the beach for a while, the couple decided to return to their vehicle. By this time, Lebron and his four codefendants (Cesar Mena, Victor Caraballo, Hector Caraballo, and Jesus Roman) had arrived in an extended cab truck and parked. As Angel and Portobanco left the beach, they were approached by Lebron (who identified himself as Diablo to the couple) and another codefendant and forced at gunpoint to get into the truck.
Once in the truck, Angel and Portobanco were forced to turn over their property including wallets, PIN numbers, cell phones, and jewelry. Lebron and the codefendants used Angel's ATM card to try to withdraw money from a nearby cash machine. Following this attempt, Portobanco's cell phone was used to call codefendant Hector Caraballo's number in the Orlando area.
During the abduction, Portobanco was ordered to kiss Angel, and when he refused, the men punched him in the head until he did so. Then, the men demanded and received Angel's underwear and forced Portobanco onto the floorboard. Thereafter, Lebron and other codefendants took turns orally, vaginally, and anally raping Angel as the driver proceeded northbound on I–95.
Eventually, the driver pulled over to the side of I–95, and Lebron and one of the codefendants ordered Portobanco out of the vehicle. Portobanco was walked over to the side of the highway near the barrier wall, where he was then stabbed repeatedly in the face, neck, and back. He was also kicked repeatedly. Portobanco laid motionless on the ground and pretended to be dead until the stabbings and beatings stopped. Lebron and the codefendant went back to the truck, leaving Portobanco on the side of the road. Once Lebron and the codefendants drove away, Portobanco was able to walk back to the roadway and stop a passing motorist who reported the crime.
Lebron and his codefendants continued to drive north with Angel in the truck until they reached Palm Beach County, where they once again pulled over to the side of the road. Lebron and another codefendant took Angel out of the vehicle and walked her to the side of a roadway behind a wall concealed from view. Angel was forced to kneel down, where Lebron shot her in the head.
Lebron and his codefendants then drove back to Orlando, where the group stopped so some of the members could buy crack cocaine before dropping two of the codefendants off at an apartment complex.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, April 28, 2002, law enforcement officers interviewed Portobanco in the hospital and learned that the number dialed on Portobanco's cell phone was linked to codefendant Hector Caraballo's apartment in Orlando. Officers, along with FBI agents, went to the leasing office of the apartment looking for Hector. The leasing agent informed them that she did not know of a Hector Caraballo but that Victor Caraballo, another one of the codefendants, had leased an apartment there and moved out while being evicted. The leasing agent gave officers permission to search the apartment and provided them with the keys. Once inside the apartment, the officers found Victor as well as Angel's ATM card, driver's license, purse, cell phone, and wallet. Portobanco's wallet was also discovered in the apartment. In searching the dumpster near the apartment, the police located Angel's shoes.
Thereafter, two law enforcement officers proceeded to a different apartment complex to look for the truck and a red Honda associated with the crimes. There the police encountered Cesar Mena, who was taken to Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) headquarters.
During this time, officers identified Jesus Roman and Lebron as additional suspects. Officers located Roman and Lebron at another apartment complex. Lebron was standing in a breezeway with a duffle bag and shopping bags next to him, which were impounded. In one of the bags, a pair of tan boots that appeared to have blood on them was found. These boots belonged to Lebron.
Lebron was arrested on Monday, April 29, 2002, at around 1 a.m. He was not Mirandized when arrested, but officers collected his clothing and glasses to preserve trace evidence. Lebron was then clothed in a gown, handcuffed, and placed in an unmarked vehicle. An officer drove Lebron to the FDLE Regional Center in Orlando.
Once at the FDLE Regional Center, Lebron was placed unhandcuffed in a room with law enforcement officers while other officers went to locate a tape recorder for the interview. However, before Miranda warnings were administered, Lebron admitted that he shot Angel and stabbed Portobanco. Then, after Miranda warnings were administered and after Lebron waived his Miranda rights, Lebron gave a detailed confession to the murder and sexual assault of Angel and the attempted murder of Portobanco.
Angel's body was found on the shoulder of I–95 behind a thicket of palm trees next to a retaining wall. Her hands were clasped together with their fingers interlaced. She was barefoot and had a number of abrasions on her face and an abrasion on her right leg, which the medical examiner testified were injuries that occurred close to the time of her death. Additionally, officers returned to Mena's apartment, obtained consent, and searched the apartment. Officers located two knives in a closet at the apartment. Officers also found a gun, which a ballistics expert testified was the weapon that killed Angel.
During the guilt phase, law enforcement officers testified regarding Lebron's post- Miranda confession, and the jury heard Portobanco's testimony. Furthermore, a fingerprint examiner testified that there was a fingerprint matching Lebron's found on the mirror of the truck. A forensic biologist and DNA analyst testified that he conducted serological testing on the truck's back seat cover, the boots, and the vaginal and anal swabs from Angel's rape kit and found semen on the seat cover and swabs and blood on the boots. DNA testing revealed a mixture of DNA on the seat cover that was consistent with the DNA of Angel, Lebron, and the Caraballos, DNA consistent with Lebron on the vaginal swab and anal swab, and DNA consistent with Portobanco on the boots.
After the guilt phase, the jury found Lebron guilty of (1) first-degree murder of Ana Angel; (2) attempted first-degree murder of Nelson Portobanco; (3) armed kidnapping of Ana Angel; (4) armed kidnapping of Nelson Portobanco; (5) armed robbery of Ana Angel; (6) armed robbery of Nelson Portobanco; and (7) armed sexual battery of Ana Angel. And after the penalty phase, the jury voted 9 to 3 to recommend a sentence of death. The trial judge followed the jury's recommendation, finding 6 aggravators and listing numerous mitigating facts.
Before this Court, Lebron argues: (1) his post- Miranda2 statement was inadmissible; (2) the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial based on Agent Hernandez's statement during testimony; (3) the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial based on the State's comment during opening statements; (4) the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial based on the presence of the victim's mother in the courtroom; (5) the trial court erred in excluding quantitative electroence-phalography (QEEG) evidence under Frye ;3 (6) the trial court erroneously instructed the jury in such a way as to deprive it of its pardon power; and (7) the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial based on the State's demonstration with the handgun during its closing argument. None of these issues warrants relief.4 We also conclude that the evidence is sufficient to support Lebron's first-degree murder conviction.
First, Lebron argues that his pre- Miranda statement rendered his post- Miranda statement inadmissible and that he did not voluntarily waive his Miranda rights. However, because officers did not engage in a deliberate two-step interrogation strategy calculated to undermine the Miranda warnings and because Lebron was fully informed of and waived his rights, we disagree.
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...inferences drawn from evidence not presented to the jury that Andres could not confront.This Court's recent opinion in Lebron v. State , 232 So.3d 942 (Fla. 2017), is instructive. In Lebron , the allegedly improper statement was made during the opening statements. Specifically, the prosecut......
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