Lightbourne v. State

• Decision Date: 08 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 89,526.,89,526.
• Citation: 742 So.2d 238
• Parties: Ian Deco LIGHTBOURNE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

742 So.2d 238

Ian Deco LIGHTBOURNE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 89,526.

Supreme Court of Florida.

July 8, 1999.

Martin J. McClain, Litigation Director, Office of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel—Southern Region, Miami, Florida, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Mark S. Dunn, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

We have on appeal the trial court's order denying Ian Deco Lightbourne's petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons that follow, we reverse for the trial court to consider, when evaluating Lightbourne's claims, the cumulative effect of the evidence that has been presented in this and prior postconviction proceedings. This evidence calls into question the veracity of the testimony of two jailhouse informants, Theodore Chavers and Theophilus Carson (a/k/a James Gallman), who testified during the guilt phase of Lightbourne's trial to extremely incriminating statements made to them by Lightbourne. Although we conclude that the verdict as to guilt would have been the same even without the informant's testimony, we cannot conclude, based on the record at this time, that there is no probability or reasonable possibility of a different result as to the imposition of the death penalty.

I. BACKGROUND

A review of the background of this case is necessary to place Lightbourne's current claims in proper perspective. Lightbourne, a twenty-one-year-old Bahamian immigrant at the time of the crime, is on death row for the 1981 murder of Nancy O'Farrell, the daughter of a thoroughbred horse breeder in Ocala. Lightbourne was found guilty of first-degree murder on the alternate theories of premeditation, felony murder in the commission of a burglary, and felony murder in the commission of a sexual battery.¹ During the penalty phase, the State put on no additional testimony but relied on the evidence presented during the guilt phase, including the testimony of Chavers and Carson, who testified that Lightbourne admitted raping, murdering and shooting O'Farrell because she could identify him. Their testimony is set out in the Eleventh Circuit's 1987 decision denying habeas relief:

Theodore Chavers, a cellmate in the Marion County Jail, testified that [Lightbourne] "knew too much"² about the details of Nancy's death and made some incriminating statements during the course of their conversations. According to Chavers, petitioner made references indicating that he entered Nancy's house, encountered her as she was coming out of the shower, forced her to engage in sexual intercourse, and shot her³ despite pleas for mercy. This version of the facts was corroborated by Theophilus Carson, another cellmate in the Marion County Jail. According to Carson, petitioner admitted forcing Nancy to have sex, shooting her because she could identify him, and taking a necklace and some money.

Lightbourne v. Dugger, 829 F.2d 1012, 1016 (11th Cir.1987). Chavers' testimony related graphic details of what Lightbourne allegedly told him about the sexual assault and murder: that Lightbourne told him he had forced O'Farrell to perform sex acts before murdering her, including forcing her to perform oral sex "over and over," and that she "was begging him not to kill her." Carson testified that Lightbourne told him that police "had him" for "shooting a bitch," meaning O'Farrell, and that he shot her because "she could identify him."

In mitigation, the defense called only Lightbourne, who testified that he was twenty-one years old, a Bahamian citizen, and a father of three who had never been convicted of a crime as an adult. No other mitigating evidence was presented to the jury.

Following the jury's recommendation, the trial court imposed a sentence of death. In the sentencing order, the trial court found that the murder was committed under the following aggravating circumstances: (1) during the commission of a burglary and sexual battery; (2) for the purpose of avoiding arrest (avoid arrest); (3) for pecuniary gain; (4) that the murder was heinous, atrocious or cruel (HAC); and (5) was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner (CCP).

The trial court's order imposing the death penalty did not specify the precise evidence it relied on in finding that the aggravators had been established. However, during closing arguments, in support for the avoid arrest aggravator, the prosecutor referred to Carson's testimony that Lightbourne told him he killed O'Farrell because she could identify him as support for the avoid arrest aggravator. In affirming the death sentence on appeal, we specifically referred to testimony adduced from Chavers and Carson regarding the aggravators of HAC and commission during a sexual battery and burglary. See Lightbourne v. State, 438 So.2d 380, 390-91 (Fla.1983)

.

It would appear that the testimony of Chavers and Carson supports at least three of the aggravators found by the trial court—HAC, CCP and committed to avoid arrest. While there may have been other evidence to support them, these aggravators find strong support in the jailhouse informants' testimony.

The trial court found only two mitigators: (1) no significant history of criminal activity and (2) Lightbourne's relative youth at the time of the crime. It found that Lightbourne failed to establish "by evidence any other mitigating circumstances." However, the trial court's order imposing the death penalty stated that it had considered a presentence investigation report revealing that Lightbourne was illegitimate, raised in a lower socioeconomic class, and had little or no relationship with his father, who separated from the family when Lightbourne was a young boy. However, the sentencing order did not specifically mention those circumstances.

This Court affirmed the summary denial of Lightbourne's first rule 3.850 motion without an evidentiary hearing. See Lightbourne v. State, 471 So.2d 27 (Fla. 1985)

.⁴ This first rule 3.850 motion was based primarily on ineffective assistance of trial counsel.

The majority concluded that trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to present mitigating evidence at sentencing because "the sentencing judge was in fact aware of many of the many mitigating factors that counsel on appeal is now presenting to the Court," including Lightbourne's low socioeconomic home environment, educational history and religious background. Id. at 28. Of significance to the issue before us concerning the alleged lack of due diligence in discovering the testimony of other jailhouse witnesses, the majority also concluded that Lightbourne's counsel was not ineffective for "fail[ing] to impeach or rebut the trial testimony of certain jailhouse informants." Id. at 28.

From the time of his first appeal, Lightbourne has attacked the testimony of the jailhouse informants. On direct appeal from his conviction, Lightbourne alleged that Chavers' testimony should have been suppressed because it was solicited in violation of United States v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264, 100 S.Ct. 2183, 65 L.Ed.2d 115 (1980), which prohibits the use of statements deliberately elicited by a government agent from the defendant in violation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Lightbourne maintained that Chavers was working as an agent for the state when he questioned Lightbourne about the murder while both were in prison. See Lightbourne, 438 So.2d at 386

.

This Court rejected that claim, based in part on Chavers' testimony that he had no prearranged guarantee of money or favors in return for information and our conclusion that the record revealed no "overt scheme" to elicit statements from Lightbourne in which the State took part:

In the instant case there is nothing in the record establishing that the informant Chavers had any prearranged guarantee of money in return for information, and it appears that the two hundred dollars that he did receive from the Marion County Sheriffs Department was drawn from a general reward fund and not given as an inducement to elicit information.

Similarly, Investigator LaTorre's advice to the informant Chavers to keep his ears open does not constitute an attempt by the state to deliberately elicit incriminating statements. Without some promise or guarantee of compensation, some overt scheme in which the state took part, or some other evidence of prearrangement aimed at discovering incriminating information we are unwilling to elevate the state's actions in this case to an agency relationship with the informant Chavers.

Lightbourne, 438 So.2d at 386. Justice Overton dissented, concluding that the facts set forth by the majority established a Henry violation. See id. at 392.

When Lightbourne raised the same Henry claim in his habeas petition before the Eleventh Circuit, a divided panel denied relief. See Lightbourne, 829 F.2d at 1019-21

. The majority concluded that to the extent that a Sixth Amendment violation might have occurred, because "witness Carson covered the same sort of statements including Lightbourne forcing Nancy to engage in multiple sexual acts prior to her murder," any error in admitting Chavers' testimony was harmless.⁵

Id. at 1021 n. 9. One Eleventh Circuit judge dissented, providing a detailed analysis of how, in his opinion, the testimony of Chavers and the lead investigator established a Henry violation. See id. at 1028-35 (Anderson, J., dissenting).⁶

Lightbourne's second 3.850 motion focused primarily on attacking the reliability of the jailhouse informants, including affidavits and other exculpatory information concerning Chavers and Carson. See Lightbourne v. Dugger, 549 So.2d 1364, 1367 (Fla.1989)

. Lightbourne alleged entitlement to a new trial based on this newly-discovered evidence and Brady⁷ violations based on the State's failure to disclose that police had engaged in a scheme with Chavers and...