Menendez v. State, 49294
| Decision Date | 26 August 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 49294,49294 |
| Citation | 419 So.2d 312 |
| Parties | Antonio MENENDEZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Warren S. Schwartz and Daniel Velayos-Laredo, Asst. Public Defenders, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Richard W. Prospect and Calvin L. Fox, Asst. Attys. Gen., Miami, for appellee.
This cause is before the Court on appeal from the imposition of a sentence of death. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.
This case was previously before the Court on appeal of the judgment of conviction and sentence of death. There we affirmed the convictions of first-degree murder and robbery but vacated the sentence of death and remanded to the trial court for resentencing. Menendez v. State, 368 So.2d 1278 (Fla.1979). In our earlier opinion we held that three of the aggravating considerations recited by the trial court were not authorized by statute and were therefore improper. We found that two of the remaining aggravating circumstances found by the trial court, although statutory, were not supported by evidence and were therefore also improper. We concluded that, with only one properly found aggravating circumstance and one mitigating circumstance (lack of a significant criminal history) appearing on the record, it was impossible for us to evaluate the trial court's weighing of the factors. 1 We therefore vacated the death sentence and remanded for resentencing by the trial judge.
The trial judge held a hearing at which both sides were given the opportunity to present additional testimony and argument. The state presented no additional testimony, relying instead on the evidence already heard by the court at the earlier trial. The defense presented the testimony of several witnesses. One group of witnesses consisted of persons who have been in correspondence with appellant since the time of his imprisonment for the instant offenses. They offered their conclusions and beliefs to the effect that appellant is a "positive" individual, capable of rehabilitation and of being useful to society. Another group consisted of persons who knew appellant as a child and as a young adult. They stated their beliefs that appellant was and is a good, trustworthy, and social-minded person. Finally, a social worker testified to her conclusions that, as a non-English speaking immigrant, appellant encountered extreme difficulty with assimilation and in earning a living and that such difficulties contributed significantly to his committing the criminal acts for which he was convicted.
Following the taking of testimony, the trial judge allowed both sides to present argument. Then, the judge announced that she had considered the evidence and argument, had weighed the circumstances, and was prepared to impose sentence. In the sentencing findings, the judge stated that the additional evidence presented had contained nothing sufficient to change her original determination to follow the jury's recommendation of a sentence of death. She found that the aggravating circumstance, that the murder was committed in the course of a robbery, outweighed the "single mitigating circumstance" of lack of significant history of prior criminal activity, and again sentenced appellant to death.
This Court's previous opinion issued on appellant's original appeal contained the following statement of the facts:
The following sequence of events led to Menendez's arrest and conviction. A customer walked into a jewelry store and saw a man emptying the store's safe. The man took a gun from his jacket and grabbed for the customer, but she eluded his grasp and ran out of the store. Soon thereafter the same man was seen by the customer and her husband leaving the store and speeding away in a red Camaro with New York license tags. Both the husband and wife later gave police similar descriptions of the man they had seen. A police officer soon arrived at the store and found the dead body of the jeweler.
At 2:30 a. m., the officer received word that a red Camaro had been seen at an apartment complex. He proceeded to the area and noted that although the car had a Florida license tag, it bore a New York inspection sticker. The officer then went into the complex and questioned the manager, who said that he thought the Camaro belonged to the resident of a particular apartment whose description matched that of the man seen at the jewelry store. The manager also stated that this resident had been seen transferring various goods from the trunk of the red Camaro to another vehicle earlier. The officer went to the door of the apartment, knocked, and announced both in English and Spanish that he was a police officer.
After about five minutes, during which time the officer heard shuffling and sounds of movement inside the apartment, the door was opened about two inches to reveal an individual holding a pistol in his hand. The officer immediately pushed the door fully open, upon which the person who had opened the door dropped the pistol. Across the room the officer saw another man who fit the suspect's description and numerous items of merchandise which later proved to have been taken from the jewelry store.
The officer arrested the persons in the apartment and confiscated both the weapons and merchandise. The man seated across the room was Menendez, who was later identified in a lineup at the police station by the woman who had witnessed the jewelry store robbery.
After a trial by jury, Menendez was convicted of robbing the jewelry store and murdering the store owner. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the robbery and to death for the murder.
Menendez v. State, 368 So.2d 1278, 1279 (Fla.1979). Menendez and the other man arrested were both charged with robbery and murder and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Swafford v. State
...to eliminate potential witnesses to "an antecedent crime" can provide the basis for this aggravating circumstance. Menendez v. State, 419 So.2d 312, 315 n. 2 (Fla.1982). It is not necessary that an arrest be imminent at the time of the murder. See, e.g., Herring v. State, 446 So.2d 1049 (Fl......
-
Mann v. Dugger
...the original proceeding related to the trial court's findings and did not affect the jury's recommendation. See, e.g., Menendez v. State, 419 So.2d 312, 314 (Fla.1982); Mikenas v. State, 407 So.2d 892, 893 (Fla.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 1011, 102 S.Ct. 2307, 73 L.Ed.2d 1308 (1982); Magi......
-
Glock v. Singletary
...when improper evidence or instructions may have rendered the jury's recommendation invalid. Commenting on a prior case, Menendez v. State, 419 So.2d 312 (Fla.1982), in which the court remanded for resentencing by the trial court and the trial court held a hearing with additional testimony a......
-
Jackson v. State
...penalty phase evidence because prior recommendation, which did not consider nonstatutory mitigation, was invalid); Menendez v. State , 419 So.2d 312, 314 (Fla. 1982). We conclude that a Hurst v. Florida error is akin to improper jury instructions or an invalid recommendation because the jur......