MILLER v. State of Fla.

• Decision Date: 09 August 2010
• Docket Number: No. SC08-287.,SC08-287.
• Citation: 42 So.3d 204
• Parties: Lionel Michael MILLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

42 So.3d 204

Lionel Michael MILLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC08-287.

Supreme Court of Florida.

June 3, 2010.

Rehearing Denied August 9, 2010.

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James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Christopher S. Quarles, Assistant Public Defender, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, FL, for Appellant.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, and Lisa-Marie Lerner, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, FL, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Lionel Michael Miller seeks review of the judgment of conviction and sentence of death entered for the first-degree murder of Jerry Smith. He also appeals his sentences and convictions for the attempted first-degree murder of Larry Haydon, burglary of a dwelling with a battery therein, and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon. Pursuant to our mandatory jurisdiction to review final judgments entered in capital proceedings, we affirm Miller's convictions and sentences. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The evidence presented during the trial revealed that on April 14, 2006, Miller requested the assistance of his roommate to locate the mailman in Miller's former neighborhood. Miller was attempting to intercept his employment check, which had been mailed to his prior address where he no longer had access to the mailbox. During this excursion, Miller and his roommate drove through Delaney Park in Orlando and observed 72-year-old Jerry Smith standing in her front yard.

Miller stopped and inquired of Smith as to whether the mail had been delivered to her residence that day. Smith was friendly and spoke with Miller for approximately thirty minutes. During this discussion, Miller noticed that Smith experienced memory lapses because she repeated the same story several times. During trial, the medical examiner testified that Smith suffered from Alzheimer's dementia, which caused her to easily forget things and repeat herself during conversations.

While conversing with Smith, Miller also noticed her jewelry. After the conversation concluded and the men drove away, Miller noted that Smith would be an easy target for a robbery because of her memory lapses. Miller solicited the assistance of his roommate in a plan to rob Smith, but his roommate would not join in the crime. The men eventually acquired Miller's check and spent the money on drugs and alcohol. During the next two days, Miller repeatedly asked his roommate to transport him to the Smith residence, but the roommate avoided Miller and continued to refuse to join the crime.

On April 16, 2006, which was Easter Sunday, after being with her family during the day, at approximately 7:45 p.m., a neighbor observed that Smith had returned home and was seated on her front porch. While Smith was sitting on her porch, Miller arrived after walking approximately five miles to her residence. Unknown to Smith, Miller had smoked crack cocaine while he walked and carried a filet knife. Smith invited Miller inside and provided him with a glass of water. Miller left the plastic cup on a table, and his fingerprints were later identified on the cup.

Initially, Smith removed an embroidered jacket she was wearing and placed it on a chair in the front room. While in the living room, the two chatted about Smith's travels to Key West until Smith became concerned. At that point, Smith opened the blinds on her front window but Miller then threw her on the couch and attempted to steal her jewelry. As Smith screamed and resisted, Miller attempted to prevent her screams by covering her mouth with his hand.

As the struggle ensued, Larry Haydon was in the area walking his dog when he noticed that Smith's blinds were open, and through the window he observed a man, whom he identified as Miller during trial, struggling with Smith inside her home. Haydon heard Smith scream and cry out, "Leave me alone." In response to this distress, Haydon approached the house. Miller called through the window that there was no problem inside the house, but Haydon proceeded to open the unlocked front door.

Miller stated that he was frightened by both the thought of returning to prison and the screams as Haydon was approaching. As Haydon entered the house, Miller retrieved the filet knife from the back of his pants and stabbed Haydon below his rib cage. While Haydon and Miller were struggling in the living room, Smith escaped into the backyard. Upon observing the escape, Miller disengaged from Haydon and followed Smith into the backyard.

When Smith saw that Miller had followed her, she again began to scream. Miller could hear neighbors talking, and ordered Smith to be quiet, but she continued to scream. Miller admitted that he was high on crack cocaine and the screaming was "driving [him] crazy." He "just lost it" and stabbed Smith three times. Upon being stabbed, Smith first fell to the ground momentarily but then regained her footing and ran along the side of her house to the front yard.

After Smith had escaped from the backyard, Miller entered the house again. When he realized that he had cut himself during the altercation, Miller retrieved Smith's embroidered jacket from a chair in the front room to use as a bandage before escaping through the back door. As he ran from the Smith residence, Miller discarded the knife in the bushes of a nearby house. The knife was recovered later, and ultimately Miller's DNA was identified on the knife.

As Miller left the scene, a neighbor heard screaming and observed Haydon run to the home beside the Smith residence. The neighbor then saw Smith emerge from the backyard screaming for help. Smith informed the neighbor that a man had broken into her house. Both Haydon and Smith, covered in blood, sought refuge in the residence next door. After contacting emergency services, both Haydon and Smith were transported to the hospital. Haydon survived, but Smith died in the hospital after undergoing emergency surgery.

As he escaped, Miller crossed Delaney Park, which was approximately one block from the Smith residence. Between 8 and 8:15 p.m., a witness observed an anxious and disheveled man walking strangely across Delaney Park holding his right side. Miller confessed that he discarded the knife sheath on a bench as he walked through the park which the police later recovered from the location Miller described.

Later that evening, Miller arrived unexpectedly at an acquaintance's house, which was located less than a mile from the Smith residence. The acquaintance was asleep, so Miller waited in a chair on the back patio. While he waited, Miller cut the arm off the jacket he had taken from the Smith residence to fashion into a bandage.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., the acquaintance discovered Miller on the porch and allowed him to use the phone to contact his roommate for a ride home. He requested his roommate to bring him a clean shirt to replace the shirt he was wearing. Before the roommate arrived, Miller asked the acquaintance to loan him gas money and requested bandages for his arm. Miller discarded the white jacket that he had used as a bandage which was later recovered from the porch and identified as the jacket Smith had been wearing on the day of the murder.

Shortly after the phone call, the roommate arrived and the pair departed. During the drive home, Miller informed his roommate of the stabbing and commented that anything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. He also stated that a man had "tried to be a hero," but that "his hero days were over." Miller admitted he was worried that both Smith and Haydon were dead.

After reading a description of Miller in the newspaper on April 18, 2006, the acquaintance called a crime hotline and informed them that Miller was a possible suspect. Based on this tip, Miller was arrested the following day and transported to the Orlando Police Station.

After Miller was advised of his legal rights he proceeded to confess to stabbing Smith and Haydon. He informed law enforcement where the knife and sheath were discarded, and identified a picture of Jerry Smith as the victim. When arrested, Miller was wearing the same jeans he had worn during the murder. Blood was found on the jeans and DNA analysis disclosed that some of the blood matched Miller's while two other blood samples revealed the DNA of another who could not be precisely identified.

At some point during the struggle with Smith or Haydon, Miller had dropped a pipe that he admitted he had utilized to smoke crack cocaine. The crime scene technicians recovered the pipe from the floor of the Smith residence, and later analysis revealed that the pipe contained Miller's DNA. Moreover, blood from both Haydon and Miller was found in Smith's house.

The jury found Miller guilty as to each count. During the penalty phase, the medical examiner testified that Smith suffered from Alzheimer's dementia, and identified the cause of death as multiple stab wounds. The medical examiner also testified that Smith was conscious during and after the attack and likely felt great pain.

The State presented the testimony of Miller's parole officer in Oregon, who stated that Miller was currently on parole for armed robbery and had failed to attend his parole meetings. The State also presented the testimony of several witnesses to establish the underlying details of Miller's prior armed robbery and manslaughter convictions.

Miller presented the testimony of an investigator who conducted a family background investigation on Miller. In addition, Miller presented a psychologist who testified with regard to Miller's family background and substance abuse history. The psychologist diagnosed Miller as having an antisocial personality disorder. In rebuttal, the State presented the testimony of a psychiatrist who also diagnosed Miller as having an...