Patrick v. State

• Decision Date: 06 December 2012
• Docket Number: No. SC09–2016.,SC09–2016.
• Parties: Eric Kurt PATRICK, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

104 So.3d 1046

Eric Kurt PATRICK, Appellant,

v.STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC09–2016.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Dec. 6, 2012.

Jose Rafael Rodriguez of Law Offices of Jose Rafael Rodriguez, Miami, FL, for Appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, and Lisa–Marie Krause Lerner, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, FL, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Eric Kurt Patrick appeals his conviction and sentence for the first-degree murder of Steven Schumacher. We have jurisdiction. Seeart. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the following reasons, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Eric Kurt Patrick was recently released from prison and homeless when he met Steven Schumacher at Holiday Park during a rain shower when both men took shelter under a pavilion. Schumacher invited Patrick to lunch, then to stay with him at his home until Patrick was back on his feet. On the night of Sunday, September 25, 2005, Patrick beat Schumacher to death. Patrick left Schumacher's apartment and took Schumacher's truck and parked it at the Tri–Rail station. Patrick withdrew approximately $900 from Schumacher's bank account using his ATM card in three separate transactions. Patrick was arrested after a separate, unrelated encounter with Deputy Kurt Bukata. Patrick confessed to beating Schumacher, stated that he was afraid Schumacher was dead, and that he didn't mean to kill him.

On November 9, 2005, Patrick was charged by indictment. The jury trial began on February 2, 2009. At trial, the State called twelve witnesses during its case-in-chief.

On the night of the murder, Patrick and Schumacher drank beers and went to bed. Patrick gave Schumacher a massage, then they both lay naked in bed. According to Patrick, Schumacher attempted anal sex, which Patrick refused. Patrick stated that Schumacher was “riding up on me squeezing me.” After Patrick told him to stop, Schumacher stopped but tried again later. Patrick then explained that he “cut loose on [Schumacher].”

Patrick admitted and the evidence verified that Patrick beat Schumacher in the bedroom, beginning in the bed. He began hitting Schumacher with his fists but also beat him with a wooden box because his hands hurt so badly. Schumacher's nose was broken and his face was cut. He was hit so hard that his teeth were broken. Patrick then tied up Schumacher using a telephone cord at the base of the bed, then taped his mouth when Schumacher yelled for help. Patrick did not want Schumacher “to go to the law” on him. Patrick put Schumacher in the bathtub on his side where Schumacher was later found dead.

Jenny Scott and Robert Lyon, Schumacher's friends, usually saw him daily. They last saw Schumacher on September 25, 2005, when they went over to offer him dinner. Scott did not hear from Schumacher and she also noticed his truck was missing. When Scott went to check on Schumacher on Tuesday, he did not answer so she called the Sheriff's Department.

Deputy James Snell responded to Scott's call. They both went into the apartment and saw that the bedroom was dark and disarrayed. Both Deputy Snell and Scott saw blood stains throughout the room. At that point, Scott ran out of the apartment. Deputy Snell found Schumacher's body in the bathtub. The body was very bloody and the hands and ankles were bound in the back; the head and face were taped, with the face resting on the drain. The pants were pulled down although still on the body. The body was cold and stiff and the blood had pooled. The ankles were bound with torn sheets and a knotted lamp cord. The wrists were bound by a telephone cord and tape. There was bruising on an elbow, the chin, and the top of the head. The tape on the head went both horizontally and vertically and there was a pillow case folded over the mouth under the tape. The tape seemed to be one continuous piece. Deputy Snell informed Scott that Schumacher was dead. Scott then provided the police with a description of Patrick.

The deputies found no evidence of forced entry into the apartment. Additionally, they discovered that the air conditioning was set at sixty degrees so all the windows had condensation on them. In the kitchen trash, the deputies found tape matching that used on Schumacher's face. Schumacher's wallet was in the living room. There were bloody footprints on the tile, a large blood stain on the bedroom carpet, and blood spatter on the dresser and wall. The bedroom lamp was cracked and missing its cord. A cord was in the bed under the sheets. There was blood spatter on the sheets and headboard. Teeth were found in the bedclothes. A broken box with blood on it was under the dresser.

Deputy Kurt Bukata ran into Patrick at a gas station and arrested him on an outstanding warrant. Patrick had injuries on his knuckles and was carrying a duffel bag. Patrick also had some abrasions on his upper body. Bukata inventoried the duffel bag and found blood-stained boots, jeans, briefs, and socks. He told Bukata that he had been involved in a fight with some men over his shoes. DNA tests identified Schumacher's blood on Patrick's jeans.

The trial ended on February 20, 2009, with the jury finding Patrick guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and robbery.

On June 12, 2010, the court reconvened for the penalty phase. The State introduced two stipulations into the record. The State introduced a certified copy of Patrick's conviction for armed carjacking on April 17, 1998, for which he was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment. The State also introduced a certified copy of a document from the Department of Corrections showing that Patrick was released on August 9, 2005, and remained in the controlled release program until February 8, 2007. The State called Scott Tison and Dawn Allford. The defense called seven witnesses: Dorothy Dolighan, a friend of the family who grew up with Patrick's mother in Berlin, Germany; Carsten Patrick, Patrick's brother; Philip Arth, an investigator with the Broward County Public Defender's Office and former Ft. Lauderdale police homicide detective; Patrick's mother, Ingrid Franke; Father Jerry Singleton, the pastor at St. Anthony Catholic Church; Patrick, himself; and Dr. Christopher Fichera, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist.

On August 20, 2009, the trial court conducted the final sentencing hearing, pursuant to Spencer v. State, 615 So.2d 688 (Fla.1993). The defense called two experts, and Patrick and his mother made statements to the court. The defense presented a Spencer memorandum in support of a life sentence. Dr. Fichera and Dr. Allan Ribbler, also a licensed psychologist, testified.

On October 9, 2009, the court issued its sentencing order. The court imposed the death penalty for the murder of Steven Schumacher. The court sentenced Patrick to a mandatory life imprisonment term for the kidnapping as a prison releasee reoffender, to run consecutive to the death sentence. In its sentencing order, the trial court found six aggravators ¹ and sixteen non-statutory mitigating circumstances.² The Court sentenced Patrick to thirty years as a violent habitual felony offender, with a fifteen-year minimum-mandatory term for the robbery, to run concurrent with the life sentence. Patrick now appeals raising seventeen claims.

We do not find that any of Patrick's guilt phase claims warrant relief and find the evidence sufficient to support his conviction. We therefore affirm the conviction. Likewise, although we strike the trial court's finding of the CCP aggravator, we find the sentence of death proportionate and affirm the sentence of death.

ISSUES ON APPEAL

Juror Disqualification

In the first issue on appeal, Patrick alleges that the trial court erred by striking jurors before the defense had an opportunity to question them during voir dire. The State alleges that the trial court merely disqualified jurors based on hardship and that it was within its discretion to do so. We agree. The trial court acted within its discretion to strike the contested jurors for hardship.

On February 4, 2009, the court began with the first panel of prospective jurors and questioned them for qualification purposes. The trial judge did not dismiss any of the jurors after establishing the preliminary qualifications and, instead, permitted the State to begin voir dire. Because the questioning ran late into the day, the trial court stated her preference to strike those jurors who the State and defense could agree would not be needed. The State asked that certain jurors be stricken for “cause” and the trial judge agreed based on “hardship.” The prospective jurors at issue are those that the defense requested to question but who were excused by the trial court without such questioning. Both removal for cause and removal for hardship fall within the discretion of the trial court. However, before striking a death-scrupled juror for cause at the State's request, “defense counsel must be afforded an opportunity to rehabilitate jurors who have expressed objections to the death penalty or conscientious or religious scruples against its infliction.” Sanders v. State, 707 So.2d 664, 668 (Fla.1998).

We agree with the State that the trial court excused the jurors for hardship. Section 40.013, Florida Statutes (2008), provides that a person may be excused from jury service upon a showing of hardship, extreme inconvenience, or public necessity. § 40.013(6), Fla. Stat. (2008). Before a jury is sworn, it is within the sound discretion of a trial judge to excuse a juror for any reason personal to the juror that the judge deems sufficient. See33 Fla. Jur. 2d, Juries, § 72 (2010); Jones v. State, 749 So.2d 561, 562 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000) (noting that subsections (5) and (6) of section 40.013 implicate the trial court's discretion).

The trial court acted within its discretion as it relates to each of the challenged jurors. Each of the excused prospective jurors provided a reason explaining why serving would present a hardship or extreme inconvenience. It appears...