Peek v. State, No. 66204

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Florida
• Writing for the Court: PER CURIAM; BOYD; ADKINS
• Citation: 488 So.2d 52,11 Fla. L. Weekly 175
• Parties: 11 Fla. L. Weekly 175 Anthony Ray PEEK, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Decision Date: 17 April 1986
• Docket Number: No. 66204

Page 52

488 So.2d 52 11 Fla. L. Weekly 175 Anthony Ray PEEK, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee. No. 66204. Supreme Court of Florida. April 17, 1986.
Rehearing Denied June 4, 1986.

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Edward S. Stafman, Tallahassee, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Charles Corces, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Anthony Ray Peek appeals his conviction on retrial for first-degree murder, sexual battery, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and his sentence of death. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla.Const. We reverse his convictions and death sentence and remand for a new trial because of improper admission of evidence concerning another criminal offense committed by Peek.

Peek was previously convicted of first-degree murder, sexual battery, grand larceny, and burglary, and sentenced to death. This Court affirmed his conviction and sentence. Peek v. State, 395 So.2d 492 (Fla.1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 964, 101 S.Ct. 2036, 68 L.Ed.2d 342 (1981). Subsequent to our affirmance, the trial judge granted Peek's motion under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 for post-conviction relief, finding, after an evidentiary hearing, that, in Peek's first trial, false expert testimony was presented concerning hair identification evidence and the testimony effectively denied Peek a fair trial. The state's appeal of this order was dismissed by a stipulation between the state and Peek with the provision that the state could retry Peek.

The record of Peek's retrial reflects that during the night of May 21, 1977, an elderly woman was raped and murdered in the bedroom of her Winter Haven home. The victim died of strangulation by a robe and part of a bedspread tied tightly around her neck. Her severely beaten body was strapped to a bedpost, and her bedclothes contained numerous blood and semen stains. Police investigation revealed that no fingerprints were in the victim's bedroom or her living room; that a cut piece of stocking containing a strand of hair was in the garage area; that the victim's two screen doors and telephone wires had been cut; and that the victim's car was missing.

Several hours after discovering the murder, the police found the victim's abandoned car in a park at Lake Martha, approximately one mile from her home. One car door was unlocked. On the inside of the car window, the police lifted two fingerprints and later identified them as belonging to Peek.

In addition to fingerprint evidence from the victim's car, the state attempted at trial to identify the assailant as Peek with the following evidence. First, blood and seminal fluid stains from the victim's bedclothes came from a type-O secretor, which was consistent with Peek's secretions. Second, the hair fragment had features similar to those found in Peek's negroid hair. Third, the state presented evidence showing that Peek, subsequent to the assault on the elderly woman, had admittedly raped a young woman. This latter collateral crime

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evidence was not presented at the first trial.

Peek testified concerning the presence of his fingerprints in the victim's car. He stated that during the weekend of the murder he was restricted to a supervised halfway house near Lake Martha and that a house counselor permitted him to leave the house only on the morning of May 22 for breakfast. While eating at Lake Martha, Peek claimed that he saw the victim's car and attempted to burglarize it. He also offered testimony of two house counselors, who supported his statements by testifying that they made periodic bed checks after 11:00 p.m. on the murder night and that these inspections revealed no unauthorized absences and no opened windows or doors at the halfway house.

The jury found Peek guilty of all charges and, by a 9-3 vote, recommended imposition of the death penalty. Consistent with this recommendation, the sentencing judge sentenced Peek to death.

On appeal, Peek raises multiple issues concerning the guilt phase of his trial. We find dispositive Peek's claim that the admission in evidence of another criminal offense denied his constitutional right to a fair trial.

At trial, over Peek's objection, the trial court held that evidence of Peek's admission and conviction of a subsequent rape was similar in circumstances to the charged crime and therefore that this collateral crime evidence was admissible pursuant to our decision in Williams v. State, ¹ and the Florida Evidence Code, section 90.404(2)(a), Florida Statutes (1983). ² Peek contends that the details between the two crimes were not sufficiently similar to be relevant to the issue of identity. Peek argues that the collateral crime evidence lacked probative value, was presented only to show Peek's bad character or criminal propensity, and, consequently, was inadmissible.

In Williams, Justice Thornal explained the circumstances under which a defendant's commission of a separate crime may be admitted into evidence. He stated that, although similar fact evidence of other crimes is generally admissible when relevant to prove a material fact in issue, an exception to the broad rule of admissibility exists "where the sole relevancy is character or propensity of the accused." Id. at 663. In this landmark case, Williams was charged and convicted of rape. The victim had parked in the Webb's City parking lot and, after she had returned to her car and driven a short distance, Williams appeared from the car's back seat, grabbed the woman, and sexually assaulted her. At trial, the state offered evidence of...