Peterson v. State
| Decision Date | 29 January 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. SC06-252.,SC06-252. |
| Citation | 2 So.3d 146 |
| Parties | Charles C. PETERSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Attorney General, Tampa, FL, for Appellee.
This case is before the Court on appeal from a judgment of conviction of first-degree murder and a sentence of death arising from the fatal shooting of John Cardoso during a robbery on December 24, 1997. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the conviction and sentence.
The evidence presented at the trial of appellant Charles C. Peterson established the following. Karen Smith testified that she worked as an assistant manager at a Big Lots in St. Petersburg, Florida, on the evening of December 24, 1997. She testified that while she and two other employees were in the store's office after the store closed at 6 p.m., she heard a "ruckus." She explained that when she opened the locked office door, she was immediately confronted by a man pointing a gun at her. Maria Soto, who also worked as an assistant manager at the Big Lots on December 24, 1997, testified that while she was in the office after closing, she heard a noise from the break room that sounded like furniture banging or firecrackers. Soto confirmed that when Smith opened the door to investigate the noise, "[w]e walked right into a man with a nylon stocking [covering his face] and a gun in his hand." Smith described the man as black, about five feet four inches or five feet six inches tall, weighing 130 to 140 pounds, with "pudgy cheeks." He wore a "nylon scarf" over his face and off-white latex gloves. Soto described the man as black, between five feet six inches and five feet eight inches tall, and noted that he wore latex gloves.
Both witnesses testified that the man escorted the three employees from the office through the employee break room into the stockroom. The man held the gun to Smith's head as they walked. Smith testified that John Cardoso, another employee, was lying on the floor of the break room when they entered. Soto testified that the man forced her and the other employees to step over Cardoso. Once in the stockroom, the three women and Josh McBride, another employee who had entered the stockroom, were made to get down on their hands and knees. Smith testified that the man repeatedly told them to "stay on your hands and knees you bitches and don't look at me." Soto testified that the man put the gun to her temple and told her not to look at him. After asking who was in charge, the man pulled Smith to her feet and told the others that "if [they] moved, he will kill her and anyone else." Smith explained that the robber used her to lure the remaining store employee, Wanda Church, to the back of the store, after which he took Church to the stockroom. The man then forced Smith to go into the office with him. The man took a backpack from the merchandise area of the store and had Smith fill it with money. He stated that he wanted "all of the large money." He told Smith to "hurry up you bitch" and demanded that she not look at him. Smith testified that after collecting money from the office, the man moved everyone into the break room and made them lie on the floor near Cardoso's body. The man then exited through the store's back emergency exit, which he previously had Smith unlock. After the man left, Soto and Church got up to seek help.
Officer Richard L. McKee, of the City of St. Petersburg Police Department, testified that when he arrived at Big Lots at approximately 6:30 p.m. on December 24, 1997, he found a shooting victim lying face down in a break room and three other individuals who appeared to be in shock also lying face down in the room with their hands behind their heads.
Dr. Noel Palma, Associate Medical Examiner for Pinellas and Pasco Counties, testified as an expert in forensic pathology on behalf of the State. He testified that the cause of Cardoso's death was a gunshot wound to the trunk. He testified that there were abrasions and contusions on the victim's right back, arm, and hand that appeared to have been inflicted shortly before or certainly within the same day as death. Dr. Palma explained that a bullet entered Cardoso's left back and was recovered from the right lobe of his liver, indicating that the bullet had traveled left to right, back to front, and downward across the body. Dr. Palma opined that given the soot pattern on the victim's shirt, the gun muzzle was less than a foot from the victim when fired.
Smith testified that during the investigation of this crime, she identified the robber in a photopack shown to her by law enforcement officers. Although she could not previously identify the assailant, at trial Soto identified Peterson as the man she suspected of stealing from the Big Lots during operating hours on December 24, 1997, who she believed was the same man who later robbed the store because both men appeared to be wearing the same clothing that day. James Ronald Davis, who was a customer in Big Lots between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on December 24, 1997, testified that while shopping he encountered a black male pacing in the back aisle of the store. Davis testified that he observed the man for about five minutes and described him as five feet nine inches or five feet ten inches tall with a medium build and thin mustache. Davis stated that when he went to the front of the store to pay for his items two or three minutes after the last checkout announcement, the man remained in the back of the store. Davis testified that although he did not think he could identify that man from the store at the time of trial, in 1998 he identified Peterson from a photopack as the man he saw lingering in the back of Big Lots at closing on December 24, 1997.
Several law enforcement personnel associated with the City of St. Petersburg Police Department testified about the search of two residences pursuant to search warrants. One residence was the home of Peterson's father, and the other was the home of Peterson's sister. Two pieces of grayish-black nylon stockings were seized from a dresser in a bedroom of his father's house. Three latex gloves were seized from a kitchen drawer in his sister's house. A gray nylon cap and a piece of nylon stocking were found in vehicles owned and operated by Peterson.
Janet Staples Hillman Gosha, Peterson's former girlfriend, testified that sometime between 1996 and September 1998, when looking for cleaning supplies, she found cash in bank wrappers in a box underneath the sink in their home. She testified that she saw money inside a safe at their residence that was not hers and that she once found a small, silver gun in a bedroom drawer with some of Peterson's belongings. She stated that the gun did not belong to her or her adult son. She explained that while she drove one of Peterson's vehicles when she lived with Peterson, she did not leave pantyhose in the car and that she did not recall Peterson wearing a wave cap or processing his hair in a manner that would require use of a wave cap.
In addition, pursuant to Williams v. State, 110 So.2d 654, 663 (Fla.1959), the State presented evidence that Peterson had robbed a Family Dollar, a Phar-Mor, and a McCrory's in the greater Tampa/St. Petersburg area between February of 1997 and August 1998.
Mary Palmisano, an employee who worked at a Family Dollar in Tampa, Florida, on February 14, 1997, testified that after she locked the doors that evening, she went into the store's office and encountered a man with a gun. She stated that the man was black, about five feet eight inches or five feet ten inches tall and was wearing a mask that appeared to be made of thick stockings. Palmisano testified that the man asked for "big money," referred to her and her female coworker as "bitches," and repeatedly told them to not look at him. The man made her and her coworker lie face down on the floor and tied them up with cords from the office.
In order to avoid admitting unfairly prejudicial evidence of a sexual battery, the trial court read a stipulation that DNA was recovered in the Family Dollar crime. Testing revealed that this DNA matched Peterson's known DNA sample.
Two employees of a St. Petersburg Phar-Mor testified about events in that store on May 12, 1998. Glendene Day testified that shortly after closing, she was confronted by a person in the storeroom who was not an employee. She described the person as a black male, about five feet six inches or five feet seven inches tall, medium build, wearing a mask, and carrying a gun. Day further described the mask as being made of black nylon that was "thin enough to see out of but thick enough that I couldn't see in." She stated that the man wore latex gloves, a black shirt, and tennis shoes. She explained that the man put the gun to her head, ordered her not to look at him, asked how many other employees were in the store, and told her she better not be lying. The man forced Day to call the other employees to the back room, where he ordered them to lie on the ground and used electrical tape, plastic strapping from boxes, and telephone cord to tie up two of the employees. Rather than bind Day, the man told her to walk him to where the money was kept. The man forced Day to unlock the office. He took manila envelopes from the office and directed Day to fill them with money. After gathering the money, she and the robber returned to the back room. The man made Day demonstrate that no alarm would sound when he opened the back exit and then bound Day with plastic strapping and telephone cord. The other employee to testify, Sirisone Vorasane, confirmed that after closing she was called to the warehouse,...
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