Rigterink v. State

• Court: Florida Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: PER CURIAM.
• Citation: Rigterink v. State, 193 So.3d 846 (Fla. 2016)
• Decision Date: 21 April 2016
• Docket Number: No. SC14–971.,SC14–971.
• Parties: Thomas RIGTERINK, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

193 So.3d 846

Thomas RIGTERINK, Appellant,

v.STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC14–971.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 21, 2016.

Ann Elizabeth Finnell of Finnell, McGuinness, Nezami, & Andux, P.A., Jacksonville, FL, for Appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, and Scott Andrew Browne, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, FL, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

This case is before the Court on appeal from an order denying a motion to vacate convictions for first-degree murder and sentences of death under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons expressed below, we affirm the circuit court's denial of relief on all claims.

FACTS

Thomas Rigterink was convicted for the 2003 murders of Jeremy Jarvis and Allison Sousa and sentenced to death for both murders. Rigterink v. State (Rigterink I ), 2 So.3d 221, 227 (Fla.2009), vacated by Florida v. Rigterink (Rigterink II ), 559 U.S. 965, 130 S.Ct. 1235, 176 L.Ed.2d 175 (2010). The facts were detailed by this Court in Rigterink I:

Shortly after 3:00 p.m. on September 24, 2003, a male in his late twenties to early thirties, who fit the general description of Rigterink, attacked victim Jeremy Jarvis with a ten-to-eleven-inch knife. The attack began inside the warehouse residence of Jarvis, which was located in the fifth unit of the complex, and eventually moved outside. A male eyewitness testified that as he drove past this location, he slowed his vehicle and viewed two men—one, an apparent attacker, standing above another, an apparent victim. The victim was lying on the sidewalk immediately in front of one of the building units.... It appeared that the attacker was attempting to drag the victim into the last unit of the building.... When the victim fled toward the first unit of the complex, the witness observed a significant amount of blood flowing from wounds on his chest. The witness observed the victim approach and open the door of the first unit, while the attacker—who was “about halfway down” the sidewalk at this point—remained in pursuit....

At the time, units 1 and 2 of this dual-use warehouse complex served as the office of a construction business. A second victim, Allison Sousa, and a female eyewitness were both secretaries at this establishment.... That afternoon, Sousa and the female witness heard screaming outside of the construction office. They approached and opened the door of unit 1, and [Jarvis] entered the office and sat down in a chair near the door. The female eyewitness testified that Jarvis appeared to be experiencing serious blood loss from a wound on the right side of his chest.... Sousa began to care for the man and to call 911. She instructed the female witness to go to the office kitchen in the back to obtain some towels to address the obvious injuries.... The witness obeyed, and as she began to return to the front of unit 1, the witness heard the door slam. She continued forward toward a pass-through window located between the main-office and lobby areas. Through this window, the witness observed a second male aggressively approaching Sousa.... The witness saw that Sousa was still attempting to call 911, and she also caught a glimpse of the second man's profile and a side view of his body. At trial, she described him ... [and] th[e] description is consistent with Rigterink's appearance on September 24, 2003. The witness ... felt that he was “going after” Sousa and that he had seen her (the witness) approach the window. For that reason, the witness fled to an office located further toward the rear of unit 1. As the witness ran, she heard Sousa scream, “Don't hurt me. Don't hurt me.” When the witness reached the rear office, she closed the door, locked the deadbolt, and dialed 911.

The PCSO [ (Polk County Sheriff's Office) ] received two 911 calls from this location on September 24, 2003. The dispatcher received Sousa's call at 3:07:37 p.m. and received the female eyewitness's call at 3:07:46 p.m. The recording of the first call reveals:

911 Operator: “911. What's your emergency? Hello?”

911 Caller: “Oh, my God. Don't—don't hurt me. No....”

The dispatcher then heard “people ... throwing something around” and afterward total silence. The line remained open for four minutes.... At trial, the female eyewitness testified that ... she heard scuffling, banging, and impacts against the walls.... She later heard someone rub against the walls and attempt to gain access to the rear office in which she was hiding. She only opened the door and emerged from the office once PCSO deputies had arrived and secured the crime scene....

When PCSO personnel arrived, they secured the entire complex and discovered the lifeless bodies of Jarvis and Sousa in the rear-warehouse area of unit 1....

[T]he medical examiners established that the attacker stabbed or cut Jarvis a total of twenty-two times and stabbed or cut Sousa a total of six times. Both victims had several injuries to their hands and limbs that were consistent with defensive wounds....

Inside unit 1 ... the CSTs [ (Crime Scene Technicians) ] encountered abundant evidence of a bloody, vicious attack. Both sides of the entry door to unit 1 were smeared with blood. There was a large pool of blood near the entrance, as if someone had been standing or sitting there while bleeding heavily.... The CSTs also found a blood-smeared gumball dispenser in the lobby, which was overturned, separated from its base.... The heavy blood stains on the walls and doors of unit 1 were consistent with someone forcefully pushing another—who was bleeding profusely—against these surfaces.... Further, the pass-through window and the entire hallway leading through unit 1 were smeared with blood. In the main-office area, there was a large pool of blood under a desk as if one of the victims had sought refuge there. A phone on top of the desk was off the hook and dangling from its cord just above the floor. A veritable trail of blood continued down the hallway into the kitchen area, where large amounts of blood were smeared on a refrigerator, a trash bin, and some of the cabinets. Continuing along this trail of blood toward the rear of the unit, the door between the rear-office and warehouse areas had been damaged along with its locking mechanism and frame. This damage was consistent with someone attempting to charge or crash through the door.... Additionally, there were bloody, smeared palm prints on the door. The blood trail finally ended in the rear-warehouse area near the bodies of Jarvis and Sousa.... The victims' wounds were consistent with the attacker stabbing or cutting them with a ten- or eleven-inch blade.

Inside unit 5 (the residence of Jarvis), the CSTs discovered large blood smears on the wall adjacent to the entryway—consistent with the conclusion that a struggle occurred.... Blood also covered much of the flooring. Furniture, including a sofa, was overturned and in disarray. A trail of blood droplets led from unit 5 along the sidewalk to the entrance of unit 1. FDLE personnel developed two bloody latent fingerprints on the inside of the door to unit 5, which were later determined to match Rigterink's relevant print patterns. Fingerprint analyst Patricia Newton testified that the photographs of these prints ... were consistent with the print-donor's fingers having already been covered in blood and the donor then touching the door, rather than the surface of the door having blood on it with the print-donor merely touching the freshly deposited blood. At various locations hidden inside unit 5 ... the CSTs found three to five pounds of marijuana with a street value of several thousand dollars.... Jarvis's mobile phone was the final significant item of evidence that the PCSO discovered in unit 5. Detective Jerry Connolly, the lead detective on this case, and other PCSO investigators eventually used this phone, and associated phone records, to compile a list of Jarvis's known associates....

....

Using the call log on Jarvis's mobile phone, along with the phone records that the PCSO later obtained from [Jarvis's] service provider, Detective Connolly and his colleagues began to establish contact with Jarvis's known associates. One of the first associates that they contacted was Marshall Mark Mul lins.... Detective Connolly and a group of PCSO detectives ... contacted Mullins at his home. The detectives ... questioned him with regard to his whereabouts during the afternoon of September 24, 2003. Mullins provided a complete alibi....

....

At approximately 11:30 a.m. on the morning of September 25, 2003 (the day following the murders), two detectives ... went to Rigterink's condominium (“condo”).... They were interested in this location because of phone calls between a phone located at this address and Jarvis's mobile phone, which occurred on the day of the murders. [N]o one responded to the door....

While they waited outside, the detectives contacted Rigterink's parents, who agreed to bring him to his condo for an interview. Rigterink arrived at 7:30 p.m. and invited the detectives inside. At approximately 7:45 p.m., two additional detectives ... arrived to question Rigterink. Rigterink explained that ... he called Jarvis to purchase some marijuana. He also stated that sometime after 2 p.m., he had another phone conversation with Jarvis concerning the same topic.... As part of this questioning, Rigterink volunteered the names of three additional known associates of Jarvis—including ... Mullins—who were also allegedly involved in the drug trade....

PCSO investigators next made contact with Rigterink on October 9, 2003. By this time, the PCSO—with FDLE assistance—had been able to obtain suitable photographs of the bloody latent prints recovered from the front door of unit 5, and they were in the process of obtaining “elimination prints” from all known associates of Jarvis to rule them out as suspects in the ongoing murder investigation. On October 9, Detective

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