Robinson v. State

• Decision Date: 19 August 1999
• Docket Number: No. 91,317.,91,317.
• Citation: 761 So.2d 269
• Parties: Michael ROBINSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

761 So.2d 269

Michael ROBINSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 91,317.

Supreme Court of Florida.

August 19, 1999.

Rehearing Denied October 25, 1999.

James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Christopher S. Quarles, Assistant Public Defender, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Judy Taylor Rush, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

We have on appeal the order of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon Michael Robinson. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. Based on reasons which follow, we affirm Robinson's sentence of death.

PROCEDURAL POSTURE

This is Robinson's second direct appeal from a sentence of death. In 1995, Robinson pled guilty to the first-degree murder of Jane Silvia. During the plea colloquy, Robinson specifically expressed his desire to "seek the death penalty in this case" and defense counsel explained to the court that Robinson did not want to present any mitigating evidence in his defense. Robinson waived his right to a jury and the cause proceeded to sentencing. The State presented Detective David Griffin who played an audio tape of Robinson's confession to the crime. The defense presented mitigating evidence it had received from a psychologist, Dr. Berland, and Robinson's mother, and a presentence report detailing the circumstances of the crime and Robinson's background was also submitted to the trial court.¹ On April 12, 1995, the trial court sentenced appellant to death. The court found three aggravating circumstances: (1) the capital felony was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest, see § 921.141(5)(e), Fla. Stat. (1995); (2) the capital felony was committed for pecuniary gain, see id. § 921.141(5)(f); and (3) the capital felony was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification, see id. § 921.141(5)(i). Although the court stated it did not consider any of the evidence presented in mitigation, the court also concluded that the aggravating circumstances could not be outweighed by any potential mitigating circumstances and sentenced appellant to death. On appeal, this Court reversed Robinson's sentence of death. See Robinson v. State, 684 So.2d 175 (Fla.1996)

. We held the trial court failed to consider the evidence proffered in mitigation in violation of Farr v. State, 621 So.2d 1368 (Fla.1993). See Robinson, 684 So.2d at 179. As noted in our opinion, Farr requires the trial court to consider mitigation in cases even where the defendant argues in favor of the death penalty, as well as where the defendant asks the court not to consider mitigating evidence. See id. (citing Farr, 621 So.2d at 1369). Accordingly, this case was remanded to the trial court for a new penalty phase hearing. Id.

NEW PENALTY PHASE

At the new penalty phase proceeding the State again presented Detective David Griffin as its sole witness and he again played the audio cassette tape of Robinson's confession. According to Robinson's confession, he and Silvia had been dating, and prior to the murder he had stolen Silvia's television and VCR to pawn for money with which to purchase drugs. Robinson's mother sent Silvia money to buy back her property and she kept this money in her shoes. After their unsuccessful attempts to get back Silvia's property, Robinson and Silvia returned home and Silvia fell asleep on the couch. Robinson then went to his truck to obtain a drywall hammer. He laid the hammer in the bedroom and waited until he was certain Silvia was asleep. He then hit her in the head with the hammer twice, each time piercing her skull. Robinson claimed that Silvia never regained consciousness, although she was still breathing and blood poured from her mouth. Robinson then stuck the claw part of the hammer into the victim's skull. Further, to stop Silvia's breathing and heart beat, Robinson stuck a serrated knife into the soft portion of her neck and down into her chest. After Silvia died, Robinson buried her and took the money that she had hidden in her shoes. During his confession, Robinson also admitted that he had initially lied to the police by telling them that drug dealers had killed Silvia. During a supplemental interview, Robinson stated that he killed Silvia "because he didn't want to battle her for the money" and because he did not want to return to prison.

The defense presented three witnesses: Dr. James Upson, a neuropsychologist; Dr. Jonathan Lipman, a neuropharmacologist; and Barbara Judy, Robinson's mother.² Dr. Upson conducted a battery of clinical tests on Robinson which he claims indicate that Robinson is of above-average intelligence but that he is impaired in the frontal and left temporal lobe of his brain. According to Dr. Upson, Robinson's brain impairment could be caused by a number of factors, including: recent drug use, the use of forceps during birth, and loss of consciousness during two episodes in his childhood, once when he was hospitalized for diverticulum and once when he was thrown in a pool while tied in an apparent Houdini imitation. Upson also testified that as a child, Robinson suffered from attention deficit disorder (ADD) and was prescribed Ritalin. Robinson is a chronic drug abuser who started consuming alcohol, marijuana and LSD in his teens, and eventually moved to methamphetamine and then cocaine, which he continued to use up until the murder. Dr. Upson also testified that Robinson was exposed to toxic poisoning in his early twenties and suffered a head injury when he was struck by an automobile while riding a bike. According to Dr. Upson, any of the above incidents could have caused Robinson's impairment. On cross-examination, Dr. Upson admitted that Robinson also exhibited signs of antisocial personality disorder, such as unpredictability, impulsiveness, manipulativeness, anger, suspiciousness, and moodiness,

Dr. Lipman testified about the effect chronic drug use had on Robinson. He opined that Robinson suffered from conceptual aberrations caused by LSD and that the combination of drugs consumed by Robinson caused a psychotoxic effect which produced profound and long-lasting hallucinations and derangement of reality testing. When asked about symptoms one feels after the effects of cocaine wears off, Dr. Lipman explained: "With regard to cocaine and amphetamines, the withdrawal syndrome is characterized mostly by profound depression. However, if the user has experienced the drug chronically or at high doses to the point of frank psychosis, that psychosis does not immediately go away when the drug leaves the system. It persists for weeks and months. ... We think those people probably have preschizophrenic processes going on in their brain." Dr. Lipman added that the psychotic effect experienced by chronic users is often joined by severe depression. Finally, Dr. Lipman testified that when he interviewed Robinson, he was in a drug-free state yet still exhibited signs of brain abnormalities in the temporal lobe. According to Dr. Lipman, that condition was exacerbated by extensive cocaine use, and at the time of the offense Robinson suffered from "a state of unreality brought about by the chronic effect of cocaine."

Both doctors agreed that drugs controlled Robinson's life and that because of his chronic drug use, Robinson was under extreme emotional disturbance and unable to control his actions.³ However, both doctors admitted that at the time of the offense, Robinson knew what he was doing and knew that his conduct was wrong. Finally, both doctors agreed that Robinson suffered from emotional duress because he believed he would be sent back to prison unless he killed the victim. According to Dr. Lipman, Robinson feared prison because he had been raped several times while incarcerated. Both doctors testified that a Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scan would have been helpful in locating Robinson's brain damage.

Other facts presented by the defense included: Robinson's father was an alcoholic who verbally abused Robinson and who disowned Robinson when he was fourteen or fifteen years of age, causing him to become a ward of the state and to be placed in a juvenile detention facility; Robinson married at the age of seventeen to a woman who introduced him to speed balling—a form of intravenous drug use combining the drugs preludin and dilaudid; at the age of nineteen, Robinson used cocaine an entire month without sleep; and just prior to the murder, Robinson spent four weeks hinging on cocaine. Finally, Robinson's mother testified that she loved her son but knew that he abused drugs and that she had attempted to help him over the years by placing him in rehabilitation facilities. She also stated that Robinson's father was abusive and that Robinson's paternal grandfather had a mental disorder and died in a mental institution. Finally, John Thomas, the victim's brother, testified that Robinson destroyed his family.

The trial court considered the foregoing evidence as well as the mitigating and aggravating evidence introduced at the initial penalty phase proceeding and again sentenced Robinson to death. The court found the same three aggravating factors as before: (1) the murder was committed for pecuniary gain; (2) the murder was committed to avoid arrest; and (3) the murder was cold, calculated and premeditated. The trial court also found two statutory mitigating factors: (1) Robinson suffered from extreme emotional distress (some weight) and (2) Robinson's ability to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired due to history of excessive drug use (great weight).

Of the nonstatutory mitigation presented, the trial court found: (1) Robinson had suffered brain damage to his frontal lobe (given little weight because of insufficient evidence that brain damage caused Robinson's...