Rodriguez v. State

• Decision Date: 03 February 2000
• Docket Number: No. SC90153.,SC90153.
• Citation: 753 So.2d 29
• Parties: Manuel Antonio RODRIGUEZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

753 So.2d 29

Manuel Antonio RODRIGUEZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC90153.

Supreme Court of Florida.

February 3, 2000.

Rehearing Denied March 23, 2000.

Scott W. Sakin, Special Assistant Public Defender, Miami, Florida, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Randall Sutton, Assistant Attorney General, Miami, Florida, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Manuel Antonio Rodriguez appeals his convictions and sentences for armed burglary and three counts of first-degree murder, including the sentences of death for each first-degree murder conviction. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons expressed, we affirm the convictions and sentences.

FACTS

Manuel and Luis Rodriguez were both charged with armed burglary and three counts of first-degree murder. In exchange for his testimony at Manuel's trial, Luis was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder, for which he received a life sentence. Although they both have the same last name, Manuel and Luis are not related by blood. At the time of the crimes, Manuel lived with Luis's sister, Maria Malakoff, who was also known as "Cookie."

Manuel Rodriguez was convicted based on the following facts presented at trial. In December 1984, Bea Joseph, Sam Joseph, and Genevieve Abraham were found murdered in a Miami apartment building. The Josephs lived in the apartment in which they were found, and Sam Joseph was the apartment complex landlord. Abraham was visiting the Josephs at the time of the crimes. When Abraham was found, her wedding band, diamond watch, and diamond earrings were missing. There was no sign of forced entry into the apartment, but the apartment was in disarray. Apparently, each victim died quickly from gunshot wounds to the head, which were inflicted from shots fired at close range.

Law enforcement officers were unable to obtain enough evidence to solve these crimes until 1993. However, Manuel Rodriguez was suspected of involvement in the crimes soon after they occurred because of several calls he made to the police. In July 1985, police were contacted by a "tipster," who identified himself as Antonio Chait. The informant told them that on the night of the murders, he was living in the apartment complex where the murders occurred and he saw two males, one of whom he knew, running from the area near the Josephs' apartment. The tip was found to be without merit, and police determined that the informant was actually Rodriguez. Again, in November 1985, Rodriguez contacted police, identifying himself as Antonio Traves. He told police that on the night of the murders, he saw a man named Geraldo leaving the Josephs' apartment. That story could not be confirmed. Police were suspicious of Rodriguez but received no further leads until 1992.

In 1992, Rafael Lopez, Luis Rodriguez's brother-in-law, contacted police, hoping to get the reward that had been posted for information about the murders. Lopez told police that Luis had confided to him that Luis and Manuel Rodriguez committed the murders. He stated that Luis told him that he and Manuel went to the Josephs' apartment to rob them and that they killed two old ladies and an old man. Thereafter, police contacted Luis, who eventually gave a formal confession, in which he implicated both himself and Manuel. The next day Manuel was questioned and arrested. Manuel gave numerous conflicting accounts of his activities at the time of the murders. In all but his final statement to police, he denied any involvement in the murders. Finally, he admitted involvement but contended that the robbery and murders were committed by Luis and Luis's brother Isidoro, and that he had simply acted as a lookout.

Luis Rodriguez testified against Manuel Rodriguez at trial. His trial testimony was somewhat different from his original confession.¹ At trial, Luis testified that in 1984 he was living in Orlando. He stated that Manuel called him and asked if he was interested in making money by assisting Manuel in committing a robbery. Manuel told Luis that Luis would be the lookout and that Manuel would do all of the work. Luis flew to Miami and met Manuel. They went to the Josephs' apartment; Manuel knocked on the door and told Sam Joseph that Malakoff and the children were being held hostage and that they would be released only if the Josephs gave him money. Manuel then forced himself into the apartment. Luis followed and shut the door.

Once inside the apartment, Manuel, who had brought two pairs of rubber gloves with him, put on one pair and told Luis to wear the other pair and not to touch anything in the apartment without the gloves. Sam Joseph offered to get money from the bedroom, but Manuel instructed Luis to look there instead. Luis found a gun in the Josephs' bedroom, and Manuel became angry with Sam Joseph because he thought the offer to get money from the bedroom was actually a ruse to get the gun. Eventually, during the course of the crime, Manuel shot both Sam and Bea Joseph with a gun he had brought with him and then he ordered Luis to shoot Abraham with the gun Luis had found in the Josephs' bedroom. Because Luis was scared, he did as he was told and then he fled. He stated that he did not receive any of the proceeds from the crime and flew back to Orlando the next day.

Luis's brother, Isidoro, also testified at trial. He provided documentation that he was working in another city at the time of the crimes. He also stated that, soon after the murders, his mother contacted him to tell him that she had found coins and jewelry in a bag under her trailer and that Manuel and Malakoff had shown up looking for it. Isidoro stated that he was aware of the murders in the building and that he took the bag back to Orlando, where he threw it into a field. Isidoro's mother also testified and confirmed Isidoro's story.

Malakoff testified that she and Manuel had two children, one of whom died in 1984. She stated that members of her family did not like her or Manuel. She also said that Manuel was not angry with Sam Joseph at the time of the murders and that she did not believe that Manuel was involved in the murders. The State impeached her testimony through her sworn statement to the police in 1993, in which she said that Manuel had been angry with Sam Joseph and on the day of the murders had called him a son-of-a-bitch. Additionally, in her pretrial statement, she said that Manuel told her he killed Sam Joseph when Joseph reached for a gun; that he had made sure that Luis killed Abraham; and that Manuel made sure they were all dead.

Manuel Rodriguez was convicted as charged. The following evidence was presented during the penalty phase.

The State presented evidence that Manuel Rodriguez had seventy-one prior violent felony convictions (the contemporaneous murders in this case, twenty-three convictions of armed robbery, seventeen for armed kidnaping, eight for aggravated assault with a firearm, and numerous convictions for carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon) and that he was on probation and parole at the time of the murders.

Both the State and Manuel Rodriguez presented the testimony of numerous psychologists and psychiatrists who had evaluated Rodriguez over the preceding twenty years. Apparently, whenever Rodriguez was charged with a crime, a question of competency was raised and he was evaluated. Most of those who examined him agreed that he suffered from some sort of mental illness, but the testimony varied greatly in that some had previously found him to be incompetent and in need of hospitalization; others had found him to be malingering. None could testify to his state of mind at the time of the murders. The testimony did establish that Rodriguez had a long history of drug abuse. Several of his family members testified regarding his childhood and his mother's mental problems.

The jury unanimously recommended death for each of the murders. The judge sentenced Rodriguez to death for each murder, finding six aggravating circumstances: the murder was committed while Rodriguez was under a sentence of imprisonment, he had previously been convicted of violent felonies, the murder was committed during the felony of armed burglary, the murder was committed to avoid arrest, the murder was committed for pecuniary gain, and the murder was cold, calculated and premeditated (CCP). The trial judge found no statutory mitigation, but found some nonstatutory mitigation: Rodriguez was and is mentally ill, he has a history of drug abuse and drug psychosis, and he is a good brother, loving father, and caring son. The judge rejected Rodriguez's mother's mental illness and the fact that Luis Rodriguez received life² as mitigating circumstances.

GUILT PHASE ISSUES

In this appeal, Rodriguez raises a total of nine claims.³ The first four pertain to guilt phase issues. First, he claims that a state witness was improperly allowed to comment on Rodriguez's right to remain silent and that the prosecutor improperly commented on Rodriguez's right not to testify at trial.

As to the witness's comment, the record reflects the following pertinent facts. Detective William Venturi testified regarding the meetings between Manuel Rodriguez and police in 1985 when Rodriguez contacted the police to tell them he had information regarding the murders. As noted previously, Rodriguez contacted the police on two separate occasions, once in July of 1985 and once in November of 1985, claiming he had information regarding the murders. In July, he contacted the police, identified himself as Antonio Chait, and told the police he had seen two males running from the area near the Josephs' apartment. The tip was found to be without merit and the police determined that the informant was actually Manuel Rodriguez.

In November 1985, Manuel Rodriguez again contacted the police, identifying himself as Antonio Traves. Venturi testified that when Rodriguez contacted...