Rutledge v. State
| Decision Date | 26 July 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 48801,48801 |
| Citation | 374 So.2d 975 |
| Parties | Jesse Raymond RUTLEDGE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Peter F. Laird, Gainesville, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Wallace E. Allbritton, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, Florida, for appellee.
We have for review by direct appeal Jesse Raymond Rutledge's convictions of two counts of murder in the first-degree and sentences of death and two counts of assault with intent to commit murder. Jurisdiction vests in this Court pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1).
Rutledge was charged in a four count indictment returned June 9, 1975, with the murder in the first-degree of Anna Williams by cutting and stabbing her with a sharp instrument, murder in the first-degree of Wiley Williams by cutting and stabbing, assault with intent to commit murder upon Harold Williams, and assault with intent to commit murder upon Andrew Williams. He was found guilty by the jury on all counts. After sentence hearing, a majority of the jury recommended that the death penalty be imposed. The trial judge agreed and imposed two consecutive death sentences for the murder convictions and two consecutive fifteen year sentences for the assault to commit murder convictions. While incarcerated on the murder charge, appellant pled guilty to an unrelated crime with which he had been charged prior to the date of the murders and was sentenced on March 17, 1975, to serve a term of five years. On April 7th, he was delivered to custody of the Division of Corrections.
Completely supported by the record, the trial judge, in his sentencing order, gave an excellent detailed analysis of the factual setting of these murders as follows:
The trial commenced in Alachua County, Florida, October 27, 1975. The tragedy of the Williams' family as reflected in the trial of the case revealed that WILEY WILLIAMS, SR., was married to ANNA LOUISE WILLIAMS, age 27, and lived in the quiet community of Hawthorne, Florida. There were three children of the marriage: WILEY WILLIAMS, JR., age 10; HAROLD WILLIAMS, age 9; and ANDREW WILLIAMS, age 7. The family had lived in their home which became the scene of this tragedy for nine years. Mr. Williams, the husband and father, worked two jobs. His hours on the first job were from 8:30 a. m. to 5:00 p. m. His second job was at Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida, with hours from 6:00 p. m. to 2:00 a. m. On the eve of November 24, 1975 (sic), he left his home for work, leaving behind his wife and three children. Everything was normal when he left home, and according to his usual custom the wife and children were all in the house and the doors locked.
A neighbor, Mr. Boyer, testified that on the evening of November 24, 1975 (sic), he watched a television program and some news and went to his bedroom. This neighbor lived about 100 feet away from the Williams' house. After being in his bedroom for some time he heard children screaming which according to his testimony was "back around the Williams' house." He looked out and saw lights on in the house and the front door open. The screaming continued. The oldest boy whom he recognized as WILEY WILLIAMS, JR., ran out the front door hollering and screaming being chased by a larger boy whom he did not recognize. The larger boy drug the Williams' boy back into the house. He continued to hear screaming from the Williams' home, but for whatever reason he did not investigate to determine the cause.
A telephone operator for Southern Bell Telephone Company testified she was on duty and working the switchboard on the night of November 24, 1974; and about ten or fifteen minutes after midnight the Hawthorne switch on her telephone panel lit up. When she plugged in to receive the call she heard screaming and a voice say "please don't, I won't tell anyone." She further testified she could hear children screaming in the background but was unable to get a response from the caller. She instinctively and immediately relayed the call to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office emergency number. However, she continued to keep her key open and listened to the screaming and crying. Mrs. Hoard, the supervisor of communications for the Alachua County Sheriff's Department, testified she was on duty on the night of November 24, 1974, when the call was relayed to the Sheriff's Office at approximately 12:20 a. m. Another operator had taken the call but asked her to plug in, which she did, whereupon she heard screaming in the background. From the moment the call was relayed from the telephone company to the Sheriff's Office the call was taped. Attempts were made to have the call traced so the exact location of the screaming could be determined. Unfortunately the attempts were unsuccessful. The tape continued to run and record the violent screaming, pleading and crying coming from Hawthorne until there was total silence on the phone.
WILEY WILLIAMS, SR., got off work at approximately 2:05 a. m. on the morning of November 25, 1974, and arrived back at his home in Hawthorne approximately 2:35 a. m. He noticed lights on in the house and the front door open. As he went into the house he saw first his youngest son, ANDREW, bloody. He looked into his and his wife's bedroom and saw her lying on the bed in a mass of bloody sheets and pillowcases with the telephone off the receiver lying at her side. After a frantic search he located the other two boys who were bloody and cut up.
Having determined that his wife, ANNA, and his oldest son, WILEY JUNIOR, were dead, Mr. Williams, without disturbing anything, ran to a neighbors (sic) house and had the Sheriff's Department summoned. Lieutenant Hansen, the shift commander for the Alachua County Sheriff's Department, arrived at the Williams' home followed by two other deputies from that office. As he entered the front door he saw blood on the floor. He observed Mrs. Williams on the bed with a sheet across her from her waist down, her nightgown pulled up around her neck and the telephone off the hook lying beside her bloody body. He located WILEY WILLIAMS, JR., dead in the bunkbed in his bedroom. He located the two younger children in the house cut and bleeding but still alive. The scene was secured by the crime scene investigator, and criminal investigation commenced immediately. Blood was observed on the ground from the front door out to the fence some 33 feet away, apparently left there by WILEY WILLIAMS, JR., as his assailant chased him out of the house and dragged him back inside. The scene of the crime was described by several of the investigating officers as a bloody scene.
HAROLD WILLIAMS and ANDREW WILLIAMS were given first aid at the scene and taken to Alachua General Hospital for treatment. HAROLD WILLIAMS was seen at Alachua General Hospital by Doctor Summerlin at about 4:30 a. m. who described his condition as critical. His body had 32 stab wounds from top to bottom. He had suffered acute blood loss, one of the stab wounds being in the heart and one penetrating the stomach, liver and diaphram (sic). Open-chest surgery was required for repair of the three-quarter-inch wound in the right ventricle of his heart. The wounds to his stomach were repaired. In the course of the medical procedures he suffered cardiac arrest requiring heart massage to restore the heartbeat.
Notwithstanding the injuries suffered by him, HAROLD WILLIAMS survived the many weeks of post-operative complications which included even more surgery to identify his assailant to officers in the hospital, and subsequently in the course of the trial identified the Defendant, JESSE RAYMOND RUTLEDGE, as being his assailant and the man in his house the evening of the vicious attack upon him, his two brothers and his mother.
The youngest son, ANDREW WILLIAMS, had two stab wounds in his chest, one of which caused a collapsed lung. He had several lacerations on his face, lacerations on his left thigh, lacerations on the left knee and a laceration of the right side of his chest. Andy also survived and testified at the trial that he was in the bed with his mother and saw her stabbed. The man wore a mask, and he did not see his face. However, his brother HAROLD testified that as the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Riechmann
...the issue on direct appeal. Furthermore, Riechmann waived his right to a speedy trial by taking a continuance. See Rutledge v. State, 374 So.2d 975, 979 (Fla. 1979). Therefore, appellate counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to raise this issue. As point (8), Riechmann alleges th......
-
Griffin v. State
...and that absent an abuse of discretion, the trial court's decision will not be disturbed. Lloyd, 524 So.2d at 400; Rutledge v. State, 374 So.2d 975, 979 (Fla.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 913, 100 S.Ct. 1844, 64 L.Ed.2d 267 (1980); Bell v. State, 93 So.2d at 577; Begley v. State, 483 So.2d ......
-
Glendening v. State
...to be competent as a witness, and his ruling will not be disturbed unless a manifest abuse of discretion is shown." Rutledge v. State, 374 So.2d 975, 979 (Fla.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 913, 100 S.Ct. 1844, 64 L.Ed.2d 267 (1980). Our examination of the record reveals no abuse of discreti......
-
Morgan v. State
...The evidence showed that death was caused by one or more of ten stab wounds inflicted upon the victim by appellant. See Rutledge v. State, 374 So.2d 975 (Fla.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 913, 100 S.Ct. 1844, 64 L.Ed.2d 267 (1980); Foster v. State, 369 So.2d 928 (Fla.), cert. denied, 444 U.......