Sparre v. State, SC12–891.

• Decision Date: 22 January 2015
• Docket Number: No. SC12–891.,SC12–891.
• Citation: 164 So.3d 1183
• Parties: David Kelsey SPARRE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

164 So.3d 1183

David Kelsey SPARRE, Appellant

v.STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC12–891.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Jan. 22, 2015.

Rehearing Denied May 20, 2015.

Nancy Ann Daniels, Public Defender, and Nada Margaret Carey, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, FL, for Appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Charmaine Millsaps, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, for Appellee.

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This case is before the Court on appeal from a judgment of conviction of first-degree murder and a sentence of death. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

We reject the three claims that David Kelsey Sparre has raised in this appeal. In his first claim, Sparre argues that the trial court erred by not calling its own witnesses who potentially had knowledge of mitigating factors against the imposition of the death penalty. We determine that there is insufficient evidence in the record to support this claim. Nevertheless, we take this occasion to emphasize that when a defendant who is facing the death penalty waives the presentation of mitigating circumstances, as Sparre has done, the trial courts shall ensure that they are considering comprehensive presentencing investigation (PSI) reports and accompanying records in accordance with the standard established in Muhammad v. State, 782 So.2d 343 (Fla.2001).

In his second claim, Sparre invites us to recede from our holding in Hamblen v. State, 527 So.2d 800 (Fla.1988). However, Sparre fails to show why the policy that we established in Hamblen is unworkable under the requirements of Florida law. Therefore, we reject Sparre's second claim and deny him any relief thereunder. In his third claim, Sparre argues that his sentence of death violates the requirements established in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002). This claim is without merit. Therefore, we deny Sparre any relief under this claim as well.

We find there is competent, substantial evidence in the record to support the trial court's judgment that Sparre is guilty of committing first-degree murder. And, because the aggravating circumstances greatly outweighed the mitigating circumstances, the death penalty imposed on Sparre is proportionate to the circumstances established in cases where we affirmed the death penalties imposed on other defendants who were convicted for committing capital murder.

I. BACKGROUND

Sparre was convicted for the first-degree murder of Tiara Pool. In July 2010, Tiara Pool lived in an apartment located in Jacksonville, Florida. During that month, her husband Michael Pool, a sailor in the United States Navy, was at sea aboard a naval ship. The Pools' two young sons were in Bonifay, Florida, living with their paternal grandmother. Michael Pool later testified that he and Pool had had some marital problems, and that he had some suspicions that Pool had been involved with other men. Michael Pool testified that he never met Sparre.

On July 1, 2010, Pool posted an ad on Craigslist in which she indicated that she wanted to meet a white male that met certain criteria that she outlined. However, nothing about Pool's Craigslist posting was sexually suggestive. On July 5, Sparre initially responded to Pool's Craigslist posting. From Sparre's initial contact with Pool until July 8, Sparre and Pool spoke to each other multiple times by phone and exchanged numerous text messages; some of the text messages Sparre and Pool exchanged contained sexually explicit content.

On July 12, Nichelle Edwards, a friend of Pool's and her part-time sitter, went to Pool's apartment to check on her because Pool had been incommunicado for several days. Edwards entered the apartment using a key that Pool had previously given her. When Edwards went to the master bedroom and slightly opened the door, she saw a hand on the floor. Edwards immediately ran out of the apartment and dialed 911.

Officer Wesley Brown of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) was the first responder on the scene. Officer Brown went into the apartment and found Pool's bloody, nude body on the master bedroom floor. A short time later, Detective Deborah Brookins and other crime scene investigators arrived to relieve Officer Brown and to begin their work of processing the murder scene.

The crime scene investigators found no indications of forced entry into Pool's apartment. However, they found Pool's open, rummaged-through purse on a table in the living room, and her cellular phone placed on the back of the sofa. In the master bedroom, there was blood around Pool's body—on the carpet, baseboards, door, and wall. Investigators also found a blue towel under Pool's body. On the bed, there was blood, various articles of clothing, and a bottle of Oxi–Clean. There was blood on the master bathroom door, and blood droplets at the entrance to the bathroom. There was blood in the grout on the floor near the tub and the toilet. A large knife, matching those in a knife block set in Pool's kitchen, was resting against the side of the bath tub. The knife's tip was broken off, and the blade was bowed. This knife was later established as the murder weapon.

Dr. Jesse Giles, a medical examiner, opined that Pool was alive and conscious through at least eighty-eight sharp-force injuries, which included thirty-nine defensive wounds

.¹ Investigators testified that the crime scene was “cleaned” to such an extent that virtually no evidence of Pool's assailant was recoverable. However, investigators found a mixture of DNA material on the murder weapon. Jason Hitt, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement biological/DNA analyst, testified that when he tested the mixture of DNA material recovered at the murder scene he was able to rule out ninety-nine percent of the world's population; yet, Sparre and Pool were possible contributors to the mixture of DNA material found on the murder weapon. In addition, Kevin Noppinger, a former DNA analyst, testified that he found Y–DNA material taken from the murder weapon's handle matched Sparre's.

Investigators found that the following items of Pool's were missing: her 2003 Chevrolet Malibu, a PlayStation 3 game console, a DVD, and a wireless modem. During a routine patrol on July 14, JSO Officer Christine Upton located Pool's automobile parked one block north of St. Vincent's Hospital.

Because he was a person of interest in the case, also on July 14, JSO Detectives Patrick Bodine and James Childers traveled to Brantley County, Georgia, where Sparre resided. Deputy John Simpson, a Brantley County Sheriff's Office investigator, accompanied the JSO detectives to Sparre's residence. Sparre consented to being interviewed and accompanied the JSO detectives to the local sheriff's office. Deputy Simpson actually transported Sparre to and from the local sheriff's office where Sparre's interview took place on July 14.

JSO detectives video-recorded their interview with Sparre at the sheriff's office in Brantley County. Sparre informed the detectives that he met Pool after he responded to an ad that Pool had posted on Craigslist.

In his initial interview with the detectives, Sparre represented that he and Pool agreed to meet at St. Vincent's Hospital in Jacksonville on July 8. According to Sparre, after meeting Pool, she drove him to her apartment where they engaged in consensual sexual relations. Sparre alleged that Pool drove him back to the same hospital a few hours later, left him near the main entrance, and drove away.

Later, due to inconsistencies in Sparre's account of his July 8 encounter with Pool, and other evidence uncovered during their investigation, Sparre became the detectives' prime suspect in Pool's murder. One of the discrepancies the detectives found was Sparre's false statements about the location from which he sent two text messages to Pool's phone on the evening of July 8. Karen Mildrodt of Verizon Wireless later provided testimony about the activity on Sparre's phone based on the location of cellular phone towers on July 8. The investigating detectives had utilized location information about his phone activity to determine that Sparre had not been completely truthful about the timing of his whereabouts on July 8.

On July 23, Detectives Bodine and Childers obtained a warrant for Sparre's arrest. The detectives learned that sometime after meeting with them on July 14, Sparre left Brantley County, Georgia, and relocated to Charleston, South Carolina. Therefore, on July 24, Detectives Bodine and Childers traveled to Charleston to arrest Sparre and interview him there. Sparre's interview on July 24 was also video-recorded. The jury later viewed a version of Sparre's July 24 interview with JSO detectives, portions of which the trial judge ordered to be redacted in accordance with mutual consent of the parties. The video-recording shows that after he gave the detectives various versions of his encounter with Pool, Sparre ultimately admitted that he murdered her with the kitchen knife investigators found at the murder scene.

Sparre also told the detectives that he remembered everything that he touched in Pool's apartment. Sparre boasted to the detectives that he painstakingly wiped down, with his socks, every area or item that he contacted in Pool's apartment. Sparre also stated that he wiped his fingerprints from Pool's car in the same manner. Richard Kocik, a JSO latent fingerprint examiner, later testified that he did not detect any of Sparre's fingerprints at the murder scene, or in and on Pool's car. And when the detectives asked Sparre where he learned how to “clean” a crime scene, Sparre stated that he learned by watching the television program CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A grand jury indicted Sparre for one count of first-degree murder that occurred in Duval County sometime on or between July 8, 2010, and July 12, 2010. The State gave notice of its intent to seek the death penalty pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.202. Sparre was represented by...