State v. Mullens
| Decision Date | 31 August 2022 |
| Docket Number | SC19-1587 |
| Parties | STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. KHADAFY KAREEM MULLENS, Appellee/Cross-Appellant. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
An Appeal from the Circuit Court in and for Pinellas County Philip J. Federico, Judge - Case No. 522008CF018029000APC
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, and Marilyn Muir Beccue, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Tampa Florida, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee
Eric Pinkard, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Julie A. Morley and James L. Driscoll, Assistant Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Middle Region, Temple Terrace, Florida; and Stephen K. Wirth, John P. Elwood, Andrew T. Tutt, and Samuel F Callahan of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, Washington District of Columbia, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant
The State of Florida appeals and Khadafy Kareem Mullens cross-appeals the postconviction court's order partially granting Mullens's motion to vacate his first-degree murder convictions and sentences of death pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851.[1] For the reasons given below we reverse the granting of a new penalty phase but affirm in all other respects.
The crimes giving rise to this case occurred at a convenience store in Pinellas County and were recorded by the store's surveillance cameras. As seen on the surveillance footage, Mullens and Spencer Peeples entered the store together in the early evening. Mullens approached the front counter where he made contact with the store's owner, Mohammed Uddin. Moments later, after obtaining items in the store, Peeples joined Mullens at the front counter.
Mullens then walked to the store's main entrance where he maintained focus on Uddin. While Mullens was at the main entrance, Peeples began threatening Uddin with a loaded revolver. In response, Uddin fell backwards and attempted to hide behind the front counter. Mullens and Peeples immediately went behind the front counter and demanded that Uddin give them money from the register.
While Uddin was in the process of opening the register, Ronald Hayworth entered the store and approached the front counter. Despite Hayworth's presence, Peeples continued taking money from the register. After clearing the register, Peeples and Mullens asked Uddin about nearby VCR equipment (which was then inoperable). Peeples removed the VCR equipment, later handing it to Mullens.
Mullens and Peeples then demanded Uddin's car keys. When Uddin did not immediately comply, Mullens and Peeples took turns threatening him with the revolver while the other gathered additional items from the store-including lottery tickets. Eventually, Uddin gave up his car keys.
With Uddin's car keys and two bags of stolen items, Peeples exited the store. Mullens, however, remained inside. Armed with the revolver, Mullens alternated between looking through the doors and monitoring the store. Eventually, Mullens opened the door and leaned outside. From Uddin's perspective, it appeared as though Mullens had left the store. Seizing upon this perceived opportunity, Uddin picked up the phone located behind the front counter and began making a call.
As Uddin was making the call, Mullens shut the door and noticed Uddin holding the phone. He walked over to Uddin, pointing the revolver at Uddin's head. As he neared Uddin, Uddin screamed and sought to direct the firearm away from his face, which gave rise to a brief struggle. Despite Uddin's resistance, Mullens was able to point the revolver directly at Uddin's face and pull the trigger. The bullet struck Uddin in the face, killing him almost instantly. Uddin slumped over and fell to the floor.
After killing Uddin, Mullens turned his attention to Hayworth, who had remained in the store but was not in any way blocking Mullens's ability to leave. Mullens walked over to Hayworth, grabbed him, slammed him onto the floor, and then shot him in the face from nearly point-blank range-killing him. At no point during the entire episode did Hayworth confront or resist Mullens or Peeples.
Mullens then proceeded to the main entrance. As Mullens neared the doors, a would-be patron, Albert Barton, started to enter the store. Sensing something was amiss, Barton attempted to backtrack, but Mullens pulled him into the store. A struggle ensued during which Mullens's revolver malfunctioned. Nevertheless, despite the issues with the revolver, Mullens managed to fire it three times, hitting Barton once in the head. Unlike Uddin and Hayworth, Barton survived the brutal attack.
After shooting Barton, Mullens calmly gathered the stolen items-including the lottery tickets-and left the store. He then entered Uddin's vehicle which Peeples had since relocated, and the two left the scene just moments before law enforcement arrived.
Later that day, with the benefit of the store's surveillance video, law enforcement issued a BOLO,[2] which included a description of Mullens, Peeples, and the stolen car. Mullens was arrested the following morning. Immediately prior to his arrest, Mullens discarded some of the stolen lottery tickets.
Ultimately, the State charged Mullens with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. For the two counts of first-degree murder, the State sought the death penalty.
Thereafter, Mullens asked the trial court to declare him incompetent to proceed. At a hearing spanning several days, the court heard the testimony of Mullens's retained expert, Dr. Scot Machlus, and two court-appointed experts, Dr. Jill Poorman and Dr. Peter Bursten. For her part, Dr. Poorman testified that Mullens was fully competent and that he was feigning symptoms in order to benefit himself. Crediting that testimony, the court found Mullens competent to proceed.
Eventually, after many discussions with his family and counsel, Mullens pled guilty to the charged crimes and waived a penalty-phase jury. At a hearing on those issues, the court asked Mullens questions related to his understanding of the charges, the posture and nature of the case, his decision to plead guilty, and the effect of waiving a penalty-phase jury. Satisfied with Mullens's responses, the court accepted the guilty pleas and jury waiver.
At the ensuing penalty phase, the State called several witnesses, including law enforcement officers and a medical examiner. In addition, the State introduced surveillance videos and still pictures from the convenience store as well as judgments and sentences documenting Mullens's prior violent felony convictions.[3]
After the State rested, Mullens presented mitigating evidence. He called a number of friends and family who spoke of his difficult childhood, poor performance in school, below-average intelligence, behavioral issues, and mental illnesses within his family. In addition, Mullens called Dr. Machlus as an expert witness. Consistent with past diagnoses by other professionals, Dr. Machlus opined that Mullens has bipolar I disorder (mixed). He also diagnosed Mullens with a personality disorder (unspecified) and polysubstance dependency. Based on the foregoing, he opined that Mullens's capacity to conform to the law's requirements was substantially impaired and that Mullens was experiencing an extreme emotional or mental disturbance at the time of the crimes.
Ultimately, the trial court sentenced Mullens to death for each murder. In its sentencing order, the court found three aggravating factors, namely: (1) Mullens had been convicted of prior violent felonies, which included the contemporaneous murders of Uddin and Hayworth and the attempted murder of Barton; (2) Mullens committed the murders while in the course of a robbery; and (3) Mullens committed the murders to avoid arrest. To each aggravating circumstance, the court assigned great weight. As for mitigating circumstances, the court found two statutory ones- Mullens's ability to conform to the law was substantially impaired at the time of the murders and he was also acting under an extreme emotional disturbance. The court assigned moderate weight to each circumstance. In addition, the court found six consolidated nonstatutory mitigating circumstances, assigning weight ranging from little to some. The court, however, rejected the proposed mitigating circumstance that Mullens was sexually abused by his stepfather and prison inmates. According to the court, the greater weight of the evidence did not support the sexual-abuse allegations. Ultimately, the court concluded that the aggravating circumstances "far outweigh[ed] the mitigating circumstances, which fail[ed] to reach the magnitude of the aggravating factors."
Mullens appealed, raising several arguments for our review. Mullens v. State, 197 So.3d 16, 25-40 (Fla. 2016). We rejected all arguments directed at the penalty phase except one. Specifically, we concluded that insufficient evidence supported the avoid-arrest aggravator related to Uddin. Id. at 29. Nevertheless, we upheld that aggravator as to Hayworth. Id. We further held that Hurst v. State, 202 So.3d 40, 43 (Fla. 2016), receded from in part by State v. Poole, 297 So.3d 487 (Fla. 2020), did not apply to Mullens since he waived a penalty-phase jury. 197 So.3d at 39-40. Ultimately, finding Mullens's plea to be knowing, intelligent, and voluntary, id. at 35-37, we affirmed the judgments and sentences of death and remanded for the sole purpose of entering a written order of competency, id. at 40.
After the Supreme Court denied his petition for certiorari Mullens v. Florida, 137 S.Ct. 672 (2017), Mullens filed a postconviction motion under rule 3.851, which he later amended. In the amended motion, Mullens raised three claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, an intellectual-disability claim, a claim of...
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