Turner v. State, No. SC08-975 (Fla. 5/20/2010)
| Decision Date | 20 May 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. SC08-975.,SC08-975. |
| Parties | JAMES DANIEL TURNER, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and George D.E. Burden, Assistant Public Defender, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Appellant
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, and Barbara C. Davis, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Appellee.
James Daniel Turner appeals his conviction for first-degree murder of Renee Howard and his sentence of death. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons that follow, we affirm Turner's convictions and sentences.
The record reflects that Turner had been sentenced to jail in Newberry County, South Carolina, for a violation of probation stemming from a felony battery charge. While incarcerated at that location he was primarily assigned to perform various duties at the local sheriff's office and was given special privileges because he was considered trustworthy. His position provided him unrestricted access to most of the sheriff's office, including the keys to vehicles parked adjacent to the office. Despite being scheduled to be released from the facility at the end of 2005, on September 28, 2005, Turner escaped from the Newberry County Jail in a stolen Newberry County Office Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). The SUV was discovered by local employees in the parking lot of a business located in St. Johns County, Florida the next day. Local law enforcement officials found Turner's identification card and multiple rocks of crack cocaine in the stolen vehicle.
On September 30, 2005, two hotel guests saw Turner lurking around the Comfort Inn located in St. Augustine. At approximately 9:30 a.m., one of the housekeepers employed at the Comfort Inn observed Turner obtaining ice. Another housekeeper also saw Turner that morning and said "good morning" to him, to which he responded "good morning." Later that morning, Turner approached one of the housekeepers and asked her for a towel. A third housekeeper also encountered Turner about an hour before the subject murder and greeted him, but he did not respond.
That morning, Renee Howard, her four children ages eighteen, fourteen, two, and ten months, Howard's eight-month-old granddaughter, and Stacia Raybon occupied room 210 of the motel, which was located on the second floor. Raybon testified that early that morning on the way to obtain breakfast, the defendant passed them, "almost pushing [them] off the sidewalk." Shortly thereafter, Howard drove her son to work and daughter to school, taking two of the other three children with her in a champagne colored Ford F-150 pick-up truck. Howard returned to the motel and Raybon was on the way downstairs to assist Howard in gathering the children when she noticed Turner outside room 210. Howard, Raybon, and the three remaining children returned to the room to prepare to check out of the motel.
The record reflects that while preparing bottles at the rear of the room for the children, Raybon saw a flash of light hit the mirror as the door of the room suddenly opened. She then saw Turner go toward Howard. Turner appeared to strike Howard in the midsection and then turned and proceeded to attack Raybon. Raybon crouched on the floor in the rear of the room and buried her face in her hands. Turner pulled Raybon up by the arm and stabbed her in the elbow. Immediately after stabbing Raybon, Turner noticed Howard move back toward the entry door of the room and Turner turned and directed his attention to her for the second time. Turner's movement afforded Raybon time to grab her purse, rush into the bathroom, and lock herself inside.
While in the bathroom, Raybon heard "loud hitting noises" in the room and the children screaming. Raybon then heard water running in the sink, which was located immediately outside the bathroom door. Turner attempted to force his way into the bathroom, and after he failed multiple times, Raybon asked Turner to release one of the children to her. Turner demanded money, and, after searching her purse, Raybon slid $5 and several credit cards under the bathroom door. Turner slid the $5 back under the door to her and told Raybon to keep it. Turner then brought one of the children to the bathroom door and allowed the child to enter the area occupied by Raybon. After Raybon pleaded for Turner to leave her and the children alone, Turner ordered Raybon to wait ten minutes before exiting the room. Approximately one minute later Raybon heard the entry door of the room close. When Raybon finally exited the bathroom, she discovered Howard's motionless body on the floor.
After Turner left, Raybon tried to call 911 from the hotel room but was unable to connect. She then ran out of the room, screaming for help, and encountered one of the housekeepers, who gave her use of a cell phone. Shortly thereafter, the police arrived and Raybon provided a description of both Turner and Howard's truck, which was missing after the attack. The police secured the area and initially believed that one of the children was missing. However, after conducting a thorough search of the room, the missing child was located under blankets in the rear of the room.
The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office issued a "be on the lookout" for Howard's truck, warning officers that there might be a three-year-old child in the vehicle with a dangerous person. Approximately five miles away from the Comfort Inn, Deputy Graham T. Harris, driving a marked police car, spotted the truck. Deputy Harris eventually caught up to the vehicle and activated his overhead lights. Deputy Harris testified, "Next thing I see when I pull over to the side, I see the reverse lights coming straight at my patrol car, boom, hit it, rear-end hit my front end, eventually knocked out my siren." The truck then moved in a forward direction, pulled away from the police car, and proceeded to move full speed at the driver side of the police vehicle. Deputy Harris accelerated to escape the collision, and then the truck accelerated behind the patrol car as if to ram the patrol car from behind. Deputy Harris drove away from the scene with the truck in pursuit. Eventually, after numerous attempts at ramming the patrol car, the truck collided with a guard rail and came to a complete stop. Turner exited the truck, looked at Deputy Harris, and then jumped off the Deep Creek Bridge into the creek below.
Subsequent to this roadway altercation, multiple deputies arrived at the Deep Creek Bridge. With canine assistance, Turner was located in the creek below. The deputies issued numerous commands for Turner to surrender, none of which were obeyed. After the canine was ordered to attack Turner, and Turner attempted to drown the animal, he eventually surrendered to the authorities. During the standoff and eventual arrest, Turner was heard saying, "I did not do it," "Shoot me, just shoot me," "I didn't do it, the other guy did," and he continuously identified himself as "Ricky." Stacia Raybon's two credit cards were found in Turner's possession when he was arrested.
On October 19, 2005, Turner was indicted for the following charges: (1) first-degree felony murder; (2) attempted first-degree murder; (3) grand theft of a motor vehicle; (4) home invasion robbery with a deadly weapon; and (5) aggravated assault on a police officer.
The first trial ultimately ended in a mistrial. During voir dire, the trial court asked the potential jurors if any of them had any physical problems that would make it difficult for them to serve on a jury and, while one potential juror responded, juror Gard did not. Neither the State nor the defense moved to strike juror Gard for cause or attempted to utilize a peremptory challenge, and the jury was selected with juror Gard as a member of the panel. The following day, juror Gard delivered a letter to the trial court indicating that he suffered from a seizure disorder, but that he had it under control with medication and lifestyle change. He also attached a note from his physician indicating his disorder "becomes worse during times of stress" and asking the court to excuse him from jury duty.
The trial court held a hearing with regard to juror Gard's letter. Juror Gard explained that his disorder was under control and that he would generally know in the morning if a seizure was going to occur that day. In response to questions with regard to why he did not mention the disorder during voir dire, juror Gard explained that he did not think it was going to be an issue and that he "wanted to serve . . . to go through the process like the letter said." Turner moved the trial court to excuse juror Gard for cause. He claimed that juror Gard did not disclose this information because he had an agenda, and that he intentionally withheld information so he could serve on the jury. The trial court refused to strike juror Gard for cause and also denied Turner's request for an additional peremptory challenge. Juror Gard remained on the jury.
At 6:48 p.m., while the jury was deliberating after conclusion of the evidence, the trial court was advised that juror Gard had a seizure and had to be taken to the hospital. At the time of the seizure, the jury had decided four of the five counts and two alternate jurors were sequestered. After continued discussion and research, the trial court relied on Williams v. State, 792 So. 2d 1207 (Fla. 2001), and noted that this Court had ordered a new trial in that case because the trial court substituted an alternate juror after deliberations began. The trial court then discussed Williams:
I mean, looking at it, that's not a case that I would have seated an alternate in either because that's just part of the deliberative process, that she can't...
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