Walker v. State

• Decision Date: 04 September 1997
• Docket Number: No. 84113,84113
• Citation: 707 So.2d 300
• Parties: 22 Fla. L. Weekly S537 James WALKER, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 300

707 So.2d 300

22 Fla. L. Weekly S537

James WALKER, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

No. 84113.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Sept. 4, 1997.

Rehearing Denied March 24, 1998.

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Christina A. Spaulding, Assistant Public Defender, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Fariba N. Komeily, Assistant Attorney General, Miami, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

PER CURIAM.

We have on appeal the first-degree murder convictions and judgment of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon James Walker. We have jurisdiction under article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution. We affirm all of Walker's convictions, as well as his sentences for the noncapital felony offenses, but remand for a new sentencing hearing before the trial court on the capital felonies where all nonstatutory mitigating factors established by the evidence will be considered and accorded appropriate weight in the sentencing process.

FACTS

The record reflects that at approximately 8 a.m. on Sunday, August 22, 1993, while responding to a reported brush fire in Sewell Park on South River Drive in Miami, firefighters found the body of a woman partially submerged in a canal on the north side of the park. Her wrists were bound together in front of her with duct tape and duct tape was also wrapped around her head, covering her mouth and eyes. Walker's fingerprint subsequently was found on the interior surface of the duct tape wrapped around the victim's head.

The following day, Metropolitan Dade County homicide detectives Thomas Watterson and Willie Everett issued a press release seeking help in identifying the body. In response to the request, Joseph Clark contacted the detectives and identified the body as that of his sister-in-law, Joanne Jones. Mr. Clark also informed police that the victim's car and her seventeen-month-old son, Quinton Jones, were also missing. Police later found the body of Quinton Jones in the canal, about twenty-five to thirty feet north of the location where Joanne's body had been found. Quinton's nose and mouth were also covered with duct tape. Mr. Clark and other family members informed the detectives that Ms. Jones had been having problems with James Walker, her ex-boyfriend, who worked as a bailiff at the Metro-Dade Justice Building. Ms. Jones had sued Walker to establish his paternity of Quinton and to obtain child support. Relatives also told police that Ms. Jones had accused Walker of sexually assaulting her.

On the morning of August 24, police received a phone call from Walker and asked him to come to the station house for questioning. Walker received permission to leave work and drove himself to Metro-Dade police headquarters. There, he was escorted to an interrogation room and advised of his Miranda rights. Walker executed a rights waiver form at 9:40 a.m.

Initially, Walker denied seeing Ms. Jones or his son on Saturday, August 21. He told police that he had last seen Ms. Jones the week before and had last been in her apartment about one week earlier when he took Quinton to play in a park. He stated he had been in her car on one or two prior occasions, the last time being about one month before. Walker explained that he had called Ms. Jones at about 8 a.m. on August 21, and made tentative plans to meet for a movie that evening. When Ms. Jones did not meet him at the theater, Walker called her and she said she would not be joining him. Walker told police that he then left the theater at 163rd Street in northern Dade County and, after first driving to his sister's home in Overtown, and then briefly visiting his mother at her home in Liberty City, he returned to his own home where he went to sleep for the night.

After Walker related this version of events to the officers, Detective Watterson asked Walker to sign a consent form for a search of his car, explaining, as Watterson later testified, that "we needed to look in the car and to examine it for any evidence." Watterson read the consent form to Walker, who initialed each paragraph, signed the form, and gave his keys to the officer. Walker also signed a form allowing the officers to take his fingerprints and photographs after being informed that his requested cooperation was voluntary. Detective Watterson falsely informed Walker that the police "had a very good fingerprint from the duct tape we had removed from the victim." Walker immediately became flushed and nervous and stated that he was not sure he wanted to sign the form. The officers returned the form to Walker and no prints or pictures were taken.

Because the officers did not believe Walker's story about the events of August 21, they continued to question him. Walker eventually told police that he had, in fact, seen Ms Jones and Quinton on Saturday evening. Walker explained that the three of them had met at the movie theater when two armed men approached them and forced him into the back of Jones' car with Jones and the baby. The two armed men drove the car to the vicinity of the Orange Bowl where they ordered Walker to put duct tape on Ms. Jones. Walker told police that he obeyed and put duct tape over Jones' mouth and eyes. ¹ Walker said the men then ordered him out of the car, threatening that they knew where he lived and would kill him if he said anything. The abductors drove off with Joanne and Quinton Jones still in the car and Walker never saw them again. Walker declined to offer an explanation when officers inquired as to how he had gotten home after being abandoned near the Orange Bowl and why he had not called the police to report the abduction. When Walker persisted in standing by the abduction story, the officers placed him under arrest for two counts of first-degree murder, and implored him to tell the truth. Watterson informed Walker that he wanted a stenographer to take down his "abduction" story. Walker responded to the effect, "If you do that, I want an attorney." Detective Watterson testified that he simply replied, "Okay, we won't do that." Detective Everett testified, however, that before the interrogation continued, Walker was asked whether he wanted to continue talking and he answered affirmatively.

Walker ultimately confessed to Detective Everett that he killed Joanne and Quinton Jones. Detective Everett advised Walker that he was facing the death penalty and urged him "man to man, brother to brother, let me help you out," and stated that if Walker told the truth, Everett would inform the assistant state attorney that he had cooperated. Walker confessed that Jones had met him at the movies and they discussed his concerns about paying child support while they drove around, ending up at Sewell Park around 10 or 10:30 p.m. When they arrived at the park, they got out of the car where they argued and fought. Walker stated that Jones slapped him and he choked her and knocked her to the ground where he thought she was unconscious. Walker spotted some duct tape by a fence, taped Ms. Jones' hands, mouth and eyes, and lifted her over the fence into the water in the canal. Walker similarly taped Quinton, who had fallen from Ms. Jones' arms when his parents were fighting, and threw the baby over the fence into the water also. He then drove Ms. Jones' car to Overtown and back up to the 163rd Street mall where he left it and returned home in his own car.

Detective Watterson reentered the room at this point and was apprised of Walker's confession. Watterson testified that he again mentioned that a stenographer was available to record the statement, but Walker reiterated, "I told you before if you do that I don't want to talk." Both Watterson and Everett replied that they would not bring in a stenographer and Everett asked if Walker still wanted to talk. Walker responded affirmatively and Watterson left the room.

Walker then concluded his statement to Detective Everett, explaining that he phoned Jones the following day and left a message on her answering machine to return his call because he did not think she was dead. Although insisting that he had acted alone, Mr. Walker verified that his brother, Quinton Rogers, had been with him that evening, but maintained that his brother had remained in the car while he and the victims went to the park.

Police recovered Ms. Jones' car from the 163rd Street mall and discovered evidence of a struggle inside. The interior of the car was in disarray with cassette tapes, litter, the victim's checkbook and other papers scattered about. The seat covers were torn, the dash board reflected heavy scratching, the radio knobs were broken and on the floor, the ashtray was under the driver's seat, and the lighter was on the rear seat. Blood was found on both seat covers in the car, on the rear portions of the vehicle, on the left rear interior window and door, and on the ceiling. A strip of duct tape with blood and hair was found under the front passenger seat. Another strip of duct tape containing hair was found under the left rear passenger seat. DNA testing revealed that the blood stains in the interior of the car matched Joanne Jones' DNA type. The DNA from a cigarette filter found in Ms. Jones' ashtray matched the DNA shared by Walker and his brother, Willie Rogers, and 12.2 percent of African-Americans, 6 percent of Caucasians and 4.8 percent of Hispanics.

Vanessa Walker, the defendant's wife, testified that she had observed Walker carrying a bag in the trunk of his car which contained paternity papers and duct tape. During the week prior to the murders, Mrs. Walker saw the defendant carrying a second bag that contained rubber gloves. She had never seen Walker use duct tape or rubber gloves in the three years she had known him. Mrs. Walker also saw the defendant and his brothers whispering together on several occasions during the week of the murders.

On the evening that the murders occurred,...