Way v. State, 78640
| Decision Date | 23 December 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 78640,78640 |
| Citation | 630 So.2d 177 |
| Parties | 19 Fla. L. Weekly S4 Fred Lewis WAY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender and Steven L. Bolotin, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Robert J. Krauss and Peggy A. Quince, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
Fred Lewis Way appeals his sentence of death imposed after a resentencing proceeding. He also appeals the summary denial of his second motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution.
Way was charged with murdering his wife and daughter in the garage of their home. At the original trial, the State contended that Way beat both women in the head with a hammer, poured gasoline on them, and set them on fire. Way was convicted of the first-degree murder of his daughter, the second-degree murder of his wife, and arson. He was sentenced to death for his daughter's murder. This Court affirmed the convictions and sentence on direct appeal. Way v. State, 496 So.2d 126 (Fla.1986).
Subsequently, Way filed a motion for postconviction relief which was denied after an evidentiary hearing. Way appealed the denial to this Court and also filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The Court affirmed the denial of the motion for postconviction relief but granted habeas relief based on Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393, 107 S.Ct. 1821, 95 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987). We vacated Way's death sentence and ordered resentencing before a new jury. Way v. Dugger, 568 So.2d 1263 (Fla.1990).
At the resentencing proceeding, the jury again recommended death by a vote of seven to five. The trial court followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Way to death. Way now appeals his death sentence. He also appeals the summary denial of his second motion for postconviction relief. The proceedings in both cases were consolidated for purposes of review in this Court.
Way's motion for postconviction relief is based on facts which he alleges were unknown to him or his attorney and which could not be discovered by reasonable diligence. Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850(b)(1). According to Way, certain photographs relating to the arson investigation undertaken by the State provide evidence that his wife and daughter were killed in an accidental propane gas explosion rather than, as the State has argued throughout, in a gasoline fire intentionally started by Way. Way contends that the photographs show an electrical breaker box in the garage, with four or five tripped circuits, in close proximity to a propane gas tank. His theory, which he supports with an affidavit of an arson investigator, is that the...
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Duest v. State
...entitling him to a new trial.6 The absence of a pending motion for postconviction relief distinguishes this case from Way v. State, 630 So.2d 177 (Fla.1993), in which this Court reversed the summary denial of a motion for postconviction relief raising a Brady claim and withheld ruling on th......
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Allen v. State
...Whether evidence is exculpatory or impeaching is a question of fact that can be resolved by an evidentiary hearing. See Way v. State, 630 So.2d 177, 178 (Fla.1993). Here, Allen alleges that the result of the hair analysis was favorable because it excluded him as the source of the two hairs.......
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Duest v. State
...evidence entitling him to a new trial. The absence of a pending motion for postconviction relief distinguishes this case from Way v. State, 630 So.2d 177 (Fla.1993), in which this Court reversed the summary denial of a motion for postconviction relief raising a Brady claim and withheld ruli......
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Farina v. State, SC15–1697.
...summary denial, stayed Way's direct appeal in this Court, and remanded to the circuit court for an evidentiary hearing. Way v. State, 630 So.2d 177, 179 (Fla.1993). We make clear what was not explicitly stated in Way: motions for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence should not be ......