Williams v. State

• Decision Date: 31 March 2021
• Docket Number: No. 1D19-498,1D19-498
• Parties: Denise WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

314 So.3d 775

Denise WILLIAMS, Appellant,

v.STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 1D19-498

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

March 31, 2021

Rehearing Denied March 31, 2021

Philip J. Padovano and Joseph T. Eagleton of Brannock & Humphries, Tallahassee, and Ethan Andrew Way of Way Law Firm, PA, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Benjamin Louis Hoffman, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

ON MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION AND MOTION FOR REHEARING AND REHEARING EN BANC

Per Curiam.

We deny the motion for clarification filed by Denise Williams and the motion for rehearing filed by the State. On our own motion, we withdraw our previously issued opinion and substitute the following in its place to clarify our analysis of why a judgment of acquittal should have been entered on the principal-to-murder charge.

Denise Williams appeals her convictions for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, arising from the death of her husband, Mike Williams. She raises multiple grounds for reversal of her convictions, and she also challenges her sentence for first-degree murder. We write to address three of her arguments: (1) The trial court erred in denying her motion for judgment of acquittal on the charge of principal to first-degree murder; (2) The trial court erred in denying her motion for judgment of acquittal on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder; and (3) The trial court erred in denying her motion to compel the State to elect between two mutually exclusive charges. Because we agree that the evidence presented at trial could not support her conviction for first-degree murder as a principal, we reverse that conviction. Finding no merit in her other arguments on appeal, we affirm her conviction for conspiracy to commit murder.

I. Facts

In the early morning hours of December 16, 2000, Brian Winchester and Mike Williams met to go duck hunting at Lake Seminole, like they had so many times before. Only this time, Brian planned to murder Mike.

Brian and Mike, along with their respective spouses, Kathy Winchester and Denise Williams, were lifelong friends that often socialized with each other. In 1997, Brian's and Denise's friendship evolved into a love affair, and they began to see each other regularly. As their relationship continued, they wanted to spend more time with each other. But Denise refused to divorce Mike, for fear of having to share custody of their child. Instead, according to the State's theory of the case, Brian and Denise hatched a plan to kill Mike. This would allow them to be together and collect on Mike's life insurance policy.

Brian was the only witness who directly connected Denise to Mike's murder. He explained that he and Denise started thinking of ways to be together about a year to a year and a half before Mike's murder. Brian described their planning as "very mutual," but he also admitted that he "instigated a lot of it." They rejected several plans, including staging a robbery of Mike's office, before deciding to make Mike's death look like a hunting accident.

Brian explained that he planned to fake an accident in which both Mike and he would fall into the water, but he would be the only survivor. Brian asserted that Denise liked this particular idea because Mike's survival then would be up to God and she could feel better about herself if it were more like an accident and less like a murder. For their plan to work, the trip had to occur during duck hunting season and before one of Mike's life insurance policies lapsed. Denise also wanted the duck hunting trip to happen soon so she would not have to go on an anniversary trip with Mike.

Initially, Brian and Denise chose December 9, 2000, as the date for the hunting trip, and Brian made plans with Mike to go hunting on that day. But the night before the trip, Mike called Brian to tell him that Denise would not let him go. Soon after, Brian talked to Denise, and she explained that she had gotten cold feet at the last minute. Brian recalled:

[W]e talked about it and we had several, you know, more conversations that, you know, look, this is - - either we're going to go forward with this or we're not. I mean, we're either going to be together or we're not. You know, like I said, the policy is ending. You've got that anniversary trip coming up next weekend. You know, duck season is going to be ending soon. Do you want this to happen or not? You know, I don't want to set these plans up if this isn't something, you know - - this isn't something that you need to be wishy-washy about, I guess, basically.

Brian and Denise met several times over the next week to discuss what to do next. Brian testified that "it was decided again that, yes, this is what were [sic] gonna do."

The next week, Brian told Mike that he had a secret hunting spot and that Mike would need to bring his waders. They met at a parking lot and drove separate cars to Lake Seminole. Normally, Brian and Mike would have talked on the phone during the drive over to the lake. But Brian told Mike that his cell phone battery was dead. Brian was concerned that if Mike called, the police later would be able figure out from cell phone data that Brian had been with Mike that morning.

Brian persuaded Mike to put on his waders before getting into the boat. According to Brian, falling into the water with waders on could be dangerous and lead to drowning. Brian hoped that after he pushed Mike into the water, Mike's waders would fill up with water, he would be unable to keep himself above the surface, and he would drown. When the two men arrived at a deep area of the lake in the boat, Brian indeed pushed Mike overboard. But Mike managed to remove his waders and swim over to a tree trunk, where he called out for help. Brian panicked and then loaded a gun he had brought with him on the boat. Brian circled the boat around Mike twice before shooting Mike in the head and killing him. Brian loaded Mike's body into his truck, drove home, returned to bed with his wife to establish an alibi, and later drove to a secluded area near his home to bury Mike's body. Brian testified that he did all of this on his own. Denise was not there for any of it, and she was not on the phone with Brian while he murdered Mike or disposed of the body. Brian later would join the search party trying to locate Mike.

Authorities found Mike's truck and boat trailer at the Lake Seminole boat launch. They also found his boat on the shore nearby. A few weeks after he went missing, searchers found Mike's waders and jacket in the lake. Various search and rescue teams continued to search Lake Seminole for Mike until at least February 2001.

While the search for Mike continued, and nineteen days after Mike's disappearance, Denise filed claims for the life insurance money. In June 2001, she petitioned for Mike's death certificate, which she obtained in July 2001.

When asked about Denise's participation in Mike's murder, Brian explained that "Denise really didn't have to do a whole lot, other than come up with an alibi for herself and make sure that Mike went." After the murder, Brian and Denise had limited contact with each other to avoid arousing suspicion.

Mike's mother, Cheryl, urged newspapers and the police to continue the investigation into Mike's disappearance. This led to two confrontations with Denise. The first confrontation, in August 2001, occurred after the local newspaper published an article about missing locals that mentioned Mike. Denise screamed at Cheryl, saying she never wanted to hear Mike's name again or see Mike's picture in the paper because she had to "get on with her life." Denise told Cheryl that if she persisted in trying to persuade the police to launch a criminal investigation, Cheryl would not be allowed to see her granddaughter. The second confrontation occurred in January 2005 when Brian and Denise came to Cheryl's house. Denise told her if she stopped pushing for an investigation, Cheryl could see her granddaughter. Cheryl's other son was present and told them that he and Cheryl just wanted to know what Brian and Denise had done to Mike. Brian and Denise became mad and left. After that visit, Denise did not allow Cheryl to see her granddaughter again.

Brian separated from his wife almost a year after the murder, and they divorced in 2003. Two years later, Brian and Denise married. They were together for seven years before they separated. Denise filed for divorce in 2015.

During the divorce proceedings, police officers told Brian that Denise planned to tell them what really happened to Mike once the divorce was completed. After Denise refused to answer his calls, Brian kidnapped her. He broke into Denise's car and lay in wait until she got into the car to drive to work. He was armed with a gun. Denise persuaded him to let her go, and she contacted authorities. Brian was arrested for armed kidnapping and faced life in prison. He was also charged with trying to tamper with witnesses in the kidnapping case.

About a week after Brian's arrest for the kidnapping, Denise called Brian's ex-wife, Kathy, and asked her to "tell [Brian's father] to get a message to Brian that I'm not talking." Kathy eventually started working as a confidential source for police and recorded phone conversations she had with Denise. In one conversation, Kathy pretended that Brian told her that "ya'll planned it" and that Brian's father told her to take that secret to the grave. Denise never refuted Kathy's allegations and seemed more concerned about what Brian may have divulged.

While Brian was in jail on the kidnapping charge, he entered a proffer agreement with the State. In exchange for his cooperation in finding Mike's body and telling the State what happened, the State agreed to not recommend a life sentence on the kidnapping charge¹ and not to reference the alleged witness tampering at sentencing. The State also agreed not to use any of Brian's testimony against him in the future so long as ...