Blair v. State

406 So. 2d 1103
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedNovember 25, 1981
Docket58072
StatusPublished
Cited by63 cases

This text of 406 So. 2d 1103 (Blair v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blair v. State, 406 So. 2d 1103 (Fla. 1981).

Opinion

406 So.2d 1103 (1981)

Richard Cecil BLAIR, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 58072.

Supreme Court of Florida.

November 25, 1981.

*1104 Gary Smigiel of Gehris, Smigiel & Associates, P.A., Daytona Beach, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Richard W. Prospect, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for appellee.

ADKINS, Justice.

This is a direct appeal from a judgment adjudging defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and a sentence of death. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

The defendant was charged with the premeditated murder of his wife, Kim Blair, whom he met while serving with the armed forces in Viet Nam. Kim was the mother of three children, Betty, Bobby, and Becky. The family lived together in Daytona Beach, Florida, until defendant accepted employment in Africa. Upon defendant's return from Africa, domestic difficulties arose which resulted in the death of Kim Blair.

*1105 Under the state's theory, arguments arose because of Kim's complaint that defendant and her daughter, Betty, were spending too much time together and Kim was going to the police about it. The state says that defendant decided to murder his wife, purchased a weapon and ammunition, utilized a conveniently stopped-up sink to justify the digging of what turned out to be the burial site, arranged for the two daughters to be gone at the time the actual shooting took place, made sure all the children were gone while the murder scene was cleaned up and evidence destroyed, and then in the middle of the night, buried the remains of his wife.

The defendant says he had an argument with his wife, she left the home, and when she returned found a gun and ammunition in defendant's car. Defendant says Kim loaded the gun, came into the house, walked into the bedroom and yelled at defendant. At this time, she fired a shot at him which hit a screen and went through the window, breaking the window behind the screen. There was a struggle over the gun and during the course of the struggle the gun went off and Kim Blair was struck in the head. Two more shots were fired. At this point, the defendant went into a state of panic, dug a hole in the backyard, dragged his wife out, and put her in the hole. Then he went back in the house to finish cleaning up the bedroom and found a gun that Kim Blair had hidden under the mattress.

The jury found defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. The case then proceeded into the penalty phase of the bifurcated trial and the jury recommended to the court that it impose the death penalty. The trial court followed the recommendation of the jury and imposed a death sentence. A motion for new trial was denied and this appeal resulted.

On July 14, the night of the homicide, defendant told Bobby that Kim had left home and that she was going to Miami to visit friends and get some rest. On July 15, the defendant told Mrs. Thomas King, a friend of Kim's, that Kim had gone to his mother's house. On July 16 the defendant told Suzie Shepherd, another friend of Kim's, that his wife had felt bad and had gone to defendant's mother's house to stay. On July 18, after a second inquiry by Suzie, the defendant told her that his wife had left home on July 14 with a woman in a blue car. On the morning after the disappearance, defendant told Becky, the daughter of Kim, that Kim was ill and he had to take her to the hospital. Defendant's stories to the investigating officers relating to the disappearance of his wife were just as inconsistent. The law enforcement officers then began an investigation. A search warrant was issued and upon a search of the premises the body of Kim was discovered.

The defendant attacks the legality of the search contending that the affidavit supporting the search warrant did not establish probable cause for the search; the facts in the affidavit were based upon double hearsay and upon the testimony of unreliable witnesses; and the affidavit contained misrepresentations of fact. In State v. Wolff, 310 So.2d 729 (Fla. 1975), we said:

Before issuing a search warrant, an issuing magistrate must make three distinct determinations. He must evaluate (1) the truthfulness and integrity of the witness before him; (2) the reliability of the source of the hearsay information, if any; and (3) the adequacy of the factual premises furnished from all sources to support the validity of the conclusion. In the first instance, he is judging the honesty, integrity, and truthfulness of the person before him. In the second instance, he is judging from the facts of prior actions the reliability and trustworthiness of a non-swearing informant. In the third instance, he is judging the reason and logic of the proposition to reach its ultimate conclusion. These are each distinct functions. They include the so-called two-pronged test contained in Aguilar v. Texas, [378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723] supra, as explained in Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969). Clearly, an affidavit for a search warrant of a dwelling may be constitutionally *1106 based on hearsay information and need not reflect the direct personal observations of the affiant. Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960).

Id. at 732-33.

The bulk of the information forming the basis of the affidavit came from defendant Blair himself. Inconsistent stories alone were sufficient to raise some cause for suspicion. In addition the defendant admitted that he had forged letters and checks so that he could secure funds belonging to Kim Blair. In other words the disappearance of Kim Blair was not as "normal" as one might think. There was information concerning the digging of a hole in the backyard and the pouring of cement over it. There were statements from the victim's daughters to the effect that during the night after Kim's disappearance they both saw, independent of each other, defendant carry into the yard what appeared to be their mother's body wrapped up in a sheet.

One statement in the affidavit was admittedly incorrect, but after deletion of these erroneous facts, the affidavit still contains sufficient facts to demonstrate probable cause. These incorrect statements do not invalidate the search warrant. Stipp v. State, 355 So.2d 1217 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 364 So.2d 893 (Fla. 1978). From an examination of the record it appears that the magistrate who issued the warrant was presented with sufficient facts to properly and legally reach the conclusion that there was probable cause to believe that Kim Blair was dead and that her body was beneath a cement slab in the backyard of her house.

During direct examination defendant testified that on the day of the homicide he and his wife had argued. This argument centered around the way "things was going in the house." Kim was not satisfied with the amount of money she had in her possession and the amount of time that defendant spent "not only with Betty, but Bobby." The record then discloses the following on direct examination:

Q Didn't a day or two of that, there had been an argument, there had been an argument where she said you were spending too much time with Betty?
A Yes, sir.
Q Okay. I am sorry. I was confused.

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Bluebook (online)
406 So. 2d 1103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blair-v-state-fla-1981.