Fuente v. State

549 So. 2d 652, 1989 WL 106357
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedSeptember 14, 1989
Docket69196
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 549 So. 2d 652 (Fuente 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
Fuente v. State, 549 So. 2d 652, 1989 WL 106357 (Fla. 1989).

Opinion

549 So.2d 652 (1989)

Hector FUENTE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 69196.

Supreme Court of Florida.

September 14, 1989.

*653 Simson Unterberger, Tampa, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and William I. Munsey, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

EHRLICH, Chief Justice.

Hector Fuente appeals his conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article. V, section 3(b)(1), of the Florida Constitution. We affirm the conviction but vacate the sentence of death.

According to the testimony of Fuente's half-brother, Ralph Salerno, Fuente entered into an agreement with his cousin, Barbara Alfonso, to kill her husband, Enrique, for $2,500 to $5,000. Salerno also testified that the motive for the murder was that the victim talked too much and was flashy. Fuente's cousin denied offering him money to kill her husband and testified that Fuente wanted the victim "out the way" because he "talked too much."

Salerno testified that on the day of the murder, Fuente instructed him to dig a grave off Howard Avenue in Tampa. After digging the grave, Salerno returned to Fuente's home and Fuente gave him a .38 stub-nosed handgun and an ankle holster. Fuente instructed Salerno to go to a Tampa lounge and wait there until he and the victim picked him up. Fuente was to get the victim to come along by asking him to act as the "muscle" in a drug deal that Fuente pretended was to take place that night. When Fuente and the victim arrived at the lounge, Salerno got in the back seat on the passenger side of the car behind the victim. The three drove to Morris Bridge Road where Salerno aimed the .38 at the back of the victim's seat and pulled the trigger three times; each time the gun misfired. When questioned by Alfonso, Salerno told him that he was just testing his gun. Alfonso offered to get his .38 from the motel which he and his wife managed for Fuente. Fuente went to get his .357 magnum from his house. He then drove to a vacant lot saying that he needed to urinate. He took the.357 to the back of the car and then returned to the open door on the driver's side of the car, pointed the gun at Alfonso, and pulled the trigger twice. It sounded to Salerno as if the first shot hit metal. After the second shot was fired, Alfonso exclaimed "oh, my God" and *654 raised his arm. According to Salerno, Fuente got in the car and ordered him to grab the arm so that it would not touch him. The arm went limp when Salerno let go of it. They drove to the grave site, where Salerno dragged the body to the grave and, at Fuente's direction, removed all of Alfonso's personal belongings except for his motel key. Fuente left the grave site, instructing Salerno to bury the victim, and later returned in a different car. Salerno was instructed to incinerate the first car.

Barbara Alfonso testified that after the murder, Fuente bragged about how he had murdered her husband and that they had discussed the murder on almost a daily basis. Sally Resina, Fuente's ex-wife, testified that Fuente told her, in the presence of Salerno, that he had murdered Enrique.

The murder was committed in November of 1979 but was not discovered until 1983 when Salerno admitted to authorities that he had been involved in various criminal activities, including the murder of Enrique Alfonso. Prior to being charged for this offense, Fuente was charged with and pled guilty to racketeering under 18 United States Code section 1962(c).

A first trial resulted in a mistrial. After a second trial, Fuente was found guilty of first-degree murder. The trial court overrode the jury's recommendation of life, imposing the death penalty. The trial court found three aggravating factors: 1) Fuente was previously convicted of a violent felony; 2) the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest; and 3) the homicide was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification. One nonstatutory mitigating factor was found: six months after the commission of this murder, Fuente saved a woman from drowning.

GUILT PHASE

Fuente raises seven claims in connection with his conviction, only three of which merit discussion.[1] As his first claim, Fuente maintains that he was entitled to discharge because the state failed to bring him to trial within 180 days after his request for final disposition under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, paragraph 941.45(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1985). Under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, a prisoner in one participating jurisdiction may require the speedy disposition of charges pending against him in another participating jurisdiction, when those charges serve as the basis for the lodging of a detainer against him, by requesting final disposition of the charges as set forth in paragraphs (3)(a) and (b) of the Agreement.[2] When a prisoner makes a request for disposition of charges for which a detainer has been filed against him, paragraph (5)(a) requires "the appropriate authority in [the] sending state [to] offer to deliver temporary custody of [the] prisoner to the appropriate authority in the state where [the charges are] pending... ." Under *655 paragraph (3)(a) of the Agreement, a prisoner must be brought to trial on out-of-state charges for which a detainer has been filed against him within 180 days after he has "caused to be delivered to the prosecuting officer and the appropriate court of the prosecuting officer's jurisdiction written notice of the place of his imprisonment and his request for a final disposition" of the charges pending against him. Paragraph (5)(c) of the Agreement provides that an action shall be dismissed with prejudice, if the prisoner is not brought to trial within the prescribed period. Paragraph (6)(a) of the Agreement provides that the running of the time period set forth in subsection (3) "shall be tolled whenever and for as long as the prisoner is unable to stand trial, as determined by the court having jurisdiction of the matter." The issue before us is whether the 180-day period was tolled due to Fuente's inability to stand trial, under paragraph (6)(a).

Between May 22, 1985 and June 17, 1985, the detainer for the first-degree murder which is the subject of this appeal was lodged against Fuente with authorities at the federal prison facility in Memphis, Tennessee, where Fuente was serving a fifteen-year sentence in connection with his conviction of racketeering under 18 United States Code section 1962(c). On July 2, 1985, Florida authorities received or were on notice of Fuente's request for final disposition. On July 25, 1985, a transfer order was issued, ordering Fuente's transfer from the Memphis facility to the Lompoc, California Penitentiary for medical treatment. On August 1, 1985, Fuente began his journey to Lompoc, arriving there nineteen days later on August 20. Upon arriving at Lompoc facility, Fuente was placed in the general prison population until September 12, when he was an inpatient at the infirmary where he was treated for and recovered from a condition which arose subsequent to his arrival at that facility. On October 1, 1985, Fuente began a seventeen-day trek back to Memphis, arriving there on October 18. On November 25, 1985, the federal officials informed the Florida authorities that Fuente would be released to their custody sometime after December 4, 1985. Fuente was released to Florida officials and arrived at the Hillsborough County, Florida Jail on December 12, 1985.

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549 So. 2d 652, 1989 WL 106357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fuente-v-state-fla-1989.