Hargrave v. State

366 So. 2d 1
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 30, 1978
Docket48135
StatusPublished
Cited by91 cases

This text of 366 So. 2d 1 (Hargrave 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
Hargrave v. State, 366 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1978).

Opinion

366 So.2d 1 (1978)

Lenson HARGRAVE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 48135.

Supreme Court of Florida.

June 30, 1978.
Rehearing Denied February 6, 1979.

*2 Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Paul Morris, Asst. Public Defender, Miami, for appellant.

Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Carolyn M. Snurkowski, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

This cause is before us on direct appeal from a conviction of murder in the first degree and a sentence of death imposed by the Circuit Court for Dade County, Florida. Jurisdiction vests in this Court pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution.

In the early evening of May 19, 1974, appellant committed a robbery at a U-Tote-M Store in Miami. In a statement which appellant later gave to police officers, he described what transpired at the scene of the crime. When appellant entered the store, only the clerk was present. Appellant announced his intention to rob the store and ordered the clerk to relinquish the money in the cash register. The clerk's attempt to comply proved futile when the register jammed. His demand not met, appellant shot the employee twice in the chest. He then endeavored to open the cash register himself but was unable to do so. Thereupon, a customer walked in. Appellant diverted him without arousing suspicion. When the customer exited, appellant proceeded to shoot his victim for the third time. Appellant later claimed that he fired the third shot from a fear of being apprehended.

After the killing, at a nearby parking lot, appellant met a friend, Lawrence Karge, who had previously been employed at the U-Tote-M Store in which the robbery and murder of the cashier occurred. Karge had planned the robbery with Hargrave and had given appellant detailed information about the store's alarm and security devices. Karge drove Hargrave home, where the appellant remained for a short time before leaving for his job as a night security guard.

Approximately seven months later, an informant named Terry Morton contacted the Miami Police Department relative to the U-Tote-M Store homicide. Both Karge and appellant, on separate occasions, had told the informant about the homicide.

Two days after receiving this information, the police placed the respective residences of Karge and Hargrave under surveillance. Shortly thereafter a vehicle which contained the two suspects was stopped. Appellant was taken to the homicide office where he waived his Miranda rights and signed a statement confessing to the killing and identifying the location of the murder weapon.

At a suppression hearing, appellant's counsel sought to prevent admission of both the inculpatory statement and the murder weapon as the fruits of an illegal arrest. The trial court found the confession voluntary. Both items were admitted into evidence. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found Hargrave guilty of first degree murder.

At the penalty trial, testimony was received from both state and defense witnesses which suggested that the appellant was mentally deficient, insecure, and fearful. The State also produced two witnesses — Karge's girlfriend and the informant's sister — who testified that the appellant had told each of them that he had killed someone before, and that it would not bother him to kill again.

The jury returned an advisory sentence of death. At a sentencing hearing before the judge on July 18, 1975, defense counsel moved that the court order a presentence report pursuant to Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.710. Defense counsel proffered the fact that the instant conviction was the defendant's first felony conviction. The motion was denied. The trial judge entered the following judgment imposing the death penalty.

THIS CAUSE CAME on before the Court for trial by Jury, and after deliberations a verdict was rendered, finding the *3 defendant guilty of Murder in the First Degree.
Thereafter, the defendant was adjudicated guilty by the Court, and the jury after hearing additional matters, retired to consider an advisory sentence pursuant to Florida Statute 921.141(2). The majority returned and in open court recommended that this Court impose the death penalty upon the defendant.
This Court, independent of, but in agreement with, the advisory sentence rendered by the jury does hereby impose the death penalty upon the defendant LENSON A. HARGROVE, [sic] and in support thereof as required by Florida Statute 921.141(3), submits this, its written findings upon which the sentence of death is based.
The findings of the Court are as follows:
1. That the aggravating circumstances found by the Court to be present and listed by the Court with the lettering as set forth in Florida Statute 921.141(5), are as follows:
(d) That the capital felony was committed while the defendant was engaged in the attempt to commit a robbery.
(e) That the capital felony was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest.
(f) That the capital felony was committed for pecuniary gain.
(h) That the capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, in that, after initially shooting the victim and while the victim lay helplessly bleeding on the floor, the defendant deliberately leaned over the counter and shot the victim in the head.
2. That none of the remaining aggravating circumstances, set out by statute to be considered, were proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
3. That as to mitigating circumstances, the Court finds as follows:
(a) That there is some evidence of prior criminal activity on the part of the defendant; however, there have been no prior convictions so that it must fairly be said that the defendant has no significant history of criminal activity.
(b) That the defendant was not under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance when the capital felony was committed.
(c) That the victim was not a participant in the defendant's conduct nor did he consent to his acts.
(d) That the defendant was not merely an accomplice in the capital felony committed by another person and that his participation was not relatively minor.
(e) That the defendant did not act under extreme duress or under the substantial domination of another person.
(f) That although there is some evidence of a personality defect in the defendant and some possibility of an impaired capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law, the Court finds that such capacity was not substantially impaired.
(g) That the age of the defendant at the time of the crime, that is, a few days less than 19 years, is a mitigating circumstance; however, he was, at the time of the crime, self-supporting as an adult being employed by a security company. The Court finds that the defendant is of average intelligence or possibly slightly less than average intelligence.
4. It may be, as alleged by the defense, that there could be some doubt as to whether the capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was impaired to some degree.

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366 So. 2d 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hargrave-v-state-fla-1978.