Henry v. State

613 So. 2d 429, 1992 WL 381755
Supreme Court of Florida·Decided December 24, 1992·No. 73433·Published·Cited by 35 cases

Opinion

613 So.2d 429 (1992)

Robert HENRY, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 73433.

Supreme Court of Florida.

December 24, 1992.
Rehearing Denied March 5, 1993.

*430 Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender and Gary Caldwell, Asst. Public Defender, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Mark C. Menser and Carolyn Snurkowski, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

REVISED ON REMAND FROM UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

PER CURIAM.

Robert Henry appeals his convictions of first-degree murder and the resultant death sentences as well as the two concurrent terms of life imprisonment for armed robbery with a deadly weapon and arson. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We affirm the convictions and sentences.

Around 9:30 p.m. on November 1, 1987 fire fighters and police officers responded to a fire at a fabric store in Deerfield Beach. Inside they found two of the store's employees, Phyllis Harris, tied up in the men's restroom, and Janet Thermidor, on the floor of the women's restroom. Each had been hit in the head with a hammer and set on fire. Harris was dead when found. Although suffering from a head wound and burns over more than ninety percent of her body, Thermidor was conscious. After being taken to a local hospital, she told a police officer that Henry, the store's maintenance man, had entered the office, hit her in the head, and stolen the store's money. Henry then left the office, but returned, threw a liquid on her, and set her on fire. Thermidor said she ran to the restroom in an effort to extinguish the fire. She died the following morning.

Based on Thermidor's statement, the police began looking for Henry and found him shortly before 7:00 a.m. on November 3, at which time they arrested him. Henry initially claimed that three unknown men robbed the store and abducted him, but later made statements incriminating himself. A grand jury indicted Henry for two counts of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and arson. The jury convicted him as charged and recommended the death sentence for each of the murders, which the trial court imposed.

After being arrested, Henry made a total of six oral and taped statements. In the first two he claimed that unknown robbers forced their way into the store and denied any personal involvement. In the other statements he confessed that he acted *431 alone. Henry, however, made the first statement prior to receiving warnings pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966),[1] and the last after having had counsel appointed for him. The court suppressed the first[2] and last statements, but allowed the state to use the others. Henry now argues that all of his statements should have been suppressed.

While an "unwarned admission must be suppressed, the admissibility of any subsequent statement should turn ... solely on whether it is knowingly and voluntarily made." Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 309, 105 S.Ct. 1285, 1293, 84 L.Ed.2d 222 (1985). Several police officers and sheriff's deputies testified at the suppression hearing that, after the first statement, Henry received Miranda warnings prior to making his other statements, that they did not coerce those statements, and that Henry asked the officers to come talk with him again on November 4 and 5. The trial court found that all but the first and last statements could be admitted because Henry made them after knowingly and voluntarily waiving his right to remain silent.

A trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress is presumed correct. Medina v. State, 466 So.2d 1046 (Fla. 1985). After studying this record, we agree with the trial court's conclusion that Henry made these statements knowingly and voluntarily. Besides failing to show that the police coerced his statements, Henry has also failed to demonstrate that the delay in his arraignment induced his otherwise voluntary statement made on November 4. Keen v. State, 504 So.2d 396 (Fla. 1987). Therefore, we find no merit to this issue.[3]

Henry also moved to suppress Thermidor's statement to the police, claiming that it did not qualify as a dying declaration under subsection 90.804(2)(b), Florida Statutes (1987).[4] After conducting a hearing on the issue, the trial court found that, when she made the statement, Thermidor was lucid, understood her condition, and knew that she would die. Henry now claims that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress.

We disagree. It is not required that the declarant make "express utterances ... that he knew he was going to die, or could not live, or would never recover." Lester v. State, 37 Fla. 382, 385, 20 So. 232, 233 (1896). Rather, the court should satisfy itself, on the totality of the circumstances, "that the deceased knew and appreciated his condition as being that of an approach to certain and immediate death." Id., 20 So. at 233. The trial court did this. The sufficiency and propriety of the predicate for a dying declaration is a mixed question of law and fact, and a trial court's determination of the issue will not be disturbed unless clearly erroneous. Teffeteller v. State, 439 So.2d 840 (Fla. 1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1074, 104 S.Ct. 1430, 79 L.Ed.2d 754 (1984). Henry has not demonstrated error,[5] and we affirm the trial court's finding the statement admissible as a dying declaration.

The other issues raised regarding the guilt phase merit little discussion. "Except in cases of fundamental error, an appellate court will not consider an issue unless it was presented to the lower court." Steinhorst *432 v. State, 412 So.2d 332, 338 (Fla. 1982). Therefore, Henry's arguments on the following issues are not cognizable on appeal because they do not involve fundamental error and were not raised or objected to in the trial court: 1) failure to give an instruction on duress;[6] 2) improper prosecutorial comments;[7] 3) to preserve first and last argument a defendant must forego putting on a case;[8] 4) improper presentation of victim impact evidence contrary to Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496, 107 S.Ct. 2529, 96 L.Ed.2d 440 (1987), and South Carolina v. Gathers, 490 U.S. 805, 109 S.Ct. 2207, 104 L.Ed.2d 876 (1989);[9] 5) allowing the state to proceed on alternative theories of premeditated and felony murder.[10]

Henry also claims that a discovery violation occurred regarding a fiber analysis. The record shows, however, that the court conducted an inquiry pursuant to Richardson v. State, 246 So.2d 771 (Fla. 1971), and that the defense received the test results in a timely manner. Moreover, the defense stipulated that it suffered no prejudice on this issue. The claim, therefore, has no merit.

Although the state sought to introduce numerous photographs of the victims and the murder scene, the court carefully limited the admission of photographs to only those relevant to the state witnesses' testimony. The basic test for admissibility of photographs is relevance. Haliburton v. State, 561 So.2d 248 (1990), cert. denied,

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