Johnny Shane Kormondy v. State of Florida

154 So. 3d 341, 40 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 5, 2015 Fla. LEXIS 1, 2015 WL 48045
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 5, 2015
DocketSC14-2428
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 154 So. 3d 341 (Johnny Shane Kormondy v. State of Florida) 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
Johnny Shane Kormondy v. State of Florida, 154 So. 3d 341, 40 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 5, 2015 Fla. LEXIS 1, 2015 WL 48045 (Fla. 2015).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Johnny Shane Kormondy, a prisoner under sentence of death and under an active death warrant, 1 appeals from an order denying his first successive motion for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851 after his death warrant was signed. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. In this motion, Kormondy once again claims that he was not the shooter and that his codefendant, Curtis Buffkin, who received a life sentence, was the shooter and therefore more culpable. We have previously rejected alleged newly discovered evidence óf Buffkin’s testimony that he was the shooter of the victim in this case. Kormondy v. State (Kormondy III), 983 So.2d 418, 438-40 (Fla.2007). In this successive motion, Kormondy primarily reargues that newly discovered evidence, consisting of affidavits from prison inmates that Buffkin told them he was the shooter, supports a finding that he did not shoot the victim. Because Kormondy claims he is less culpable, he contends that his death sentence should be reduced to life imprisonment. We conclude that the affidavits from the prison inmates do not meet the test for newly discovered evidence as they are not of such nature that they would probably yield a life sentence. Kormondy is therefore not entitled to relief. '

In addition to the claim of newly discovered evidence, Kormondy raises a claim of ineffective assistance of postconviction counsel, which we reject as not cognizable in this state court proceeding. Banks v. State, 150 So.3d 797 (Fla.2014), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 511, 190 L.Ed.2d 386 (2014). Accordingly, for the reasons we more fully explain below, we affirm the trial court’s order denying Kor-mondy postconviction relief.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The facts of this case are set forth in Kormondy’s direct appeal:

The victim Gary McAdams was murdered, with a single gunshot wound to the back of his head, in the early morning of July 11, 1993 [in Pensacola, Florida]. He and his wife, Cecilia McAdams, had returned home from Mrs. Mc-Adams’ twenty-year high-school reunion. They heard a knock at the door. When Mr. McAdams opened the door, Curtis Buffkin was there holding a gun. He forced himself into the house. He ordered the couple to get on the kitchen floor and keep their heads down. James Hazen and Johnny Kormondy then entered the house. They both had socks on their hands. The three intruders took personal valuables from the couple. The blinds were closed and phone cords disconnected.
At this point, one of the intruders took Mrs. McAdams to a bedroom in the *344 back. He forced her to remove her dress. He then forced her to perform oral sex on him. She was being held at gun point.
Another of the intruders then entered the room. He was described as having sandy-colored hair that hung down to the collarbone. This intruder proceeded to rape Mrs. McAdams while the first intruder again forced her to perform oral sex on him.
She was taken back to the kitchen, naked, and placed with her husband. Subsequently, one of the intruders took Mrs. McAdams to the bedroom and raped her. While he was raping her, a gunshot was fired in the front of the house. Mrs. McAdams heard someone yell for “Bubba” or “Buff’ and the man stopped raping her and ran from the bedroom. Mrs. McAdams then left the bedroom and was going towards the front of the house when she heard a gunshot come from the bedroom. When she arrived at the kitchen, she found her husband on the floor with blood coming from the back of his head. The medical examiner testified that Mr. McAdams’ death was caused by a contact gunshot wound. This means that the barrel of the gun was held to Mr. McAdams’ head.
Kormondy was married to Valerie Kormondy. They have one child. After the murder, Mrs. Kormondy asked Kor-mondy to leave the family home. He left and stayed with Willie Long. Kor-mondy told Long about the murder and admitted that he had shot Mr. Mc-Adams. He explained, though, that the gun had gone off accidentally. Long went to the police because of the $50,000 reward for information.
A grand jury indicted Kormondy, Buffkin, and Hazen on July 27, 1993. Each was ultimately tried separately. Buffkin was offered a plea bargain by the State in return for assistance in the prosecution of Kormondy and Hazen.

Kormondy v. State (Kormondy I), 703 So.2d 454, 456-57 (Fla.1997) (footnote omitted).

Buffkin pled guilty to first-degree murder and received a life sentence. Hazen v. State, 700 So.2d 1207, 1208 (Fla.1997). Buffkin did not testify at Kormondy’s trial. In addition to implicating Kormondy as the shooter in his statement to the police and in his deposition, Buffkin testified during Hazen’s trial that Kormondy was the shooter. Kormondy III, 983 So.2d at 426 n. 1, 439. It was “clear from Buffkin’s own testimony that he and Kormondy were the instigators of this criminal episode” and that “[o]nce inside the home, the events proceeded as ‘[Buffkin] and Kormondy had talked about it.’ ” Hazen, 700 So.2d at 1214. Hazen testified at his own trial that Buffkin admitted to killing Mr. McAdams. Kormondy v. Sec’y, Fla. Dep’t of Corrs. (Kormondy V), 688 F.3d 1244, 1269 (Fla. 11th Cir.2012), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 133 S.Ct. 764, 184 L.Ed.2d 505 (2012). Hazen was convicted of first-degree murder, three counts of sexual battery with the use of a deadly weapon or physical force, burglary of a dwelling with an assault or while armed, and robbery while armed. Hazen, 700 So.2d at 1208. The jury recommended a death sentence for Hazen by a vote of seven-to-five, which the trial court followed. Id. In Hazen’s direct appeal, we determined that Buffkin’s life sentence precluded a death sentence for Hazen. Id. at 1214. Because Buffkin was “a prime instigator” and more culpable than Hazen, we determined that Hazen’s death sentence was disproportional. Id. at 1211, 1214. Accordingly, we vacated Hazen’s death sentence and remanded for the imposition of a life sentence on his murder *345 conviction without the possibility of parole for twenty-five years. Id. at 1215.

Kormondy has never denied being a participant in the criminal episode but denied he was responsible for the murder or rape and claimed that Buffkin was responsible. As this Court stated in Kormondy III, “Kormondy had continually admitted his participation in the burglary and robbery. In fact, in the statement made to law enforcement officers, which was presented to the jury by the State, Kormondy admitted his involvement in both crimes.” 983 So.2d at 431. “Officer Hall testified that Kormondy told him in an unrecorded statement that Buffkin fired the fatal shot and Hazen was in the back of the house with Mrs. McAdams. In a tape-recorded confession played for the jury, Kormondy again said that Buffkin shot the victim.” Kormondy I, 703 So.2d at 456 n. 1.

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Bluebook (online)
154 So. 3d 341, 40 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 5, 2015 Fla. LEXIS 1, 2015 WL 48045, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnny-shane-kormondy-v-state-of-florida-fla-2015.