Jones v. State

690 So. 2d 568, 1996 WL 734611
Supreme Court of Florida·Decided December 26, 1996·No. 84014·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

690 So.2d 568 (1996)

Marvin Barnett JONES, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 84014.

Supreme Court of Florida.

December 26, 1996.
Rehearing Denied March 25, 1997.

*569 Lynn A. Williams, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Richard B. Martell, Chief, Capital Appeals, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

We have on appeal the judgment and sentence of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon Marvin Barnett Jones. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

Jones purchased a used automobile pursuant to an installment purchase contract from Ezra Harold Stow, the owner of San Pablo Motors in Jacksonville, Florida. The following month, Jones returned the car to Stow because of a "blown engine." Stow and Jones entered into an agreement to rebuild the engine for $1,500. Jones agreed to pay Stow $800 up front and Stow agreed to finance the balance. When the repairs were completed, Stow asked for $800, but Jones instead gave Stow a check for $4,200 to pay off the entire amount owed for the car and repairs and drove the car off the lot.

At the time Jones wrote the check, he had been unemployed for over a year and knew that he only had five dollars in his bank account and had previously bounced six other checks. Ezra Stow was notified by the bank that Jones' check had bounced. At Ezra Stow's request, Monique Stow, Stow's twenty-two-year-old daughter, phoned Jones. Jones agreed to come to San Pablo Motors on March 3, 1992, and make good on the check. Jones arrived at San Pablo Motors at about 6 p.m. on March 3. Jones went into the trailer where Ezra Stow's office was located and told Stow he had to get something from his car.

Jones returned to the trailer with a .25 caliber automatic pistol and shot Monique Stow while she was washing her hands in the bathroom. Jones shot her once between the eyes and again behind her left ear. Stow heard the shots and started to reach for his gun. Jones rushed into Stow's office and aimed his gun to shoot Stow in the face. Stow threw up his arm as Jones fired and the bullet went through his forearm and then grazed his head. Stow fell to the floor behind his desk, momentarily unconscious. Jones then came around the desk and shot Stow a second time. The bullet entered Stow's cheek, broke his jaw and lodged in his neck. Jones then took the papers for the car from Stow's desk and fled the murder scene. Ezra Stow could not speak due to his injuries, but prior to being taken to the hospital he identified Jones by gestures and writing. Ezra Stow survived his injuries but Monique Stow died later that night.

At trial, Jones testified that Ezra Stow had originally agreed to take the $4,200 check and hold it until Jones could put some money in the bank to cover the check. Jones stated that when he went to San Pablo Motors on March 3 and paid Ezra Stow $4,200 in cash to make good on the bounced check, Stow became angry and requested an additional $2,000. Jones stated that Stow then began to pull out a gun and that he then rapidly shot Stow in self-defense. Jones then got sick at the sight of Stow and went to the bathroom to vomit. He testified that he heard a noise in the bathroom and reflexively shot Monique.

The jury found Jones guilty of first-degree murder of Monique Stow and attempted first-degree murder of Ezra Stow. At the sentencing phase, the jury recommended death by a vote of nine to three. The trial court found that the following aggravators applied to Jones: (1) a previous conviction for a violent felony based on the contemporaneous conviction for attempted first-degree murder of Ezra Stow; (2) that the murder of Monique Stow was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner; and (3) that the murder of Monique Stow was committed *570 for pecuniary gain. The trial court also found that the following mitigators applied: (1) Jones had no significant history of prior criminal activity and (2) aspects of his character and record, namely: that he served eight years in the Navy in responsible positions and with commendations and an honorable discharge, that he is married with two children that he and his wife supported, that during his formative years he had the advantage of a secure middle class home with successful parents, that there was no evidence that he suffered any material, spiritual, or moral privation, and that Jones' parents were supportive, hard-working, industrious and successful. The trial court found that the three aggravating circumstances in the aggregate outweighed the two mitigating circumstances and followed the jury's recommendation that Jones be sentenced to death.

Jones raises the following four issues on appeal: (1) the trial court erred in finding that the murder was committed for pecuniary gain and in instructing the jury on pecuniary gain; (2) the trial court erred in giving the standard jury instruction to define the cold, calculated, and premeditated aggravating circumstance; (3) the trial court erred by finding the aggravating circumstance of cold, calculated, and premeditated; and (4) the death sentence imposed in the case at bar is disproportionate.

Guilt Phase

Although Jones does not raise any challenges to the guilt-phase portion of the proceedings below, we have reviewed the record and find that Jones' convictions for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder are adequately supported by the evidence.

Penalty Phase

Jones contends that the evidence was insufficient to prove the pecuniary gain aggravator beyond a reasonable doubt because it failed to exclude a reasonable hypothesis that he entered the car dealership merely to work out an agreement with Ezra Stow regarding the car. Based on the evidence presented at the trial, the trial court specifically found that Jones had a plan to murder Ezra and Monique Stow and take the car papers, thus eliminating his financial responsibility and allowing him to keep the car. The trial court thus concluded that the attempted murder of Ezra Stow was for pecuniary gain and that Jones murdered Monique Stow to remove an obstacle to her father's murder and to eliminate a witness.

We have previously held that the pecuniary gain aggravator is applicable in cases where "the murder was motivated, at least in part, by a desire to obtain money, property or other financial gain." Finney v. State, 660 So.2d 674, 680 (Fla.1995), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 116 S.Ct. 823, 133 L.Ed.2d 766 (1996). Although Jones already had physical possession of the car at the time of the crimes, based on the evidence in this case there is no reasonable hypothesis other than that Jones murdered Monique Stow and attempted to murder Ezra Stow in order to obtain ownership of the car and to resolve the problem over the dishonored check. The fact that the car papers were missing from Ezra Stow's desk after the murder and attempted murder support this finding as does the fact that after committing the crimes Jones disposed of the car papers and the gun and hid the car.

We agree that killing for the purpose of obtaining a car constitutes commission of a murder for pecuniary gain and that this aggravating factor is present in this case. See Jones v. State, 612 So.2d 1370, 1375 (Fla.1992) (pecuniary gain aggravator properly found where murder was committed to steal victim's truck), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 836, 114 S.Ct. 112, 126 L.Ed.2d 78 (1993); Medina v. State, 466 So.2d 1046, 1050 (Fla. 1985) (pecuniary gain aggravator properly found where murder was committed to obtain victim's car).

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