Jordan v. State

694 So. 2d 708, 1997 WL 182647
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedApril 17, 1997
Docket84252
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 694 So. 2d 708 (Jordan 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
Jordan v. State, 694 So. 2d 708, 1997 WL 182647 (Fla. 1997).

Opinion

694 So.2d 708 (1997)

Keydrick JORDAN, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 84252.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 17, 1997.
Rehearing Denied May 27, 1997.

*709 James B. Gibson, Public Defender and Christopher S. Quarles, Assistant Public Defender, Chief, Capital Appeals, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Mark S. Dunn, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

We have on appeal the judgment and sentence of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon Keydrick Jordan. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We affirm Jordan's convictions for first-degree murder and attempted robbery. We vacate, however, Jordan's sentence of death and remand for a new sentencing proceeding in light of penalty-phase testimony that was clearly improper and unfairly prejudicial.

Facts

The record reflects the following.

*710 Ann Mintner was killed on August 8, 1992, after being shot six times. Her death was officially caused by massive hemorrhages in both the chest and abdominal cavities.

The shooting occurred near Lake Davis in Orlando. Mintner was walking around the lake with her friend, Mary Rosensweig, on that particular August morning. When Mintner realized that she was carrying her change purse, she returned to her car to put the purse away. Rosensweig kept walking. When Rosensweig looked back, she saw a black male near Mintner. She heard the black male instruct Mintner to turn over her key. As Mintner ran toward Rosensweig, shots were fired. Mintner fell. She was on the ground as the last shot was fired. There was testimony that four of the six shots entered through Mintner's back.

A bicycle found at the crime scene contained thirty-five fingerprints. The prints belonged to Jordan and Sam Tory and evidence was presented that the bicycle was owned by Jordan and Tory. The night before the murder, Jordan and Tory had worked on the bicycle at the home of Vicki Meyers. Tory was Meyers' uncle. Jordan spent the night of August 7, 1992, at Meyers' home and left early the next morning. He told Meyers that he was going to "rob someone."

When Tory met with Jordan on August 9, 1992, Jordan revealed that that he had "popped someone." Later, when Tory saw his bicycle on television, he called Crime Line and reported Jordan. He received a $1000 reward.

On August 11, 1992, Jordan was accompanied to the Orlando Police Department. Jordan initially denied knowledge of the Mintner murder. Later, however, Jordan admitted involvement in the crime. He claimed that Tory was also involved. Jordan, though, acknowledged that he held the gun to Mintner's head. When Mintner moved away, Jordan said, the gun went off accidentally. There was testimony from a firearms expert indicating that the trigger on Jordan's gun would have to be pulled each time the gun was fired.

Jordan was indicted and tried for firstdegree murder and attempted armed robbery. The jury found Jordan guilty of both counts in the indictment and then recommended the death sentence by a margin of eight to four.

The trial judge imposed the death penalty after finding that four statutory aggravating factors were proven: (1) Jordan's crime was committed while he was placed on community control;[1] (2) Jordan had previously been convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person;[2] (3) the capital felony was committed while Jordan was committing a robbery;[3] and (4) the capital felony was committed for pecuniary gain.[4] The trial judge expressly noted that he weighed factors (3) and (4) as a single aggravator.

The judge, in evaluating the mitigation, considered three statutory mitigators: (1) the crime was committed while Jordan was under extreme mental or emotional distress;[5] (2) Jordan's ability to understand the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired;[6] and (3) the chronological and mental age of Jordan.[7] The trial judge found that the second and third mitigators existed. He refused, however, to find the existence of the first mitigator.

The judge also evaluated nonstatutory mitigation. Jordan asked the judge to consider forty-eight separate mitigating circumstances. The trial judge addressed these circumstances by grouping like factors together and then concluded that the aggravation *711 outweighed the mitigation and imposed the sentence of death.

Jordan raises a total of ten issues on direct appeal. Six of these issues are preliminary or guilt-phase claims.

Guilt Phase

First, Jordan argues that the he was improperly prevented from demonstrating that the prosecutor had racist motives in seeking the death penalty in this case. The claim stems from the fact that Jordan was charged with the first-degree murders of two women. Both of the victims were elderly. One victim (Thelma Reed) was black and the other victim (Mintner) was white. Jordan argues that the prosecutor chose to pursue the death penalty in the Mintner case based, at least in part, on racist motives. The trial court, in an abundance of caution, ordered limited discovery. The State, strongly opposed to such discovery, sought certiorari review of the discovery order from the Fifth District Court of Appeal. The petition for writ of certiorari was granted and the district court quashed the discovery order. State v. Jordan, 630 So.2d 1171 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993). Jordan did not seek review of that decision in this Court. The State argues that this issue is procedurally barred because Jordan failed to seek review of the district court ruling. While a procedural bar may seem appropriate, we note that this Court, in similar situations, has previously reviewed rulings despite those rulings having become the law of the case. Preston v. State, 444 So.2d 939, 942 (Fla.1984). In view of the nature of the punishment imposed in this case, we will address the merits of the claim. Despite the discovery order being quashed, the trial judge proceeded to an evidentiary hearing on Jordan's motion to disallow the death penalty. The motion was denied.

In Foster v. State, 614 So.2d 455 (Fla. 1992), we addressed a similar claim of prosecutorial discrimination in the pursuit of the death penalty. We ruled that the evidence presented by Foster did not constitute the exceptionally clear proof of prosecutorial discrimination necessary to find an abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Id. at 464. In that case, Justice Barkett dissented in part. She suggested that this Court adopt a standard under our state constitution different from the federal standard relied upon by the majority. Id. at 468. We need not reexamine the differences between the federal standard and Justice Barkett's proposal because the trial judge explicitly found:

Because of the unique circumstances of this case I proceeded to an evidentiary hearing, even though I find that the showing required by the majority in Foster has not been met. But because of the unique circumstances of having two first-degree murder cases pending simultaneously [,] one with a black victim and one with a white victim, I felt it was prudent to create a record and proceed to an evidentiary hearing. But I do affirmatively find that the threshold required by the majority has not been met.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Elizabeth Clark v. Kermit Hahn and Evelyn Hahn
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2024
Carter v. State
226 So. 3d 268 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2017)
Tavares David Calloway v. State of Florida
210 So. 3d 1160 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2017)
Brilhart v. Brilhart ex rel. S.L.B.
116 So. 3d 617 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2013)
Siegel v. State
68 So. 3d 281 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2011)
Metz v. State
59 So. 3d 1225 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2011)
Harrison v. State
33 So. 3d 727 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2010)
Chavez v. State
12 So. 3d 199 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2009)
Cordoba v. Rodriguez
939 So. 2d 319 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2006)
Hall v. Anwar
774 So. 2d 41 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2000)
Robinson v. Moore
773 So. 2d 1 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2000)
State v. Reardon
763 So. 2d 418 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2000)
Bryant v. State
744 So. 2d 1128 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1999)
Ramirez v. State
739 So. 2d 568 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1999)
Timot v. State
738 So. 2d 387 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1999)
Tricarico v. State
711 So. 2d 624 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1998)
Jones v. State
701 So. 2d 76 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1997)
Murray v. State
692 So. 2d 157 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
694 So. 2d 708, 1997 WL 182647, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-v-state-fla-1997.