Lewis v. State

398 So. 2d 432
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedApril 2, 1981
Docket50851
StatusPublished
Cited by55 cases

This text of 398 So. 2d 432 (Lewis 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
Lewis v. State, 398 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 1981).

Opinion

398 So.2d 432 (1981)

Robert Fieldmore LEWIS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 50851.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 2, 1981.
Rehearing Denied June 10, 1981.

*433 Theodore E. Mack, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Wallace E. Allbritton, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

This cause is before the Court on appeal of a judgment of the Circuit Court of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, Duval County. The appellant was convicted of the first-degree murder of Joseph Lynwood Richards and was sentenced to death. This Court has *434 jurisdiction of the appeal. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

I. FACTS

On the night of January 27, 1976, Joseph Richards and two visitors were watching television in the bedroom of Richards' home in Jacksonville. At approximately 9:40 P.M. two attackers simultaneously fired upon him from outside the bedroom window, using a .30-.30 rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun. Richards received multiple rifle and shotgun wounds and died instantly. Shortly afterwards, one of Richards' friends called the police. Among the items of evidence gathered at the scene were several spent bullet casings and shotgun shells, recovered from the general area outside the window where the gunmen stood.

The principal evidence against appellant was the testimony of Charles Jimmy Carter. Originally indicted for first-degree murder, Carter was granted immunity from prosecution for his participation in the crime and identified appellant as one of the murderers.

Carter testified that appellant and Eddie Odom asked him to help them kill Richards by driving a van, to be supplied by appellant, to Richards' home. They also borrowed a 12-gauge shotgun from him, and he testified that this shotgun was one of the murder weapons. According to Carter's testimony, he drove a bright pink Chevrolet van to Richards' house, where Odom, carrying a rifle, and appellant, carrying the shotgun, got out and walked up to the house. A few minutes later, Carter said, he heard the shots and the two men came running back to the van and got in. Carter testified that as they were riding away from the scene, appellant said he could not directly see the victim's head but he shot through the headboard of Richards' bed, aiming at the point where he thought the man's head would be judging from the position of his body on the bed.

Carter testified that he then drove the van to the Main Street bridge over the Trout River. From the bridge, Odom and appellant Lewis threw their gloves and shoes in the river and Carter threw the rifle in. Carter then took Odom home and then drove himself home. Carter took the shotgun home with him and appellant drove away in the van.

Carter testified that Joseph Richards had threatened appellant's life because of a dispute over money. Appellant denied that he owned Richards any money and had in turn threatened Richards' life. There was testimony from other witnesses also about appellant's ill will toward Richards.

Carter testified that in addition to receiving immunity from prosecution for his participation in the murder, he also received, in exchange for his agreement to tell what he knew, a reduction of a previously imposed five-year sentence for a separate offense to one year; an agreement not to prosecute him on a charge that arose out of a fight; and an agreement by officials to try to get a reduction in a term of parole he had been serving.

With information obtained from Carter, the police recovered the rifle and the shotgun. Three spent .30-.30 cartridge casings were recovered from the scene. From the rifle retrieved from the river another spent casing and a live bullet were recovered. A firearms examiner testified that the casings recovered at the scene and the one found in the rifle were all discharged in the same weapon. Therefore, although because of corrosion in the rifle he was unable to positively say that the recovered rifle was that weapon, the inference that it was the murder weapon was strong. The examiner also testified that he concluded that the shotgun shells found at the scene were fired by the shotgun identified by Carter as the one he supplied to appellant.

During the period of time surrounding the murder, appellant was living at his parents' home and a seventeen-year-old girl was living there with him. The girl testified at trial that shortly after 10:00 P.M. on the night of January 27, 1976, appellant arrived home, changed clothes, and instructed her and his mother to dispose of the clothes he had been wearing. He also told *435 them, she said, to tell anyone who might ask that he had been at home all evening. The girl testified that he also told her that now he would not have to worry about Joe Richards slapping his face anymore.

II. ISSUES ON APPEAL OF THE JUDGMENT OF CONVICTION

Appellant contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. He argues that the only evidence of his participation in the crime was the uncorroborated testimony of Carter. He argues that the testimony of Carter, who participated in the murder, was inherently unreliable when seen in light of his immunity agreement and the other benefits afforded him by the state. We find this contention to be without merit. The testimony of Carter, even though he was an accomplice, was competent evidence which the jury could consider, according it such value as they might find it to have. That Carter had direct knowledge of the crime was demonstrated by his directing police to the murder weapons. His testimony that appellant was one of the perpetrators was corroborated by the testimony of appellant's teenage girlfriend as to his activities and statements on the night of the murder. We conclude that there was competent, substantial evidence upon which the jury could reasonably base a conclusion that appellant's guilt was proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Appellant contends that the trial court erred in the way it handled a request by the jury to listen to some trial testimony a second time. The trial transcript reveals that the following took place when the jury was preparing to begin deliberating:

THE COURT: ...
Okay. Mr. Foreman, we hand these to you, and you may now retire to deliberate on your verdict, and the evidence will be brought to you in one moment.
JUROR SHEPHERD: One thing. Is there any way that we can get the testimony of any of the various witnesses?
THE COURT: You mean read back?
JUROR SHEPHERD: Yes.
THE COURT: All of it?
JUROR SHEPHERD: No, not all of it, but some of it.
THE COURT: You start deliberating and then decide what you need and then I'll have to rule upon it at that time. (Jury retired to deliberate at approximately 5:07 o'clock p.m., October 29, 1976.)

Trial transcript at 990-91. The transcript shows that then, the following transpired:

(Jury buzzed at approximately 5:35 o'clock p.m., October 29, 1976).
THE COURT: As I understand, they have a question?
(Defendant present.)
THE COURT: Bring them out and just let them stand here and then we will decide what we're going to do.
(Jury returned to courtroom at approximately 5:40 o'clock p.m., October 29, 1976.) (Jury present.)

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