Melendez v. State

498 So. 2d 1258, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 639
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedDecember 11, 1986
Docket66244
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 498 So. 2d 1258 (Melendez 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
Melendez v. State, 498 So. 2d 1258, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 639 (Fla. 1986).

Opinion

498 So.2d 1258 (1986)

Juan Roberto MELENDEZ, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 66244.

Supreme Court of Florida.

December 11, 1986.

*1259 Marshall G. Slaughter, Bartow, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Candance M. Sunderland, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

SHAW, Justice.

Appellant, Juan Roberto Melendez, was found guilty as charged of first-degree murder and armed robbery. The trial court imposed the death sentence for the murder and a life sentence for the robbery. Melendez now appeals his convictions and sentences. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution, and we affirm.

Police responded to a call from the victim's sister on the evening of September 13, 1983, and found the body of Delbert Baker on the floor in a back room of his beauty school in Auburndale. His throat had been slashed, and he had been shot in the head and shoulders. No jewelry was found on his body.

John Berrien testified at trial that there was an occasion around the time of September 12, 1983, on a rainy day that he, his cousin George Berrien, and appellant were together and appellant asked him to drive him to Auburndale so he could get his hair done and pick up some money. The three of them left at about 4 p.m. Appellant had a bulge in the back of his pants that John suspected was a gun. George and appellant said to pick them up from Mr. Del's, the beauty school, in about one and one-half to two hours, and he did so. The next day George asked John to drive him to the train station so that he could go to Delaware to see his children. Appellant went with them to the station and gave George two rings, a watch and a gun to sell in Wilmington. John had seen appellant with watches and rings before, but could not say if they were the same ones. The watch looked like one appellant previously had tried to sell him. Amtrak records reflecting that a Mr. G. Berrien made a reservation on September 14, 1983, to go from Lakeland to Wilmington, Delaware, and a ticket lift indicating that the train was actually boarded were introduced into evidence. There was testimony that the victim had worn his missing wrist watch, gold bracelet and four diamond rings for years and that he had been wearing them the day of the murder. A bank bag containing $50 in petty cash was missing from the victim's desk drawer.

David Falcon, a convicted felon, testified that several months after the murder appellant told him of having participated in the crimes. According to Falcon's rendition, appellant and another had made an appointment with the victim because he was supposed to have money and jewelry. The driver, John, stayed in the car. Appellant and his accomplice went inside, and the latter cut the victim's throat. The victim begged them to take him to a hospital, but appellant said that that could not be done because the victim would tell the police. Appellant then shot him in the head. The perpetrators cleaned up any fingerprints and took jewelry and money.

*1260 George Berrien testified for the defense and denied riding with appellant in the car to Auburndale and said he had seen him only once before at his cousin John's house. Appellant testified and denied culpability. A prisoner named Roger Mims testified that his cellmate, Vernon James, told him that he, his partner and a homosexual killed Baker. There was police testimony that Harold Landrum was a close friend of James's and that James and Landrum were initially suspects in the case, but that Landrum was eliminated as a suspect based on an interview with Landrum's employer.

Appellant's lover testified that Falcon had told her he was going to testify falsely against appellant. She also stated that she had been with appellant the evening of the murder, and this was corroborated by her sister's testimony. There was additional testimony that Falcon did not like appellant and said he was going to have him killed.

The jury convicted appellant of first-degree murder and armed robbery and recommended the death penalty for the murder. The trial court sentenced him to death in accordance with the jury's recommendation, finding four aggravating and no mitigating factors.

Appellant argues that he was denied due process because the police investigators failed to collect and preserve certain physical evidence that might have been beneficial to him: a blood sample from the scene, a stain on the victim's car seat, clothes or shoes of Vernon James, shoes of Harold Landrum, shoes found beside the body, David Falcon's gun, and a hunting knife found in the victim's desk drawer. This claim, relating to the opportunity to present a defense, involves "what might loosely be called the area of constitutionally guaranteed access to evidence." United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal, 458 U.S. 858, 867, 102 S.Ct. 3440, 3446, 73 L.Ed.2d 1193 (1982). "Taken together, this group of constitutional privileges delivers exculpatory evidence into the hands of the accused, thereby protecting the innocent from erroneous conviction and ensuring the integrity of our criminal justice system." California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 485, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 2532, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984). The concern is that the accused have access to exculpatory evidence, not all possible pieces of evidence that the police have rejected as worthless. The duty on the state is "limited to evidence that might be expected to play a significant role in the suspect's defense." Id. at 488, 104 S.Ct. at 2534 (footnote omitted). The evidence must "possess an exculpatory value that was apparent before the evidence was destroyed." Id. at 489, 104 S.Ct. at 2534. There is "no constitutional requirement that the prosecution make a complete and detailed accounting to the defense of all police investigatory work on a case." Moore v. Illinois, 408 U.S. 786, 795, 92 S.Ct. 2562, 2568, 33 L.Ed.2d 706 (1972). Most of the alleged negligent nonpreservation of evidence in this case occurred prior to the time appellant became a suspect. We find neither evidence of a conscious effort by the police to suppress exculpatory evidence in this case nor a showing that rejected evidence possessed an apparent exculpatory value. We affirm this point relating to the collection and preservation of evidence.

Appellant next contends that the trial court erred in denying the motion for mistrial when two non-subpoenaed defense witnesses, the Reagans, refused to appear to testify. Defense counsel sought to introduce testimony of Falcon's forcing his way into the Reagans' home, threatening to kill Mr. Reagan, and shooting into the Reagan vehicle several times. Appellant argues that the Reagan testimony would have hurt Falcon's credibility and might have caused the jury to believe that he was the perpetrator. We cannot fault the trial court for refusing to declare a mistrial when non-subpoenaed witnesses failed to appear. Moreover, inasmuch as the prosecutor agreed to a stipulation as to what their testimony would be and the stipulation was read to the jury, appellant suffered no prejudice. We affirm on this point.

Appellant has not specifically challenged the sufficiency of the evidence by *1261 which he was convicted, but this is a matter we consider nonetheless.

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Bluebook (online)
498 So. 2d 1258, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 639, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/melendez-v-state-fla-1986.