Mills v. State

684 So. 2d 801, 1996 WL 691716
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedDecember 4, 1996
Docket89434
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 684 So. 2d 801 (Mills 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
Mills v. State, 684 So. 2d 801, 1996 WL 691716 (Fla. 1996).

Opinion

684 So.2d 801 (1996)

John MILLS, Jr., Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 89434.

Supreme Court of Florida.

December 4, 1996.

*802 Terri L. Backhus, Chief Assistant CCR; Martin J. McClain, Litigation Director and Gail E. Anderson, Assistant CCR, Office of the Capital Collateral Representative, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

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

PER CURIAM.

John Mills Jr. appeals an order entered by the trial court below pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

John Mills Jr. was convicted of the first-degree murder of Les Lawhon in Wakulla County, Florida, in 1982. Mills was also convicted of kidnapping, armed burglary of a *803 dwelling, first-degree arson, and grand theft arising out of the same criminal episode.

On March 5, 1982, Mills picked up Michael Fredrick in Mills' truck, and the two set out to burglarize a house. After they spotted Lawhon's trailer, Mills knocked on the door and asked Lawhon to use the telephone. Mills and Fredrick went inside, and Mills held a knife to Lawhon's throat, took a shotgun from the trailer, and forced Lawhon into Mills' truck. Fredrick drove while Mills kept the shotgun aimed at Lawhon. During the trip, Mills made several comments to Lawhon clearly implying that Lawhon would be killed when they reached their destination. They drove to an abandoned airstrip, where Mills tied Lawhon's hands behind his back with a belt and hit him on the head with a tire iron. As Fredrick and Mills were about to leave, Lawhon got up and ran into nearby woods. Mills chased after him and killed him with a shotgun blast at close range. Fredrick and Mills then returned to Lawhon's trailer and took most of the valuable personal property. Before they left, the trailer was set on fire. The shotgun and some of the property stolen from Lawhon were found by police in Mills' mother's house and in a shed behind her house.[1]

Prior to trial, Fredrick pled guilty to second-degree murder and became the State's main trial witness. Mills testified in his own defense that Fredrick borrowed Mills' truck on the day of the murder and returned the truck to Mills full of the stolen goods. Mills testified that Fredrick gave him the goods as repayment of a debt. Mills denied any involvement in the crime and suggested that Fredrick and another person had killed Lawhon.

Mills was convicted of all charges. After the penalty phase, the jury recommended the death penalty by vote of ten to two. The five aggravators found by the trial court were: (1) that the murder was heinous, atrocious, or cruel; and that Mills committed the murder (2) while under sentence of imprisonment; (3) during a kidnapping; (4) for pecuniary gain; (5) in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner. Finding nothing in mitigation, the trial court followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Mills to death. Mills' convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal. Mills v. State, 462 So.2d 1075 (Fla.), cert. denied, 473 U.S. 911, 105 S.Ct. 3538, 87 L.Ed.2d 661 (1985).

The Governor signed Mills' first death warrant, with execution scheduled for May 7, 1987. Mills then filed a rule 3.850 motion for postconviction relief to vacate his sentences and convictions. After a two-day evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied relief on all claims in the postconviction motion. This Court affirmed the trial court's denial of the 3.850 motion and also denied Mills' petition for writ of habeas corpus. Mills v. State, 507 So.2d 602 (Fla.1987).

Mills next filed a petition for habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The district court granted a stay of execution on May 6, 1987. The court held a two-day evidentiary hearing on the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel during the guilt phase of the trial and thereafter rejected the claim as meritless.

Over the course of the next several years, Mills filed three separate petitions for writ of habeas corpus in this Court, which were denied. See Mills v. Singletary, 622 So.2d 943 (Fla.1993); Mills v. Dugger, 574 So.2d 63 (Fla.1990); Mills v. Dugger, 523 So.2d 578 (Fla.1988). Recently, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the federal district court's denial of Mills' federal petition for writ of habeas corpus. Mills v. Singletary, 63 F.3d 999 (11th Cir.1995), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 116 S.Ct. 1837, 134 L.Ed.2d 940 (1996).[2]

The Governor signed Mills' death warrant on October 30, 1996, with execution scheduled for Wednesday, December 4, 1996. On *804 December 2, 1996, Mills filed this second rule 3.850 motion for postconviction relief with the trial court. After hearing legal arguments on the motions, the trial court summarily denied the claim on the same day, finding the claims in the motion to be procedurally barred.

In this appeal of the trial court's denial, Mills raises four claims. In his first claim, Mills contends that the trial court reversibly erred when it summarily denied relief without attaching those portions of the record conclusively showing that he was entitled to no relief. Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850(d). In support of this claim, Mills relies upon our decision in Roberts v. State, 678 So.2d 1232, 1236 (Fla.1996), in which we found the failure to attach the pertinent portions of the record to be reversible error. However, Roberts is distinguishable because in that case, the trial court not only failed to attach any portions of the record but also did not give any explanation for the basis of the court's ruling. Id. In this case, the trial court specifically found the issues raised by Mills "procedurally barred as representing matters which were or could have been raised previously for the reasons contained [in] the State's Response." Accordingly, we find no reversible error.[3]

In his next claim, Mills argues that he was denied adversarial testing when critical exculpatory evidence was not presented to the jury at the guilt and sentencing phases of his trial because the State did not reveal all exculpatory evidence in violation of United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985), Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220.[4] This claim is based on newly discovered evidence that Mills contends the State should have revealed.[5] In support of his claim, Mills provided affidavits of several witnesses who attest that they saw Fredrick with the victim prior to the murder and that they saw Fredrick and the victim with Debra Mock several times prior to the murder.[6]

We first address the threshold showing required for this Court to reach the merits of this successive petition. Concerning successive motions, rule 3.850(b) provides:

No other motion shall be filed or considered pursuant to this rule if filed more than ... 1 year after the judgment and sentence become final in a capital case in which a death sentence has been imposed unless it alleges that

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Bluebook (online)
684 So. 2d 801, 1996 WL 691716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mills-v-state-fla-1996.