Paul Christopher Hildwin v. State of Florida

141 So. 3d 1178, 39 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 441, 2014 WL 2882689, 2014 Fla. LEXIS 2064
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 26, 2014
DocketSC12-2101
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 141 So. 3d 1178 (Paul Christopher Hildwin v. State of Florida) 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
Paul Christopher Hildwin v. State of Florida, 141 So. 3d 1178, 39 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 441, 2014 WL 2882689, 2014 Fla. LEXIS 2064 (Fla. 2014).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Paul Christopher Hildwin appeals from the denial of postconviction relief in this death penalty case. We reverse and conclude that newly discovered evidence that identifies the donor of DNA left at the crime scene compels that a new trial be granted.1 The newly discovered DNA evidence now establishes that the victim’s boyfriend, William Haverty, and not the defendant, Hildwin, was the provider of biological material found on two items at the crime scene: a pair of women’s underwear and a white washcloth. Importantly, this new scientific evidence completely changes the nature of the evidence relied upon by the State at trial, since at trial, the State introduced the underwear and washcloth to show that the biological material left on the items was consistent with the defendant, Hildwin, and was inconsistent with Haverty. Hildwin’s defense, however, maintained that Haverty killed the victim.

In other words, this new scientific evidence completely discredits the scientific evidence that the State relied upon at trial when the State argued that Hildwin’s defense was not supported by the evidence. In fact, exactly the opposite has now been shown to be true — the biological material matches the very person that Hildwin argued at trial was responsible for the murder.

[1181]*1181Specifically, at trial, the State prosecuted the case based on a false theory of scientific evidence that was woven throughout its presentation of evidence and argument — scientific evidence that has now been totally discredited. At trial, the State relied on the biological material left on the underwear and washcloth to refute Hildwin’s version of the events, asserting that serological analysis of the biological material demonstrated that the DNA belonged to a nonsecretor — one who does not secrete blood into other bodily fluids — and thus the biological material could not belong to Haverty, as Hildwin claimed, because Haverty was a secretor. Moreover, the State presented evidence that Hildwin was a nonsecretor and further relied on evidence showing that nonsecretors made up only eleven percent of the male population. During the postconviction proceedings, new DNA testing was conducted on the biological material, and after the DNA results were inputted to computer DNA indexing systems, the DNA found on both items has been shown to match Haverty— not Hildwin. Thus, the scientific evidence relied upon at trial has been proven to be false, and the new scientific evidence actually supports Hildwin’s defense.

The State cannot now distance itself from the evidence and theory it relied upon at trial by arguing that it could have still convicted Hildwin without any of the now-discredited scientific evidence. While that might be possible, we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that a significant pillar of the State’s case, as presented to the jury, has collapsed and that this same evidence actually supports the defense theory that Hildwin presented at trial.

In light of the evidence presented at trial, and considering the cumulative effect of all evidence that has been developed through Hildwin’s postconviction proceedings, we conclude that the totality of the evidence is of “such nature that it would probably produce an acquittal on retrial” because the newly discovered DNA evidence “weakens the case against [the defendant] so as to give rise to a reasonable doubt as to his culpability.” Jones v. State (Jones II), 709 So.2d 512, 521, 526 (Fla.1998) (quoting Jones v. State (Jones I), 678 So.2d 309, 315 (Fla.1996)). For the reasons set forth below, we vacate Hild-win’s conviction for first-degree murder, vacate the sentence of death, and remand for a new trial.

FACTS

On direct appeal, this Court summarized the facts presented at trial as follows:

Appellant was arrested after cashing a check purportedly written to him by one Vronzettie Cox, a forty-two-year-old woman whose body had been found in the trunk of her car, which was hidden in dense woods in Hernando County. Death was due to strangulation; she also had been raped.2 Evidence indicated she had been killed in a different locale from where her body was found. Her purse, from which some contents had been removed, was found in dense woods, directly on line between her car and appellant’s house. A pair of semen-encrusted women’s underpants was found on a laundry bag in her car, as was a sweat-stained wash rag. Analysis showed the semen and sweat came from nonsecretor (i.e., one who does not secrete blood into other bodily fluids).[3] [1182]*1182Appellant, a white male, was found to be a nonsecretor; there was testimony that white male nonsecretors make up eleven percent of the population.
The victim had been missing for four days when her body was found. The man she lived with, one Haverty, said she had left their home to wash clothes at a coin laundry. To do so, she had to pass a convenience store. Appellant’s presence in the area of the store on the date of her disappearance had come about this way: He and two women had gone to a drive-in movie, where they had spent all their money. Returning home early in the morning, their car ran out of gas. A search of the roadside yielded pop bottles, which they redeemed for cash and bought some gasoline. However, they still could not start the car. After spending the night in the ear, appellant set off on foot at 9 a.m. toward the convenience store near the coin laundry. He had no money when he left, but when he returned about an hour and a half later, he had money and a radio. Later that day, he cashed a check (which he later admitted forging) written to him on Ms. Cox’s account. The teller who cashed the check remembered appellant cashing it and recalled that he was driving a car similar to the victim’s.
The check led police to appellant. After arresting him the police searched his house, where they found the radio and a ring, both of which had belonged to the victim. Appellant gave several explanations for this evidence and several accounts of the killing, but at trial testified that he had been with Haverty and the victim while they were having an argument, and that when Haverty began beating and choking her, he left. He said he stole the checkbook, the ring, and the radio. Haverty had an alibi for the time of the murder and was found to be a secretor.
Appellant made two pretrial statements that are pertinent here. One was a confession made to a cellmate. The other was a statement made to a police officer to the effect that Ms. Cox’s killer had a tattoo on his back. Haverty had no such tattoo, but appellant did.

Hildwin v. State (Hildwin I), 531 So.2d 124, 125-26 (Fla.1988) (emphasis added).

In the guilt phase of Hildwin’s trial, the State introduced two items found at the crime scene: a pair of women’s underwear and a white washcloth. The women’s underwear was found inside blue jean shorts that matched a description of the clothing in which the victim was last seen, with the washcloth discovered nearby. Both items were found in the backseat of the victim’s vehicle at the very top of a bag of dirty laundry, and the victim’s naked body was in the trunk of that vehicle.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
141 So. 3d 1178, 39 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 441, 2014 WL 2882689, 2014 Fla. LEXIS 2064, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paul-christopher-hildwin-v-state-of-florida-fla-2014.