Raleigh v. State

705 So. 2d 1324, 1997 WL 709662
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedNovember 13, 1997
Docket87584
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 705 So. 2d 1324 (Raleigh 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
Raleigh v. State, 705 So. 2d 1324, 1997 WL 709662 (Fla. 1997).

Opinion

705 So.2d 1324 (1997)

Bobby Allen RALEIGH, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 87584.

Supreme Court of Florida.

November 13, 1997.
Rehearing Denied February 19, 1998.

*1326 James B. Gibson, Public Defender and Michael S. Becker, Assistant Public Defender, 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 sentence of death imposed upon Bobby Allen Raleigh entered upon a plea of guilty to first-degree murder. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

In the early morning hours of June 5, 1994, while at the Club Europe in DeLand, Domingo Figueroa told Raleigh that someone had slapped his mother. Raleigh and Figueroa confronted Douglas Cox and his brother and while they were talking in the parking lot, Raleigh's mother ran out of the bar screaming at Cox. Raleigh took his mother to the car and returned to confront Cox. After apologizing for his mother's actions and shaking hands with Cox, Raleigh obtained guns from his home. Raleigh and Figueroa then drove to Cox's trailer.

Raleigh went to the door with a gun in his hand and was told by Ronald Baker that Cox was asleep. Raleigh and Figueroa left, drove down a nearby dirt road, parked, and later returned to Cox's trailer carrying guns. Raleigh walked to the end of the trailer and shot Cox in the head three times at close range. Figueroa and Raleigh shot Tim Eberlin, Cox's roommate, until their guns jammed. Raleigh then beat Eberlin in the head with the barrel of the gun until he stopped screaming. Raleigh and Figueroa drove to Raleigh's home where they burned the clothes they wore during the murders, dumped the bullets into a neighbor's yard, and later hid the guns in a secret compartment in Raleigh's Subaru. The police went to Raleigh's house that night and he agreed to talk to them. Raleigh initially denied his involvement in the murders, but after being told that Figueroa had implicated him, he taped a second statement admitting that he killed Cox and Eberlin.

On June 6, 1995, Raleigh pled guilty to two counts of firstdegree murder and the penalty phase was conducted from August 8 to August 15, 1995. A jury unanimously recommended the death penalty on each count. On February 16, 1996, the trial court sentenced Raleigh to death, finding that the *1327 aggravating circumstances,[1] outweighed the one statutory mitigating circumstance,[2] and several nonstatutory mitigating circumstances.[3] Fourteen issues are raised on appeal.[4]

Raleigh first argues that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the "no significant history of prior criminal activity" statutory mitigator. He maintains that he had no criminal arrests or convictions and that although he was involved in drug dealing, his role was minor. We disagree.

The record shows that Raleigh himself confessed to extensive drug dealing and drug use. He admitted that at age seventeen or eighteen he bought "acid" from Cox; that he sold drugs with Garret Lennon until Lennon "ripped him off'; that after Figueroa's arrest in Ocala for carrying thirty pounds of marijuana, he helped Figueroa's wife hide 100 pounds of marijuana under her house and then dug it up so it could be disposed of quickly; that he sold drugs for Figueroa; that he stole Lennon's drug customers; that he ran ten pounds of marijuana to Virginia every two weeks (Figueroa advanced him the marijuana and he returned with the cash); that he was partners with his cousin, David Vanover, who bought a Subaru and created a hidden compartment so that Raleigh could transport more marijuana per trip; that at Club Europe prior to the murders, Raleigh approached Lennon to buy cocaine; and that he "took acid, huffed freon, used cocaine, and took sleeping pills." Further, Raleigh told Dr. James Upson (defense's mental health expert) that he became involved with drugs in high school; that there was more money dealing in drugs than working; and that he was expanding his drug business. Competent substantial evidence supports the trial court's refusal to give the instruction on "no significant history of prior criminal activity." We find no error.

Raleigh next argues that there was no evidentiary basis for the trial court to instruct the jury that it could consider the "pecuniary gain" aggravating circumstance, as evidenced by the court's rejection of the circumstance. We disagree. In Bowden v. State, 588 So.2d 225 (Fla.1991), we stated:

The fact that the state did not prove this aggravating factor to the trial court's satisfaction does not require a conclusion that there was insufficient evidence of a robbery to allow the jury to consider the factor. Where, as here, evidence of a mitigating or aggravating factor has been presented *1328 to the jury, an instruction on the factor is required.

Id. at 231.

In the instant case, Patricia Pendarvis testified that Raleigh commented to her and others that "everything was all about making money." Joseph Miller testified that earlier in the year, he heard Raleigh ask Cox to give up part of his drug business. When Cox called him crazy, Raleigh answered, "One day or other I'm going to take over your business anyway even if I have to kick your ass." Miller testified that when he bought "acid" from Raleigh another time at Club Europe, Raleigh commented that Cox was being selfish about his drug trade and said, "It doesn't matter anyway. I am either going to kick his ass or I'm going to kill him, one or the other." Miller also testified that Raleigh hated the fact that Cox made more money than he and said, "It's the money thing is what it was." This evidence is sufficient to support the trial court's instruction. We find no error.

We also reject Raleigh's claim that the trial court abused its discretion by dismissing juror Chandler without cause over defense objection. After the charge conference, the state moved to replace juror Chandler with one of the alternates because he expressed hostility towards Assistant State Attorney Sean Daly. Specifically, Chandler commented, "Sit down dummy, shut up," during Daly's cross-examination of Raleigh, and, "Oh shit," during the cross-examination of Dr. James Upson. The trial court interpreted the comments to be an expression of Chandler's frustration with the proceedings rather than an expression of hostility toward Sean Daly and concluded that there was not enough justification to remove Chandler. A short time later the state renewed its motion to have Chandler removed on the grounds that the clerk heard him say in the break room that he did not like the way Daly handled himself and thought his actions were inappropriate. Chandler admitted that he expressed the opinion, but felt that his frustration with Daly would not influence his ability to reach an unbiased decision. The trial court granted the state's motion on the basis of Chandler's comments. We are bound to follow the trial court's ruling absent an abuse of discretion. Because reasonable persons could agree with the trial court's ruling,[5] we find no abuse of discretion and thus no error.

Next, Raleigh argues that the court erred in finding several aggravating circumstances. He claims that the state failed to prove each beyond a reasonable doubt. In Willacy v. State, 696 So.2d 693 (Fla.), cert. denied, ___, U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct. 419, 139 L.Ed.2d 321 (1997), we stated:

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Bluebook (online)
705 So. 2d 1324, 1997 WL 709662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/raleigh-v-state-fla-1997.