Reese v. State

694 So. 2d 678, 1997 WL 123352
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMarch 20, 1997
Docket82119
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 694 So. 2d 678 (Reese 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
Reese v. State, 694 So. 2d 678, 1997 WL 123352 (Fla. 1997).

Opinion

694 So.2d 678 (1997)

John Loveman REESE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 82119.

Supreme Court of Florida.

March 20, 1997.
Rehearing Denied May 27, 1997.

*680 Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender and Nada M. Carey, Assistant Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Barbara J. Yates, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

We have on appeal the judgment and sentence of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon John Loveman Reese. We have jurisdiction. Art. V,§ 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

Reese was charged with first-degree murder, sexual battery with great force, burglary with assault, and armed kidnapping for the rape and strangulation of Sharlene Austin on January 28 or 29, 1992. The kidnapping charge was dropped before trial, and Reese was found guilty of all remaining counts. He was sentenced to death following a jury recommendation of eight to four.

The evidence presented at trial reveals that Reese dated Jackie Grier on and off for seven years; the victim had been Grier's best friend for approximately two and a half years. Reese was extremely possessive and disliked Austin because of the amount of time Grier spent with her. Grier and Austin had begun making trips to Georgia where, unknown to Reese, both had met new boyfriends. They returned from the last of these trips on Monday, January 27, 1992. On Wednesday of the same week, Grier was concerned because she could not reach Austin by phone, and she and a neighbor went to Austin's house and entered through the unlocked back door. They found Austin lying face down in the bedroom, covered with a sheet. She had been strangled with an electrical extension cord that was doubled and wrapped around her neck twice with the ends pulled through the loop.

Reese was questioned by police after his palm print was found on Austin's waterbed. He confessed to breaking into her home around noon on Tuesday, January 28. He said he waited for her to return home because he wanted to talk to her about Grier, but when he saw Austin coming home from work around four o'clock he got scared and hid in a closet. Reese said that after Austin went to sleep on the sofa, he came out of the closet but panicked when she started to move. He grabbed her around the neck from behind and dragged her into the bedroom. He raped her, then strangled her with the extension cord. He was arrested after his confession.

Reese was indicted on May 14, 1992, and tried March 22-25, 1993. He testified on his own behalf at the guilt phase, detailing an intensely troubled childhood and his emotional relationship with Grier. He claimed to have killed Austin out of panicked emotion. Grier also testified. She claimed that Reese never liked Austin, and said that she (Grier) had in fact broken up with Reese before Austin was killed. Two detectives testified that Reese responded "yes" when he was asked if he had decided to hurt the victim while waiting for her to come home.

At the penalty phase, the state presented no additional evidence; Reese called several family members, former teachers, and a psychologist. The jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of eight to four. The judge found three aggravators: cold, calculated, and premeditated ("CCP"); heinous, atrocious, or cruel ("HAC"); and committed in the course of a sexual battery and a burglary. He found one nonstatutory mitigator— no significant criminal history—but found that the mitigator, along with other proposed nonstatutory mitigation, was of minimal or no value. He accepted the jury's recommendation and imposed the death penalty. Reese *681 raises nine issues on appeal. We affirm the conviction but remand to the trial court for entry of a new sentencing order.

As to the guilt phase, Reese argues 1) error in finding that no Richardson violation[1] occurred when a witness testified that Reese made a statement as to the time of the homicide, and the statement had not been furnished to defense; 2) error in restricting cross examination of Grier as to Reese's confession where the state had already opened the door by mentioning another part of Reese's confession to her on direct; and 3) error in refusing Reese the opportunity to testify on redirect examination about his offer to plead where the state had already opened the door on cross.

As to the penalty phase, he argues 1) error both in instructing on and finding CCP; 2) error in giving an unconstitutional CCP instruction; 3) error in failing to expressly evaluate, find, and weigh unrebutted mitigation; 4) disproportionality of sentence; 5) unreliability of sentence due to improper, misleading and inflammatory closing arguments by the state; and 6) unconstitutionality of the HAC instruction given.

Guilt Phase

Reese first argues that the judge erred in finding that no Richardson violation occurred when a witness testified that Reese made a statement as to the time of the homicide, and the statement had not been furnished to defense. The state attorney in opening statement said, "[Reese] was asked what time did [the victim] go to sleep, and he said, oh, about ten o'clock that night." After the court had heard from four witnesses, the state proffered testimony from Detective Thowart. During the proffer, the defense attorney made the following statement:

Your Honor, my reason for asking for a moment here is during opening statements, [the state attorney] indicated that Mr. Reese had made a statement that I had not been made aware of, and that was that the actual killing of Ms. Austin occurred somewhere around ten o'clock p.m. that day. This written statement certainly doesn't reflect that.

After ascertaining that the relevant portion of the statement had not in fact been provided to defense counsel, the judge immediately held a Richardson hearing.

This item of information was not mentioned in the notes of either of the two detectives present for the statement. It was not brought out on deposition of either of the two detectives. Upon examination of Detective Thowart, Thowart said, "I do not see anything about ten o'clock, but that is the time he told us, Your Honor." He continued:

I don't remember that question, but if he had [asked me about the time], I would have told the truth, and I knew it was ten o'clock.... We asked what time it was, he said around ten. We said how long did you wait, he said he waited about an hour.

Later, the following exchange took place:

[DEFENSE]: Have you told [the State Attorney's Office] about this time frame?
THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
[DEFENSE]: Been a part of most of your discussions in the State Attorney's Office throughout the case?
THE WITNESS: Since the deposition, yes, sir.
[DEFENSE]: And you considered it a pretty important factor concerning this homicide?
THE WITNESS: The time-frame?
[DEFENSE]: Yes, sir.
THE WITNESS: Yeah, I think it's important, yes, sir.

The Court acknowledged that the time-frame was important to the defense case:

THE COURT: It can't really be cured by [deposition] at this point. It could be cured by either exclusion of that part of the evidence or by a mistrial, one way or the other. I mean he has—it's been very obvious in his cross examination that that time-frame is critical.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
694 So. 2d 678, 1997 WL 123352, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reese-v-state-fla-1997.