Riechmann v. State

581 So. 2d 133, 1991 WL 88737
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMay 30, 1991
Docket73492
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 581 So. 2d 133 (Riechmann 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
Riechmann v. State, 581 So. 2d 133, 1991 WL 88737 (Fla. 1991).

Opinion

581 So.2d 133 (1991)

Dieter RIECHMANN, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 73492.

Supreme Court of Florida.

May 30, 1991.
Rehearing Denied August 28, 1991.

*135 Lee Weissenborn of the Law Offices of Lee Weissenborn, Miami, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Ralph Barreira, Asst. Atty. Gen., Miami, for appellee.

BARKETT, Justice.

Dieter Riechmann appeals from his convictions and sentence of death for the 1987 slaying of Kersten Kischnick. We affirm.[1]

Riechmann and Kischnick, "life companions" of thirteen years, were German citizens and residents who came to Florida in early October 1987. Kischnick was shot to death in Miami Beach on October 25, while she sat in the passenger seat of an automobile that had been rented and driven by Riechmann. The state's theory at trial was that Kischnick was a prostitute, Riechmann was her pimp supported by her income, and when she decided to quit prostitution, he killed her to recover insurance proceeds. Relying on circumstantial evidence, the state sought to prove that Riechmann stood outside the passenger side of the car and fired a single fatal shot through the partially open passenger-side window, striking Kischnick above the right ear. Riechmann has consistently denied committing the crime, asserting that a stranger shot Kischnick when they stopped the car somewhere in Miami to ask for directions.

Testimony at trial established that as early as the summer of 1986 Kischnick became too sick to work and wanted to quit prostitution. In the months immediately prior to the murder Kischnick and Riechmann were not getting along, and Riechmann was often verbally abusive toward Kischnick.

After arriving in Miami from Germany, Riechmann rented an automobile with his Diner's Club card, which automatically insured the passengers for double indemnity in the event of accidental death. On the evening of October 25, Riechmann drove around the Miami area with Kischnick in the passenger seat. At some point that evening, Kischnick was shot.

The evidence at trial included a series of statements Riechmann made to police during the hours and days that immediately followed the murder.[2] Riechmann, who spoke broken English, made his first statement during the investigation at the scene on October 25. He told officers that when he stopped to ask directions from a black man, he sensed danger and suddenly heard an explosion. Realizing that the man had shot Kischnick, he accelerated the car and drove around Miami in a panic looking for help. Finally, he spotted Officer Reid and pulled over. Riechmann made subsequent statements to officers at the police station, during "drive-arounds" when attempting to help police find the location of the shooting, and on the telephone. In each pretrial statement Riechmann told virtually the same story, but he was unable to recall details of the shooting or where it took place. Riechmann also told officers that he had not fired a gun on the day of Kischnick's murder.

In his trial testimony, Riechmann gave a more detailed account.[3] Riechmann testified that he and Kischnick had been touring in their car, intending to videotape some of the Miami sights. They got lost and asked a stranger for directions. When Riechmann realized they were close to their destination, he unbuckled his seat belt, reached behind him and grabbed a video camera, apparently getting prepared to use it. He said he put the camera on Kischnick's lap and was in the process of handing her purse to her so she could tip the *136 stranger when he saw the stranger reach behind him. Feeling threatened, Riechmann said he "hit the gas pedal" and stretched out his right arm in a "protective manner," with his palm facing outward in front of him. Instantly he heard an explosion, accelerated the car, and saw Kischnick slump over. After the shooting he began looking for help, driving as many as ten to fifteen miles before he hailed Officer Reid to get assistance.

While questioning Riechmann at the scene, police "swabbed" his hands for gunpowder residue. An expert for the state, Gopinath Rao, testified that numerous particles typically found in gunpowder residue were discovered in the swab of Riechmann's hand. Based on the number and nature of the particles, Rao concluded that there is a reasonable scientific probability that Riechmann had fired a gun.[4] Rao also said he would not have expected to find the same type and number of particles on Riechmann's hands if Riechmann had merely sat in the driver's seat while somebody else fired a shot from outside the passenger-side window. An expert for the defense, Vincent P. Guinn, testified that the particles of gunpowder residue found on Riechmann's hand proved only that Riechmann was in the vicinity of a gun when it was fired — not that he actually fired a gun — and that Rao's opinion was not scientifically supported.

In Riechmann's motel room police found three handguns and forty Winchester silver-tipped, 110-grain, .38-caliber-special rounds of ammunition in a fifty-shell box. An expert firearms examiner testified that those bullets were the same type that killed Kischnick, although none of the weapons found in the room were used to murder Kischnick. The expert also testified that the bullet that killed Kischnick could have been fired from any of three makes of guns. Riechmann owned two of those three makes of weapons.

The state also presented testimony about the blood found in the car and on Riechmann's clothes. Serologist David Rhodes testified that high-velocity blood splatter[5] found on the driver-side door inside the car could not have gotten there if the driver's seat was occupied in a normal driving position when the shot was fired from outside the passenger-side window. The pattern of blood found on a blanket that had been folded in the driver's seat was consistent with high-velocity blood splatter and aspirated blood, rather than other kinds of blood stains, the serologist said.[6] Blood splatter was found on the steering wheel, but none was found on Riechmann's seat belt or on the back of the driver's seat. Additionally, Riechmann had blood stains, rather than blood splatter, on his clothing. Rhodes testified that had Riechmann been sitting in the driver's seat during the shooting, his clothes would have shown evidence of blood splatter rather than just the blood stains that were found.

Evidence seized by German authorities and brought back to the United States included numerous documents. Among them were insurance papers revealing that between approximately 1978 and 1985, Riechmann had become the beneficiary of several German insurance policies on Kischnick, totalling more than $961,000 in the event of her accidental death. Under all the policies murder was considered an accidental death. German documents also showed that on June 9, 1987, Riechmann and Kischnick filed reciprocal wills in a German court *137 designating each other as "sole heir" of their respective estates.

A fellow inmate of Riechmann, Walter Symkowski, testified that while incarcerated pending trial, Riechmann was pleased with the prospect of becoming rich from the proceeds of the insurance policies and Kischnick's will.

The jury found Riechmann guilty of first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm while engaged in a criminal offense. No evidence was presented in the penalty phase, and the jury recommended death by a nine-to-three vote. The court found the murder was committed for pecuniary gain,[7]

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Bluebook (online)
581 So. 2d 133, 1991 WL 88737, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/riechmann-v-state-fla-1991.