Silvia v. State

60 So. 3d 959, 36 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 138, 2011 Fla. LEXIS 779, 2011 WL 1304930
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedApril 7, 2011
DocketNo. SC09-220
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 60 So. 3d 959 (Silvia 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
Silvia v. State, 60 So. 3d 959, 36 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 138, 2011 Fla. LEXIS 779, 2011 WL 1304930 (Fla. 2011).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

William Frances Silvia was convicted of the September 22, 2006, first-degree murder of his estranged wife, Patricia Silvia, and the attempted first-degree murder of Patricia’s mother, Betty Woodard. Silvia seeks review of his conviction and sentence of death for the first-degree murder of Patricia. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. On appeal, Silvia raises six issues regarding the penalty phase leading to the imposition of the death sentence. However, because this Court has an obligation to review the sufficiency of the evidence in all death penalty cases, we review both the evidence of guilt as well as the penalty-phase issues raised. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm Silvia’s convictions and death sentence.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Guilt Phase

The victim, Patricia Silvia, had been married to the defendant, William Frances Silvia, since 2002, but they separated in July 2006. At the time of the murder, Silvia was forty-one and Patricia was thirty-nine. After their separation, Patricia and two of her minor children from a previous marriage, Rachel and Ross, ages sixteen and thirteen, moved into the Winter Park home of her mother, Betty Woodard, and her stepfather, Patrick Woodard. Robin McIntyre, Patricia’s sister, also lived at the home. On several occasions prior to the evening of the murder, Silvia had visited the Woodard home unannounced in the middle of the night to speak to Patricia. Every time, Silvia was turned away.

On the day of the murder, Silvia was fired from his job. He had already become homeless after the separation, was living in his truck, and at times rented a motel room. That afternoon, after being fired, Silvia purchased a pump action twelve-gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun and ammunition and rented a motel room at the Regency Inn. Later that evening, the Woodards were hosting a cookout in their carport area. Those in attendance included Patricia, her children Ross and Rachel, her sister Robin, her parents, Patrick’s brother Jerome Woodard, and several other friends. At around 9 p.m., Silvia drove to the Woodard home with the shotgun and ammunition in his truck, apparently hoping to reconcile with Patricia.

When Silvia arrived at the home, he asked to speak with Patricia, who came outside to speak with him. They spoke briefly, after which Patricia went back into the house. As Patricia walked away, Rachel overheard Silvia tell Patricia, “You will be sorry.” Silvia walked back to his truck — a distance of approximately one hundred feet — retrieved his shotgun, and fired two shots as he walked back to the Woodard home.

At this point, Patrick’s brother, Jerome, who was in the carport at the time, jumped to the ground between two vehicles. After the shooting started, Patricia’s sister, Robin, left the carport and entered the home. Rachel, who was also in the carport, heard the gunshots and attempted to go into the house to find her brother, Ross. When Rachel got up to find her brother, Silvia pointed a gun at her from a foot away in the carport. At this point, Patricia and Betty were in the kitchen, adjacent to the carport. As Betty opened the door from the kitchen to the carport, she was shot in [964]*964the face. Patricia, who was getting iced tea out of the refrigerator, was also shot in the head, causing her to collapse in front of the refrigerator. Ross was standing near Patricia when she was shot.1 Patrick Woodard, who was in the bedroom when he first heard gunshots, left the bedroom to check on things and saw Patricia lying on the floor in front of the refrigerator door. Patrick then looked outside the open door to the carport and saw Betty on the floor bleeding and covering her face. Patrick saw Silvia at the end of the carport holding a twelve-gauge shotgun, pointing the shotgun at Patrick and pumping it.

Silvia fired a total of seven shots at the scene that evening, two shots into the air and the other shots at the Woodard carport and home, and then left in his truck. During the shooting, Silvia shot Patricia and Betty. Patricia died at the scene. Betty, who was shot in the face, was airlifted by helicopter to Orlando Regional Medical Center in “grim” condition with massive facial and head trauma and blood loss.

According to the medical examiner, Patricia had numerous pellet gunshot entry wounds on her head. There was a pellet gunshot entry wound behind her left ear which entered her skull. A “big pellet” entered through the top of Patricia’s left ear, pierced her skull, and stopped in the right front lobe of her brain. There were additional pellet wounds on the back of Patricia’s head, resulting in massive trauma. Either the pellets or bone fragments caused exit wounds. The medical examiner concluded that Patricia died as a result of the shotgun pellet wounds to her head.

Police later arrested Silvia in the parking lot of the motel where Silvia had rented a room. While no evidence established that Silvia was intoxicated at the time of the murder on September 22, 2006, during his arrest in the early morning hours of September 23, 2006, Silvia appeared intoxicated or impaired.2 During his transport to the Seminole County Sheriffs Office, Silvia confessed to the shooting. He asked the officer transporting him whether the officer was married and indicated that “he was in the situation” because he was married. Silvia admitted to shooting Patricia because she spent all of their money and then started dating her ex-husband.

Law enforcement officers later obtained a search warrant for Silvia’s motel room and truck'. In his motel room, they found a pump action twelve-gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun, shotgun shells, weapons manuals, and several empty beer bottles, among other items. The shotgun shells collected from Silvia’s motel room were the same brand as those collected at the crime scene. A firearms analyst examined and test-fired the shotgun found in Silvia’s motel room and concluded that the shells collected at the crime scene were fired from the same shotgun.

The jury found Silvia guilty of one count of first-degree murder for the murder of Patricia and one count of attempted first-degree murder for the shooting of Betty.

The Penalty Phase

Both the State and Silvia presented evidence at the penalty phase. The State presented two witnesses, Beth Parker and Patrick Woodard, who testified about what [965]*965they observed on the night Silvia killed Patricia. A victim advocate read victim impact letters written by Patricia’s children, Ross, Rachel, Ronny, and Randy, and her coworker, Aura Boyd. Patricia’s sister, Pam Wyatt, also testified.

Silvia presented two penalty phase witnesses — his father, William Silvia, Sr. (William), and Dr. Deborah Day, a psychologist. William testified that the relationship between himself and Silvia’s mother was very volatile, characterized by both verbal' and physical fighting, which Silvia witnessed. As a child, Silvia played little league baseball and was on a swim team, but was quiet and a loner with few friends. Silvia ran away several times as a teenager. During one such incident, Silvia attempted to rob a bank with his brother John, was arrested, and subsequently spent time in the psychiatric unit of the Florida Hospital.

William further testified that Silvia’s mother was killed by a drunk driver in 1999 or 2000.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 So. 3d 959, 36 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 138, 2011 Fla. LEXIS 779, 2011 WL 1304930, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/silvia-v-state-fla-2011.