State v. Woods

11 Fla. Supp. 2d 153
CourtCircuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida
DecidedDecember 28, 1984
DocketCase No. 84-4825 CF C 02
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Fla. Supp. 2d 153 (State v. Woods) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Woods, 11 Fla. Supp. 2d 153 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

CARL H. HARPER, Circuit Judge.

The defendant’s Motion to Suppress Confession and Admissions was filed on October 10, 1984. It came on for lengthy evidentiary hearings on November 8, 1984 and November 20, 1984. The court heard the [154]*154testimony of the witnesses called by the respective parties, received certain exhibits in evidence and heard the arguments of counsel. Because of the protracted nature of the hearings and the importance of the legal issues involved, considering the gravity of the criminal charges filed against the defendant, the motion was taken under advisement pending receipt of memoranda of law and legal research by the court. Since the hearing, this court has received the memoranda filed in support of the motion by defendant’s counsel on November 8, 1984, November 20, 1984 and December 7, 1984. The State did not file opposing memorandum, but furnished the court with copies of the six cases on which it relies, namely Burch v. State, 343 So.2d 831 (Fla. 1977); In Interest of W.J.N., 350 So.2d 119 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977); Barnason v. State, 371 So.2d 680 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1979); Doerr v. State, 383 So.2d 905 (Fla. 1980); Villar v. State, 441 So.2d 1181 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983); and State v. Cartwright, 448 So.2d 1049 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). This court has spent many hours doing its own research in preparation of this exceptionally long written order. Based on the totality of the circumstances surrounding the defendant’s statements and the evidence presented, this court is compelled to grant the motion for the reasons set forth hereinafter.1

FINDINGS OF FACT

Summary of videotapes:

Clyde Woods, along with Timothy Gibson and Christopher Dority, is charged with four of the most serious crimes in our law, namely first degree murder; burglary of a dwelling; sexual battery upon a victim helpless to resist; and kidnapping. The crimes are alleged to have been committed between January 29, 1984 and February 3, 1984. The victim of all four crimes was a seventy-one year old woman who lived at 1404 Skees Road in Palm Beach County.

On February 3, 1984, after the victim’s body had been discovered in her home, Detective Rick Jenkins of Palm Beach County SheriiPs Office canvassed the neighborhood for possible witnesses, but did not enter the victim’s home. It was on this occasion that Jenkins first encountered Clyde Woods and his widowed father, Claude Woods, who lived nearby. Neither of them claimed to have any information regarding the crimes. No witnesses to the crime were located. The [155]*155crime scene was processed, but no tangible evidence was found .that could lead to the identity of anyone involved in the crimes.

On February 4, 1984, Jenkins returned to the scene, entering the victim’s home which he described as being “untidy”, with magazines and newspapers stacked about. He observed a Playboy magazine, but did not consider it to be significant at that time. Later on, Jenkins attended a seminar on sex crimes. Based on the information he learned at the seminar, Jenkins then began to suspect that the Playboy magazine might be significant evidence of a sexual battery upon the homicide victim. However, as noted hereinafter, Jenkins knew that there was not a scintilla of evidence found at the crime scene or during the autopsy performed on the victim that would indicate that a sexual battery had occurred. See those portions of the deposition testimony of Dr. John Y. Marraccini, Associate Medical Examiner for Palm Beach County, stipulated into evidence.

On July 23, 1984, Jenkins somehow came to interview this defendant’s hálf-brother, Timothy Gibson, and obtained his recorded “confession” to the crimes charged herein. The interview lasted several hours. According to Jenkins, Gibson named Shawn Barlow, James Anderson and Larry Krego as his confederates in the crimes. He could not recall if Gibson stated that someone named St. Clair was also involved. In any event, according to the testimony of Jenkins, Gibson did not on that occasion name either Clyde Woods or Christopher Dority as being involved. In fact, Gibson specifically denied that Woods was involved, according to Jenkins. It should be noted that Gibson’s statements have not been presented to this court and the contents thereof are unknown to this court except as noted herein. According to Jenkins, he eliminated Barlow, Anderson and Krego as suspects when Gibson changed his statement and named Woods and Dority instead.

After obtaining Gibson’s statement, Jenkins went to the Juvenile Detention Center on July 23, 1984 to speak with the codefendant, Christopher Dority. Apparently, Dority was in detention for some other unrelated offense. Dority refused to be interviewed. However, Jenkins again visited Dority later that day at the detention center where he was interviewed for some 4 to 5 hours. According to Jenkins, Dority gave a tape recorded “confession” to the crimes charged herein and named Timothy Gibson as his confederate. Dority did not at that time implicate this defendant, Clyde Woods, according to the testimony of Jenkins. Later that same date, July 23, 1984, Jenkins again visited Dority at the detention center where a second interview was conducted (and presumably recorded). He specifically asked Dority if [156]*156Clyde Woods was also involved in the crimes charged, to which Dority replied that he was. It should be noted that the Dority statements have not been presented to this court and the contents thereof are unknown to this court as noted herein.

On the morning of July 24, 1984, Jenkins took Gibson (who was then in custody on the instant charges) back to the crime scene to videotape a reenactment of the crimes. By happenstance, Clyde Woods came by on his bicycle, accompanied by his four year old brother and his cousin, Arthur Hoffman III, age 17 years. Seeing his half-brother in handcuffs and in jail garb, Woods attempted to speak with Gibson, but was not permitted to do so. Instead, Jenkins asked Woods if he would accompany him to the Sheriff’s Office so that he could speak with him. It is uncontradicted that Jenkins advised Woods that he did not have to do so. Woods voluntarily accepted and immediately rode with Jenkins to headquarters. His four year old brother was left in the company of Hoffman who testified that some officer told him that Woods would return in about one-half hour.

Upon arrival at the Sheriff’s Office at about 11:00 a.m., Woods was placed in a small, air conditioned interview room which is equipped with a videotape camera concealed in the ceiling. Woods was placed in a chair located in a corner of the room at the end of a table. He was clad only in cut-off trousers and was barefooted. At about 11:10 a.m., Jenkins began a conversation with Woods after advising him of his constitutional rights from a standard Miranda rights card. See State’s exhibit 4 in evidence by stipulation. Woods acknowledged that he understood those rights given to him by Jenkins. The acknowledgement was not witnessed by two witnesses, but by Jenkins alone. The entire conversation was videotaped (both audio and visual) without the knowledge and consent of Woods. The conversation lasted until about 1:45 p.m., for a total of about two hours and thirty-five minutes with a few brief respites for the convenience of the interrogating officers, Detective Jenkins, Detective Jack Strenges and Sergeant John Cerbone. During these respites, Woods remained in the interview room continuously without leaving his chair for any reason.

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Bluebook (online)
11 Fla. Supp. 2d 153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-woods-flacirct-1984.