Thompson v. State

619 So. 2d 261, 1993 WL 92767
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedApril 1, 1993
Docket75499
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 619 So. 2d 261 (Thompson 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
Thompson v. State, 619 So. 2d 261, 1993 WL 92767 (Fla. 1993).

Opinion

619 So.2d 261 (1993)

William Lee THOMPSON, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 75499.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 1, 1993.
Rehearing Denied June 10, 1993.

*262 Geoffrey C. Fleck of Friend, Fleck & Gettis, South Miami, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Giselle D. Lylen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Miami, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

William Lee Thompson appeals the imposition of the death penalty in a second sentencing hearing, after this Court remanded Thompson's case for resentencing. We have jurisdiction[1] and affirm the imposition of the death penalty.

The procedural history of this cause reflects that on April 14, 1976, Thompson and Rocco Surace were charged by indictment with the first-degree murder, kidnapping, and involuntary sexual battery of Sally Ivester. Thompson entered a plea of guilty in the trial court but, on appeal, this Court allowed him to withdraw his plea and remanded the case for further proceedings. Thompson v. State, 351 So.2d 701 (Fla. 1977). Thompson entered a second plea of guilty and a penalty phase jury recommended the death penalty. The trial judge imposed the death penalty and this Court affirmed the trial judge's order in Thompson v. State, 389 So.2d 197 (Fla. 1980). Thompson then filed a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion, which this Court denied in Thompson v. State, 410 So.2d 500 (Fla. 1982). After this Court *263 denied the rule 3.850 motion, Thompson sought federal habeas corpus relief. Both the United States District Court and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals denied Thompson relief. Thompson v. Wainwright, 787 F.2d 1447 (11th Cir.1986). Thompson then filed a second rule 3.850 motion, asserting the failure of the sentencing judge to allow presentation and jury consideration of nonstatutory mitigating circumstances in the penalty phase. The trial court denied relief, but this Court reversed under the authority of Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393, 107 S.Ct. 1821, 95 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987), and remanded for resentencing. Thompson v. Dugger, 515 So.2d 173 (Fla. 1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 960, 108 S.Ct. 1224, 99 L.Ed.2d 424 (1988). This second sentencing proceeding is the subject of this appeal.

The pertinent facts, as articulated by this Court in Thompson v. State, 389 So.2d 197, 198 (Fla. 1980), are as follows:

Thompson, Rocco Surace, Barbara Savage, and the victim Sally Ivester were staying in a motel room. The girls were instructed to contact their homes to obtain money. The victim received only $25 after telling the others that she thought she could get $200 or $300. Both men became furious. Surace ordered the victim into the bedroom, where he took off his chain belt and began hitting her in the face. Surace then forced her to undress, after which the appellant Thompson began to strike her with the chain. Both men continued to beat and torture the victim. They rammed a chair leg into the victim's vagina, tearing the inner wall and causing internal bleeding. They repeated the process with a night stick. The victim was tortured with lit cigarettes and lighters, and was forced to eat her sanitary napkin and lick spilt beer off the floor. This was followed by further severe beatings with the chain, club, and chair leg. The beatings were interrupted only when the victim was taken to a phone booth, where she was instructed to call her mother and request additional funds. After the call, the men resumed battering the victim in the motel room. The victim died as a result of internal bleeding and multiple injuries. The murder had been witnessed by Barbara Savage, who apparently feared equivalent treatment had she tried to leave the motel room.

In the second penalty phase proceeding, the State introduced into evidence the prior testimony of the eyewitness, Barbara Savage, whom the State was unable to locate to testify in person. The trial court found that the State had made a diligent effort to locate this witness prior to the resentencing proceeding. Next, the State introduced Thompson's prior testimony at the trial of his codefendant, Rocco Surace, in which Thompson admitted hitting the victim with a chain belt and battering her with a chair leg and a billy club. In this testimony, Thompson denied Surace's participation and confessed to the repeated beating of the victim.

Thompson presented numerous witnesses who testified in mitigation of his conviction, including a former church pastor, a church elder, a church member, an elementary school principal, and several family members. Thompson's former church pastor described Thompson as a slow learner and a follower who did not exhibit any violent or aggressive behavior. A church elder described Thompson as someone needing to be led, while the elder's wife described him as very faithful. Testifying from school records, an elementary school principal stated that Thompson had an IQ of seventy-five, had been recommended for special educational placement, and had been a follower, not a leader. Family members testified regarding the filthy home and affectionless environment in which Thompson had been raised. Thompson's ex-wife and mother of his two children described Thompson as a loving and gentle husband who was never physically violent or abusive. She also described Thompson as mentally slow and a follower and that their marriage failed partly because of his alcoholism.

In an affidavit introduced by Thompson, Barbara Savage characterized the codefendant, Rocco Surace, as the gang-leader, *264 who knew how to manipulate people. She described Thompson as a gullible and easy-going person, who was easily manipulated. However, Savage's characterization of Thompson as a person dominated by Surace was contradicted by her testimony at the original trial.

A psychologist who examined Thompson stated that Thompson was a battered child and characterized him as an extremely depressed person. The psychologist stated that Thompson's IQ was at the lowest possible level of low-average intelligence. The psychologist also found Thompson to be brain-damaged and that his touch with reality was so loose and fragile that she could not tell whether Thompson was aware of what he was doing during the assault.

A psychiatrist testified that he found Thompson to be retarded and easily led and threatened by Surace. He believed Thompson to have been brain-damaged since childhood, possibly since birth. He diagnosed Thompson as having organic brain disease and suffering from personality and stress disorders. A neurologist also testified that Thompson suffered from organic brain disease.

In rebuttal, the State called the codefendant, Rocco Surace. Surace blamed Thompson for the attack on the victim, while acknowledging that he had entered guilty pleas to the same offense. A psychiatrist presented by the State testified that he had evaluated Thompson after the incident in 1976. He found that Thompson could process information and that his memory was intact. The psychologist concluded that Thompson suffered from an inadequate personality disorder and a long-standing pattern of antisocial and impulsive behavior.

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Bluebook (online)
619 So. 2d 261, 1993 WL 92767, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-v-state-fla-1993.