Troedel v. State

462 So. 2d 392
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedDecember 6, 1984
Docket61957
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 462 So. 2d 392 (Troedel 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
Troedel v. State, 462 So. 2d 392 (Fla. 1984).

Opinion

462 So.2d 392 (1984)

David Walter TROEDEL, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 61957.

Supreme Court of Florida.

December 6, 1984.
Rehearing Denied February 18, 1985.

*394 Daniel R. Monaco of Monaco, Cardillo, Keith & Volpe, Naples, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Peggy A. Quince, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

BOYD, Chief Justice.

This case is before the Court on appeal from a judgment of conviction of crimes including two capital offenses for which sentences of death were imposed. We have jurisdiction of the appeal. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

Appellant was charged with the robbery and murder of Chris Musick and Robert Schreckengost and with the burglary of their home. The victims had been shot some time during the early morning hours of June 12, 1981. Appellant was arrested near the victims' home shortly after they had been shot. The evidence presented against appellant at trial was overwhelming.

At the trial Jim Decker, a state attorney's investigator, testified that after midnight on the night of June 11, 1981, he observed on the road in front of his neighbor's residence a truck which he did not recognize. Because the area is sparsely populated and the road little used except by residents, his curiosity was aroused and he proceeded to go and take a closer look at the truck. Not seeing anyone around, he nevertheless returned home and telephoned the sheriff. A sheriff's deputy was dispatched to the area. Decker and the deputy then went to investigate and found appellant and David Hawkins standing beside the truck.

The sheriff's deputy testified that on the seat in the cab of the truck he saw a .25 caliber pistol and a .22 caliber automatic pistol. Appellant claimed ownership of the .25 caliber while Hawkins said he had borrowed the automatic. While the deputy talked to the two men, Decker went to the house and discovered that the front door was ajar. He reported this to the deputy who then warned the two suspects of their rights not to answer questions and conducted a "pat-down" search. In Hawkin's front pocket he found some coins and some foreign paper currency.

Investigator Decker then entered his neighbor's house and discovered the two victims. Both had been shot. A bedroom had been ransacked. Musick was dead but Schreckengost was still breathing. Decker called for emergency medical assistance but Schreckengost soon died.

Appellant and Hawkins were taken into custody. At the Collier County jail, sheriff's deputy Lt. Jack Gant conducted the first step of a chemical test to detect the presence of barium and antimony on the suspects' hands. He testified that he rubbed both hands of both men with cotton swabs treated with a five-percent solution of nitric acid, using a separate cotton swab for each hand. Each cotton swab was separately packaged in plastic. A separate swab treated with the solution only was also separately packaged for use as a control sample in the chemical analysis. These samples were sent to an F.B.I. crime laboratory to be examined for the presence of the gunshot residues.

A chemist who tested the samples was qualified as an expert in the analysis of chemical elements. He testified that the neutron activation test can detect and measure small amounts of barium and antimony, two elements widely used in the manufacture of ammunition. Trace amounts of the elements escape from the chamber of a firearm when discharged and may be deposited on the hands of the person firing the weapon. The chemist testified that barium and antimony are present in all commercially available ammunition except for .22 caliber ammunition. The expert testified that large amounts of barium and antimony were found in the material taken from both appellant's and Hawkins' hands.

The chemical expert also conducted a test firing of appellant's.25 caliber pistol and found that upon discharge it deposited large amounts of both barium and antimony. Twenty-two caliber ammunition, the *395 expert said, emits less traceable amounts, if any, of these elements. His comparison of the residue samples taken from the hands of the two defendants revealed that there was twenty-five to thirty percent more barium and four hundred percent more antimony on appellant's hands than on Hawkins'. The expert therefore concluded and offered the opinion that appellant had fired the .25 caliber pistol while Hawkins was nearby.

A forensic pathologist testified that he performed the autopsies and that both victims died from gunshot wounds to the head. He testified that Schreckengost was shot twice in the head, once in each thigh and once in a finger, this last being characteristic of a defense wound according to the pathologist. There was a penny found in the posterior nasal pharynx of victim Schreckengost which the expert said was probably swallowed and then drawn up through the throat. The pathologist also testified that Musick was shot twice in the head, and offered the opinion that he was alive when shot the second time.

A firearms examiner testified that bullets recovered from the heads of both victims were conclusively determined to have been fired from appellant's .25 caliber pistol. Another witness testified that he had sold the pistol to appellant a few weeks before the murders.

There was detailed testimony by a detective about the crime scene and expert testimony about various items of evidence found there. In a bedroom adjacent to the bathroom where the bodies were found there was a pillow with a large black hole on one side and three small holes on the other. An expert testified that the holes were caused by shots from a gun held directly against the pillow. The purpose of using the pillow in this manner, in the expert's opinion, was to muffle the sound. Feathers from inside the pillow were scattered around the room. A feather was found in the barrel of appellant's pistol which was similar in composition, according to a fiber expert's testimony, to the feathers in the pillow. Four .25 caliber bullet casings found on the bathroom floor had markings that were consistent with the firing characteristics of appellant's pistol.

In addition to the two firearms that appellant and Hawkins admitted were in their possession, a third pistol was also found in the truck. A .22 caliber revolver, it was examined for fingerprints and was found to bear one of appellant. In a wooded area near the victims' house, police found a pillowcase containing two rifles, a shotgun, some jewelry, and a knife in a case bearing the initials, "D.T." A package of Playtexbrand rubber gloves were found under the truck.

Eric Schreckengost testified that he owned and lived in the house where the murders took place and that the victims were his son Robert and his stepson Chris. He identified the rifles, the shotgun, and the .22 caliber revolver found in the truck as his own. He said that some of the coins found in Hawkins' pocket were like the coins missing from his home. His wife identified the jewelry and said that the rubber gloves were not hers.

The state presented the testimony of a witness who said that during the evening of June 11, 1981, he went to a lounge with appellant and Hawkins. The witness said that Hawkins asked him and appellant whether they had guns. Appellant replied that he did have one. The witness told Hawkins that he had a shotgun but Hawkins said that would be too loud. According to the witness, Hawkins said there were "two dudes" that he wanted to "blow away."

Appellant testified in his own behalf.

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462 So. 2d 392, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/troedel-v-state-fla-1984.