Victor Tony Jones v. State of Florida & Victor Tony Jones v. Secretary, Department of Corrections

Supreme Court of Florida·Decided September 24, 2025·No. SC2025-1422 & SC2025-1423·Published

Opinion

Supreme Court of Florida

No. SC2025-1422

VICTOR TONY JONES,

Appellant,

vs.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

No. SC2025-1423

VICTOR TONY JONES,

Petitioner,

vs.

SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Respondent.

September 24, 2025

PER CURIAM.

Victor Tony Jones, a prisoner under sentence of death for whom a warrant has been signed and an execution set for September 30, 2025, appeals the circuit court’s orders summarily

denying his sixth successive motion for postconviction relief, which was filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851, and denying several post-warrant demands for public records under rule 3.852. He also petitions this Court for a writ of habeas corpus and moves for a stay of execution. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const.

Jones’s appeal and habeas petition raise two principal arguments: (1) that he probably could obtain a reduced sentence based on “newly discovered” evidence that the State has acknowledged abuse Jones suffered in the 1970s as a teenager in the Okeechobee School for Boys; and (2) that this Court should reconsider its previous decisions rejecting Jones’s claim that he is constitutionally ineligible for the death penalty due to intellectual disability. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the denials of postconviction relief and of Jones’s demands for public records, deny the habeas petition, and deny the motion for a stay filed on September 16, 2025, the renewed motion for a stay, filed on September 18, 2025, and the second renewed motion for a stay and to relinquish jurisdiction, filed on September 22, 2025.

I. BACKGROUND

On December 19, 1990, on his second day of work, Jones fatally stabbed his employers, Jacob and Matilda Nestor, inside their business. Mrs. Nestor was stabbed in the back of the neck, severing her aorta. Mr. Nestor was stabbed in the chest, puncturing his heart. Before succumbing to his injury, Mr. Nestor was able to retrieve his pistol and shoot Jones in the forehead. Police found Jones locked inside the building with the Nestors’ wallets, keys, and other belongings in his pockets. At the hospital, Jones admitted to a nurse that he killed the couple because they owed him money. Jones v. State, 652 So. 2d 346, 348 (Fla. 1995).

A jury convicted Jones of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed robbery. Consistent with the jury’s recommendations, the trial court imposed death sentences for both murders, based on three aggravating factors and no mitigation. Id. at 348-49. This Court affirmed the convictions and sentences on direct appeal, id. at 353, which became final when the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review in 1995, Jones v. Florida, 516 U.S. 875 (1995); see Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851(d)(1)(B) (“For the purposes of this rule, a judgment is final . . . on the

disposition of the petition for writ of certiorari by the United States Supreme Court, if filed.”).

In the decades since, Jones has repeatedly and unsuccessfully challenged his convictions and sentences in state and federal courts. See Jones v. State, 855 So. 2d 611 (Fla. 2003) (affirming denial of initial motion for postconviction relief and denying his state petition for a writ of habeas corpus); Jones v. State, 966 So. 2d 319 (Fla. 2007) (affirming denial of first successive motion for postconviction relief); Jones v. McNeil, 776 F. Supp. 2d 1323 (S.D. Fla. 2011) (denying federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus); Jones v. State, 93 So. 3d 178 (Fla. 2012) (mem.) (affirming denial of second successive motion for postconviction relief); Jones v. State, 135 So. 3d 287 (Fla. 2014) (table) (voluntary dismissal of appeal of denial of third successive motion for postconviction relief); Jones v. State, 231 So. 3d 374 (Fla. 2017) (affirming denial of fourth successive motion for postconviction relief); Jones v. State, 241 So. 3d 65 (Fla. 2018) (affirming denial of fifth successive motion for postconviction relief).

Governor Ron DeSantis signed Jones’s death warrant on August 29, 2025. Jones then filed his sixth successive motion for

postconviction relief under rule 3.851, raising three claims: (1) that newly discovered evidence of his eligibility for compensation under the Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Program provides significant mitigation; (2) that newly discovered evidence establishes that the prosecution of capital cases in Miami-Dade County results in an unconstitutional application of the death penalty in which the system disproportionately punishes defendants convicted of murdering white victims; and (3) that the unreasonably truncated and surprise nature of the warrant process in Florida has denied Jones due process. The circuit court summarily denied all three claims, as well as Jones’s post-warrant public records demands. This appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Sixth Successive Motion for Postconviction Relief

1. Claim That Jones’s Eligibility for Compensation Under the Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Program Constitutes Newly Discovered Evidence That He Was Abused at the School

In 2024, the Florida Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, Committee Substitute for House Bill 21, establishing the Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School Victim

Compensation Program. See ch. 24-254, Laws of Fla. (creating § 16.63(1), Fla. Stat. (2024)) (providing for compensation to living persons confined to either school between 1940 and 1975 who were subjected to mental, physical, or sexual abuse by school personnel). Jones, who had four placements at the Okeechobee School between 1975 and 1978, applied for compensation under the program.1 On January 6, 2025, the Office of the Attorney General mailed Jones a letter recognizing his eligibility for compensation under the program.

Relying on this letter, Jones argued below that “Newly Discovered Evidence That Jones Is A Member Of The Okeechobee Victim Compensation Class Establishes That Jones Experienced Trauma And Abuse At The Hands Of The State Which The State

1. The statute required that an applicant submit with his application “[r]easonable proof submitted as attachments establishing that the applicant was both: 1. Confined to the Dozier School for Boys or the Okeechobee School between 1940 and 1975, which proof may include school records submitted with a notarized certificate of authenticity signed by the records custodian or certified court records[, and] 2. A victim of mental, physical, or sexual abuse perpetrated by school personnel during the applicant’s confinement, which proof may include a notarized statement signed by the applicant attesting to the abuse the applicant suffered.” § 16.63(3)(c), Fla. Stat. (2024).

Cannot Now In Good Faith Minimize Or Assert As Not Credible And Which Establishes Significant Mitigation In His Case, Which Would Probably Yield A Less Severe Sentence On Retrial.” 2 In other words, Jones claimed that recognition of his eligibility for compensation under the program constituted newly discovered evidence establishing that he was abused at the Okeechobee School, which is significantly mitigating such that he would probably receive a life sentence at a retrial. The circuit court summarily denied the claim as untimely, procedurally barred, and meritless. Jones now argues that the denial was erroneous.

We review a decision to summarily deny a successive rule 3.851 motion de novo, and we accept a movant’s factual allegations as true to the extent they are not refuted by the record. Zakrzewski v. State, 415 So. 3d 203, 208 (Fla.), cert. denied, No. 25-5194, 2025

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Victor Tony Jones v. State of Florida & Victor Tony Jones v. Secretary, Department of Corrections, (Fla. 2025).

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