Walker v. State

77 So. 3d 890, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 685, 2012 WL 163936
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided January 20, 2012·No. No. 2D10-2754·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

SILBERMAN, Chief Judge.

Ronnie Tremel Walker seeks review of his judgment and sentence for manslaughter, armed burglary of a dwelling with an assault or battery, and armed robbery. We reverse and remand for a new trial because the trial court erred in admitting hearsay evidence that an unnamed third party had provided information that led to Walker’s identification.

In October 2003, Raymond Lee was living with his girlfriend of fifteen years, Elaine, and Elaine’s nine-year-old granddaughter, Veronica. On the evening of October 23, 2003, Raymond and Veronica were in the den when a man they had never seen before appeared with a handgun. He held his finger to his lips to quiet Raymond and Veronica.

The man patted down Raymond and took his wallet from his back pocket. Although the wallet contained about $500, the man asked Raymond where he kept the rest of his money. When Raymond asked what he was talking about, the man asked who else was in the home. Raymond told him that Elaine was in the [892] master bedroom. The man then grabbed Raymond around the neck with one arm, grabbed Veronica with the other, and hustled them into the master bedroom while pointing the gun at Raymond’s head.

When Elaine saw the man holding Raymond and Veronica at gunpoint, she started screaming. The man became agitated and told Elaine to be quiet. Raymond could see that the man was panicking and told Elaine to calm down. Elaine continued screaming, and the man pointed the gun at her and told her to shut up. Raymond tried to grab the gun while the man told Elaine, “I’m not gonna tell you to shut up no more.” The man fired the gun, and Elaine fell. Veronica then started screaming.

The man turned to Raymond and said Raymond had until the count of three to tell him the location of the money or Veronica would be shot. When Veronica started panicking, the man knelt down, kissed her on her forehead, and said, “I’m not going to shoot you because I have a daughter myself. Just tell me where the money is at.” When Raymond insisted that there was no more money, Veronica blurted, “[I]t’s in the trunk.”

The man ushered Raymond and Veronica to the living room and demanded the car keys. Raymond told the man the keys were hanging on the wall. They retrieved the keys and proceeded outside. Raymond had parked his two cars on his neighbor’s property to hide them because he sometimes used the cars to store drugs. They tried to open the trunk of one of the cars, but the keys would not fit. When the man asked again about the keys, Raymond said the keys were in the car. The man had Veronica retrieve them and open the trunk.

After she opened the trunk and looked inside, Veronica remarked, “I don’t see no money.” Raymond took the opportunity to grab the man’s arm, and the gun fell to the ground. As the two men struggled, Raymond yelled for Veronica to run. Veronica took off. The man then retrieved the firearm and took off running in the other direction. Raymond fled in the direction Veronica had run and called for help.

Sergeant Haggart heard a radio call regarding the home invasion at 8:15 p.m. and responded to the scene. He entered the house and found Elaine lying on the bed. She had been killed by a gunshot wound to her head. Raymond described the perpetrator as a twenty-five-year-old black male, 5'10" to 5'11" tall, weighing about 185 pounds. The man was wearing a baseball cap, and the only distinctive feature Raymond could remember was a scar running down the left side of the man’s face. The police showed Raymond two photopaks, each containing six pictures of suspects. Raymond did not identify anyone from the photopaks.

About a month after the shooting, Raymond received information “from the streets” as to the perpetrator’s identity. Raymond went to his sister Valerie’s home and called his sister Yolanda. Yolanda researched a state database while Raymond was on the phone. She searched the database for younger black males with a first name that began with the letters “R-o-n” and pulled up about ten photographs of possible perpetrators. Valerie then pulled up the photographs on her computer. Raymond identified Walker from one of the photographs.

Raymond contacted the detective who was assigned to the case, Detective Dra-biniak, and informed him that he had the name and photograph of the perpetrator. Drabiniak pulled up the photograph on the website and then prepared a photopak us[893] ing a different photo of Walker. Raymond identified Walker’s photograph.

Of the nineteen prints taken at the scene, only one palm print from an ar-moire in the master bedroom was detailed enough to compare to existing prints. However, it did not match Elaine, Raymond, or Walker. Additionally, the police never recovered the firearm the perpetrator used. Because the only evidence against Walker was Raymond’s identification of his photographs, Detective Drabin-iak decided not to arrest Walker and continued the investigation.

But the case went cold. Five years later, the case was transferred from Detective Drabiniak to Detective Massucci for a cold case review. Detective Massucci arranged for a DNA analysis of an area of blood at the scene that had not been tested in the first investigation. Ultimately, all of the DNA was matched to Elaine and Raymond, who had cut his finger during the incident.

Detective Massucci interviewed Walker in July 2009. Massucci informed Walker of the evidence against him and accused Walker of committing the crimes. Walker calmly responded, “[S]ounds like you have a tight case, but that’s not my M.O.” Walker also attempted to explain why the evidence did not necessarily establish that he was the perpetrator. Because Walker continued to deny his involvement, the detective decided to try a different tack. He attempted to appeal to Walker’s emotions by mentioning the perpetrator’s tender treatment of nine-year-old Veronica when she became upset. Walker teared up, and the detective encouraged him to confess. Walker responded, “I know what you’re saying but I will never tell on myself.” Detective Massucci continued the interview, but Walker never admitted that he had committed the crimes. Walker was arrested in September 2009.

In February 2010, Walker was tried for first-degree felony murder, armed burglary of a dwelling with an assault or battery, and armed robbery. This trial resulted in a hung jury, and the court declared a mistrial. The State then amended the murder charge to second-degree murder and retried Walker on the three charges.

At the second trial, the State relied primarily on Raymond’s identification of Walker and Detective Massucci’s testimony regarding Walker’s statements during his interview. On cross-examination of Raymond, defense counsel established an inconsistency between Raymond’s identification of the perpetrator’s scar and Walker’s actual appearance. Raymond had described the perpetrator’s scar as a raised scar running down the side of his face, but the only mark on the side of Walker’s face was an acne pockmark that looked like it had been scratched. And, on cross-examination of Detective Massucci, the detective conceded that, even though the perpetrator had told Veronica that he had two daughters, Walker was the father of two sons.

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Walker v. State, 77 So. 3d 890, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 685, 2012 WL 163936 (Fla. Ct. App. 2012).

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