Wayne C. Doty v. State of Florida

CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 16, 2025
DocketSC2023-1123
StatusPublished

This text of Wayne C. Doty v. State of Florida (Wayne C. Doty v. State of Florida) 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
Wayne C. Doty v. State of Florida, (Fla. 2025).

Opinion

Supreme Court of Florida ____________

No. SC2023-1123 ____________

WAYNE C. DOTY, Appellant,

vs.

STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

January 16, 2025

PER CURIAM.

Wayne C. Doty, a prisoner under sentence of death for the

2011 first-degree premeditated murder of Xavier H. Rodriguez, a

fellow prison inmate, appeals the circuit court’s order summarily

denying his motion for postconviction relief filed under Florida Rule

of Criminal Procedure 3.851. Doty also appeals two other circuit

court orders entered in the postconviction proceedings, one denying

his request for a PET scan and MRI, and one denying his request to

interview a venire member. We have jurisdiction. See art. V,

§ 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. As explained below, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND

On May 17, 2011, Doty and fellow inmate William E. Wells

murdered Rodriguez in Florida State Prison. Soon after Doty was

indicted for the murder, he moved to waive the right to counsel. Dr.

Harry Krop “assessed Doty’s competence and opined that he was

competent to stand trial and to represent himself.” Doty v. State,

170 So. 3d 731, 736 (Fla. 2015). The trial court conducted a

Faretta 1 hearing and “permitted Doty to proceed pro se, but

appointed standby counsel.” 170 So. 3d at 734.

In 2012, a self-represented Doty pleaded guilty to the first-

degree murder of Rodriguez. Id. at 733. Doty also represented

himself during the initial penalty phase. Id. at 734. We previously

outlined what the evidence from that penalty phase showed.

The evidence showed that Doty was, at the time of the murder, serving a life sentence for the shooting death of his former employer. Doty was transferred to Florida State Prison (FSP) and was assigned to the “K wing,” working as a runner. Each wing at the prison had four runners, who worked in pairs and assisted in numerous duties, including distributing meals to the other prisoners and cleaning common areas. In return, the runners were given certain privileges. Doty’s partner as a runner was Wells, who assisted in the murder of

1. Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975).

-2- Rodriguez, another runner on the K wing. Doty began planning the murder after the victim, Rodriguez, called Doty names and stole some tobacco from Doty approximately two weeks prior to the incident. In exchange for tobacco, Doty convinced another inmate to make him a knife that he could use to murder Rodriguez. On the evening of May 17, 2011, Doty obtained the homemade knife, which was hidden in a newspaper, when he assisted in picking up inmate food trays after dinner. Doty deposited the knife into a trashcan, which he later retrieved and brought to the third-floor interview room that the runners were permitted to use. Doty then placed the weapon in the duct work there so he could easily retrieve it. That evening, Doty and Wells carefully watched when the officers made their rounds to determine the best time to kill Rodriguez. After convincing Rodriguez to meet them in the third-floor interview room, Doty and Wells tricked Rodriguez into letting them bind his hands by betting him some tobacco that he could not get out of “Coast Guard handcuffs.” After his hands were bound, Doty approached Rodriguez from behind and placed him in a rear chokehold. At first, Rodriguez thought it was a joke but, as Doty explained in his confession, “Once I really got that chokehold locked down, he knew the game was over.” After Doty felt Rodriguez “go slack,” Doty let Rodriguez’s body drop to the floor, and Doty later commented that the body made a “hollow thud” as it hit the floor. Wells ensured that nobody else entered the room, while Doty pulled the body around the desk and began to stab Rodriguez with the homemade knife. Although Doty admitted that he was hoping to pull out Rodriguez’s heart “to make sure he was really dead,” the knife was too dull and did not work for that task. Doty and Wells then tied a ligature around Rodriguez’s neck, smoked a cigarette, took showers, and, after they were sure that Rodriguez was really dead, called a sergeant working at the prison and confessed to the crime.

-3- Dr. William Hamilton, the medical examiner, testified that the victim died from strangulation and multiple stab wounds. According to Dr. Hamilton, the victim likely lost consciousness within 45-50 seconds, but if the chokehold was expertly applied, the victim could have lost consciousness in as little as 10-20 seconds. Dr. Hamilton further testified that he believed the victim was still alive when he was stabbed, but was unconscious and close to death, because the victim lost a small amount of blood from the stab wounds and all of the wounds were located very close together, indicating that the victim was not moving during the stabbing.

Id. at 734-35. At the conclusion of the initial penalty phase, the

jury by a vote of ten to two recommended a death sentence, and the

trial court later imposed a death sentence. Id. at 733.

In 2015, we affirmed Doty’s conviction and sentence. Id. at

734. Among other things, we determined “that Doty’s guilty plea

was knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered.” Id. at 739.

In 2016, Doty filed a Rule 3.851 motion for postconviction

relief, raising seven penalty-phase claims, including a claim that his

death sentence was unconstitutional in light of Hurst v. Florida, 577

U.S. 92 (2016). On August 7, 2017, the circuit court granted Hurst

relief, vacated Doty’s death sentence, remanded for a new penalty

phase, and dismissed Doty’s other claims as moot.

On the same day that the circuit court ordered a new penalty

-4- phase, Doty again moved to waive counsel. The court subsequently

conducted another Faretta hearing and granted Doty’s request.

After the court again appointed standby counsel, Doty requested an

order “setting stipulations on appointed standby counsel’s role.”

One requested stipulation for standby counsel’s “limited

participation” was that standby counsel was otherwise not to

“intervene in the investigation and preparation” of mitigation, as

assistance with those matters was assigned to others. The circuit

court entered an order granting Doty’s requested stipulations.

The second penalty phase took place on February 19-26,

2018. 2 At its conclusion, the jury unanimously recommended a

death sentence. Doty v. State, 313 So. 3d 573, 576 (Fla. 2020). The

trial court again followed the jury’s recommendation and imposed a

death sentence. Id.

In 2020, we affirmed the death sentence imposed at Doty’s

second penalty phase. Id. at 574. The United States Supreme

Court denied certiorari review on November 1, 2021. Doty v.

2. Prior to Doty’s second penalty phase, Wells—who was tried separately for the Rodriguez murder—received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

-5- Florida, 142 S. Ct. 449 (2021).

On June 16, 2022, Doty filed a motion for PET scan and MRI

in which he asserted that two postconviction experts, namely Dr.

Valerie McLain (a licensed psychologist) and Dr. Michael Maher (a

board-certified psychiatrist), recommended the scans “to

corroborate and ascertain detailed information about the presence

of neurological disease, and/or brain damage based on evidence of

Mr. Doty’s severe memory deficits.” Doty alleged that the results

would be “compelling new evidence” regarding three postconviction

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Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Giglio v. United States
405 U.S. 150 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Faretta v. California
422 U.S. 806 (Supreme Court, 1975)
Indiana v. Edwards
554 U.S. 164 (Supreme Court, 2008)
Muhammad v. State
782 So. 2d 343 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2001)
Huff v. State
622 So. 2d 982 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1993)
Smith v. State
445 So. 2d 323 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1983)
Jones v. State
998 So. 2d 573 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2008)
Behr v. Bell
665 So. 2d 1055 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1996)
Seibert v. State
64 So. 3d 67 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2011)
Norman Blake McKenzie v. State of Florida
153 So. 3d 867 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2014)
Wayne C. Doty v. State of Florida
170 So. 3d 731 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2015)
Leonard P Gonzalez Jr. v. State of Florida
253 So. 3d 526 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2018)
Johnson v. State
104 So. 3d 1010 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2012)
Barnes v. State
124 So. 3d 904 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2013)
Moore v. State
132 So. 3d 718 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2013)
Hurst v. Florida
577 U.S. 92 (Supreme Court, 2016)

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