Williamson v. State

961 So. 2d 229, 2007 WL 1362872
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMay 10, 2007
DocketSC05-1527
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 961 So. 2d 229 (Williamson 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
Williamson v. State, 961 So. 2d 229, 2007 WL 1362872 (Fla. 2007).

Opinion

961 So.2d 229 (2007)

Johnny WILLIAMSON, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC05-1527.

Supreme Court of Florida.

May 10, 2007.
Rehearing Denied July 16, 2007.

*230 Harry P. Brody and Jeffrey M. Hazen of Brody and Hazen, P.A., Tallahassee, FL, for Appellant.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Meredith Charbula and Charmaine M. Millsaps, Assistant Attorneys General, Tallahassee, FL, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Johnny Williamson appeals the denial of his successive motion for postconviction relief. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. Williamson was sentenced to death for the 1985 prison murder of Daniel Drew. See Williamson v. State, 511 So.2d 289 (Fla.1987). In his motion, Williamson asserted that newly discovered evidence that could be used to impeach two inmates who testified against him at trial probably would have produced an acquittal or a sentence other than death if presented at trial. Because we conclude that none of the alleged newly discovered evidence would have affected the guilt-phase verdict or the decision to impose the death penalty, we affirm the denial of relief.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Williamson's claim centers on impeachment evidence concerning the testimony of Kenneth Baez and Omer Williamson (hereinafter referred to as Omer). In his motion, Williamson relied on an affidavit by Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco, who was executed in 2002, and a motion for postconviction *231 relief seeking to withdraw his plea filed by Omer in 1993. Sanchez-Velasco was a prison inmate and Omer was Williamson's codefendant, who testified against Williamson pursuant to a plea agreement with the State. The facts as related in this Court's opinion in the direct appeal focused on Omer's testimony:

According to Omer Williamson's testimony, Omer owed Drew $15 in connection with a marijuana sale. Omer decided not to pay Drew because Omer believed Drew had been lying to him. When Omer told the appellant that he did not intend to repay Drew, Williamson said that they would have to kill Drew because Drew was "a country boy" who would stab Omer if he didn't pay his debt. "Chickenhead" Robertson, another inmate at the facility and co-defendant in Williamson's trial, learned of the plan to kill Drew and offered to look for a knife. When Robertson and Williamson were unable to find a knife, Omer went to his cell and got a metal rod from the sink which Drew had previously sharpened to a point. While Robertson acted as a lookout, Williamson and Omer went to the maintenance shop building where Drew was working. Williamson asked an inmate working at the shop to send Drew outside. When Drew came out Omer stood behind him, while Williamson gave him $5 so that it would look like they had given Drew less than Omer owed him and he had gotten upset and pulled a knife on them. Williamson then told Drew that Omer was having trouble getting the rest of the money and needed a knife to collect. Drew had apparently made a knife for Williamson and gave it to him at that point in the conversation. On Williamson's signal, Omer grabbed Drew by the throat from behind. Williamson stabbed Drew and a struggle ensued, with Omer throwing Drew to the ground, kicking him in the head several times. Williamson continued to stab Drew with the knife. When Omer became "grossed out" he gave Williamson the rod and left. Williamson then straddled Drew stabbing him repeatedly with the knife and metal rod. . . .
. . . Omer pled guilty to first-degree murder and agreed to testify against Williamson and Robertson in return for the state's agreement not to seek the death penalty. . . . Williamson, who did not testify during the guilt phase of the trial but did testify during the penalty phase, was found guilty of [first-degree murder]. Following the jury's recommendation of death, the trial court imposed the death penalty, finding three aggravating circumstances: 1) the capital felony was committed while Williamson was under a sentence of imprisonment; 2) Williamson had been previously convicted of a violent felony; and 3) the murder was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner without a pretense of moral or legal justification. The trial court found no mitigating circumstances.

Williamson, 511 So.2d at 290-91.

Baez was one of several inmate witnesses called to testify in the State's case. He testified on direct examination that Williamson asked him for a shank before lunchtime on the day Drew was killed and said he wanted "to kill the son of a bitch." After Baez was cross-examined about inconsistent deposition testimony, he stated on redirect that Omer asked him about a knife on the afternoon of the murder. Baez said he changed his testimony from the grand jury proceeding to the deposition in an effort to keep from being called to testify at trial.

*232 Another inmate, Stephen Bishop, also testified that on the day of the killing, Williamson and Robertson asked where they could get a knife. Inmate Melvin Harris testified that Williamson, who was with Robertson and Omer, asked Harris to send Drew out of the maintenance building to speak with Williamson just before the killing. Harris testified that he then looked through a window and saw Omer hit Drew and Williamson stab Drew. Similarly, inmate Ronnie Presley saw Omer hold Drew and Williamson appear to hit him, then saw Williamson covered in blood. Presley also testified that Williamson said, "I wanted to get away with this, but there ain't no way that I can now," and that the "son of a bitch wouldn't die." Presley testified that he helped Williamson dispose of the bloody clothes and that Robertson helped him hide a knife.

After the murder, a correctional officer found Williamson in his cell wearing pants but no shirt or shoes. The shoes Williamson subsequently identified as his appeared to have bloodstains. Boxer shorts, socks, and a T-shirt found in his laundry bag also appeared to have blood on them. Some of the blood on one of the socks was identified as Type O, Drew's blood type.

This Court affirmed Williamson's first-degree murder conviction and sentence of death. Williamson, 511 So.2d at 290. We rejected a claim that the trial court erred in denying a mistrial when the prosecutor asserted in the guilt-phase rebuttal closing argument that Omer's plea to first-degree murder showed that the killing was premeditated. The Court concluded that the statement was a fair comment on the evidence and a permissible rebuttal to the defense's closing argument. Id. at 291-92. The Court also determined that the trial court did not err in sentencing Williamson to death but Omer to life imprisonment. The Court concluded that both the judge and the jury were aware of Omer's plea and probable life sentence and could have concluded from the evidence that Williamson was the dominant actor in the murder. "There was testimony that Williamson first suggested the killing, that he formulated the plan and recruited Robertson as the lookout, and that he was the one who repeatedly stabbed Drew." Id. at 292-93.

The Court subsequently affirmed the denial of Williamson's first motion for postconviction relief and denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Williamson v. Dugger, 651 So.2d 84 (Fla.1994). An issue pertinent to the current appeal was whether the trial court erred in summarily denying a newly discovered evidence claim based on affidavits of two prisoners in Alabama, where Omer was eventually transferred for his safety after testifying in this case.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
961 So. 2d 229, 2007 WL 1362872, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williamson-v-state-fla-2007.