Case Title: Holmes v. State

Citation: 374 So. 2d 944

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1979-04-26T00:00:00Z

Document:
374 So. 2d 944 (1979)
Monroe HOLMES, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 48392.

Supreme Court of Florida.
April 26, 1979.
Rehearing Denied October 4, 1979.
*945 Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Craig S. Barnard, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Carolyn M. Snurkowski, George R. Georgieff and Richard W. Prospect, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.
ADKINS, Justice.
This is a direct appeal from a judgment adjudging defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and a sentence of death.
Defendant Holmes was arrested April 5, 1974, for the homicide of police officer Meredith Runck. An indictment was returned charging defendant with murder in the first degree and arraignment was held on April 25, 1974. Defendant tendered a plea of guilty to the offense of murder in the first degree.
Defendant presented witnesses regarding a factual basis for the plea on April 26, 1974, and the trial court then accepted the plea of guilty. Defense counsel stated that defendant waived the jury in the advisory sentence proceeding, so testimony regarding aggravating and mitigating circumstances was presented without a jury on June 6, 1974.
On August 13, 1974, defendant filed a suggestion of insanity and motion for mental examination. The motion was granted.
Arguments on sentencing were not heard until March 21, 1975.
On September 5, 1975, new defense counsel filed a motion to withdraw the guilty plea. This motion was based primarily upon the reports of the court-appointed psychiatrist, which defendant says indicated that he was not competent at the time of the offense and raised a doubt as to his competency to enter the plea of guilty. The motion to withdraw the guilty plea was denied by the trial court on October 15, 1975.
On November 7, 1975, defendant was adjudged guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death.
The findings of fact by the trial judge contained the following:
The victim, Meredith Runck, was a police officer and the homicide was committed after defendant was arrested at the home of Dorothy Campbell, the mother of defendant's girl friend, Mary. Defendant had gone to the home, entered, created a disturbance, and asked to see Mary. The police were called and defendant refused to leave the home. The victim spoke with the defendant for about twenty minutes and asked him to leave. The officer told defendant not to go into the house or he would be arrested. Defendant, nevertheless, came to the door of the house and the arrest resulted. Defendant and the officer walked peacefully to the police cruiser, but, when they reached the cruiser, they began to wrestle. The defendant got on top of the officer and began hitting him. He grabbed the officer's gun, stood up, and fired more than four shots. Other officers then arrived and took defendant into custody.
Defendant contends that the plea of guilty was accepted without an affirmative showing that it was voluntarily and intelligently made, as the court only personally addressed defendant twice and relied on representations of defense counsel and the prosecutor for the majority of the determination. When the plea was tendered, the attorney for defendant stated that he had consulted a privately retained psychiatrist and had received a verbal report leading him to believe that "the move we are taking at this time is proper." An eye witness to the homicide testified at the hearing determining the factual basis for the plea. The intense and exhaustive care with which the trial court advised defendant of his rights, and determined that defendant understood the effect of his plea of guilty, was clearly established.
*947 Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S. Ct. 1709, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274 (1969), does not require that the exhaustive inquiry comes from the lips of the trial judge. The court stated in Church v. State, 299 So. 2d 649 (Fla. 4th DCA 1974):
The lower court meticulously followed the principles outlined in Lamadline v. State, 303 So. 2d 17 (Fla. 1974). As in the Lamadline case,
The best evidence that defendant understood and voluntarily entered his plea of guilty came from his own lips when the court asked whether any threats were made to force him to plea and defendant replied, "No, Sir. I make it willingly." See Hopkins v. State, 275 So. 2d 597 (Fla. 2d DCA 1973); Williams v. State, 316 So. 2d 267 (Fla. 1975).
Thereafter on June 6, 1974, an evidentiary hearing was held on the issue of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. After this hearing the original defense counsel resigned from the office of public defender and new defense counsel was appointed. The new attorney filed a suggestion of insanity and two psychiatrists were appointed by the court. Based upon the report of the psychiatrist, defendant contends that the court erred in refusing to allow the withdrawal of the plea of guilty in view of the possibility of the meritorious defense of insanity. Also, defendant says that he was not mentally competent to enter the plea of guilty and the waiver of the jury for the advisory sentencing procedure was not knowingly and voluntarily made.
These questions were answered by the trial judge when he used the following language in his order denying the motion to withdraw the guilty plea:
There was no showing that defendant was insane or impaired at the time of the offense. He was immediately determined to be sane and competent by a privately retained psychiatrist within weeks of the murder. Psychiatrists who examined him some six months later stated that he suffered with a psychosis to some degree. In Jones v. State, 332 So. 2d 615 (Fla. 1976), Mr. Justice Sundberg, specially concurring in an opinion, correctly states the law of Florida.
Although the facts and proceedings in the Jones' case are not identical with those involved in this case, the reasoning of the court is applicable to the situation faced by the trial judge herein.
The record is absolutely void of any indication that defendant was insane or impaired at his arraignment. It is clearly *949 shown that defendant knew he had wrongfully killed the police officer and, after consultation with his attorney, agreed to plead guilty to the crime charged.
The trial court may in its discretion, and shall upon good cause, at any time before sentence, permit a plea of guilty to be withdrawn. Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.170(f). The trial judge found that there was not "good cause" shown to warrant the defendant's withdrawal of his guilty plea. Therefore, the denial of the motion to withdraw his guilty plea should stand absent a showing that the trial judge abused his discretion. The burden of showing that the trial judge abused his discretion lies with the defendant. Dixon v. State, 287 So. 2d 698 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973); Morgan v. State, 142 So. 2d 308 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962).
The trial court was correct in denying the motion to withdraw the guilty plea.
Section 921.141(1), Florida Statutes, contemplates the possibility of the waiver of a trial jury during the sentencing procedure. Defendant was represented by counsel and the record contains an expressed waiver by counsel in the presence of the defendant. This was sufficient. State v. Carr, 336 So. 2d 358 (Fla. 1976). The defendant could have at any time instructed his attorney or the court of his desire to have a jury impaneled for the sentencing portion in his case. It does not appear from the record that any such instruction was ever given. The waiver was voluntarily offered by defendant, was proper, and was within the dictates of Section 921.141(1), Florida Statutes.
After the waiver by the defendant of a trial jury during the sentencing procedure, the trial court "reluctantly determined that this was a matter of right and that it could not compel defendant to submit to a jury trial as to imposition of sentence." This determination was made prior to our pronouncement in State v. Carr, supra, that the trial judge in his discretion could require an advisory jury recommendation. As a courtesy and accommodation to the trial judge we relinquished jurisdiction so that he could exercise his discretion as to the impaneling of a jury for sentence recommendation. The trial judge is now deceased making such procedure impossible and immaterial. The defendant, having waived the jury cannot now complain about the failure of the trial judge to exercise his discretion to impanel a jury for the judge's benefit. The defendant received that which he requested, i.e., a sentencing determination by the trial judge without the advisory recommendation of a jury.
Upon request of this Court, the trial judge responded as to matters which he considered in imposing the death sentence. His response reads as follows:
The record abundantly reflects that defendant after being placed under arrest attempted to break away from the officer. During the ensuing scuffle, the defendant got the officer's gun and emptied four or more shots into the body of the officer. The record shows that during the events leading up to the murder, the officer attempted to convince defendant to leave the *950 premises prior to placing him under arrest. Even after the murder, the defendant attempted unsuccessfully to impede his arrest by other officials who arrived on the scene.
The record does not show that, at the time of the murder, the defendant was substantially impaired mentally or that he suffered from extreme emotional stress. This case differs from Jones v. State, supra. In Jones, the jury unanimously recommended that he be sentenced to life imprisonment but the trial court sentenced defendant to death. The court described his mental condition as follows:
332 So. 2d  at 619.
Unlike Jones, the defendant Holmes only recently allegedly exhibited odd behavior. The trial judge did not find Holmes' alleged emotional state substantial or extreme enough to consider as a mitigating circumstance.
The fact that defendant was only twenty five years of age and had no prior criminal activity does not constitute persuasive mitigating circumstances. See Alvord v. State, 322 So. 2d 533 (Fla. 1975); Songer v. State, 322 So. 2d 481 (Fla. 1975).
Defendant also says that the findings of fact entered by the trial judge were inadequate. There is no prescribed form for the order containing the findings of mitigating and aggravating circumstances. The primary purpose of requiring these findings to be in writing is to provide an opportunity for meaningful review by this Court so that it may be determined that the trial judge viewed the issue of life or death within the framework of the rules provided by statute. It must appear that the sentence imposed was the result of reasoned judgment. The findings meet these criteria. Furthermore, this Court in State v. Dixon, 283 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1973), stated:
At 9.
Other questions raised by the defendant are without merit. See Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 96 S. Ct. 2960, 49 L. Ed. 2d 913 (1976).
After a careful consideration of the record as well as the contentions of the defendant, we are of the opinion that the order denying the motion of withdrawing the plea of guilty and the subsequent judgment of guilt were correct. Furthermore, the sentence of death was appropriate under the circumstances of the case.
The judgment and sentence are therefore affirmed.
It is so ordered.
BOYD, OVERTON, SUNDBERG and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.
ENGLAND, C.J., concurs as to conviction and dissents as to imposition of a sentence of death.