Case Title: Downs v. State

Citation: 386 So. 2d 788

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1980-05-22T00:00:00Z

Document:
386 So. 2d 788 (1980)
Ernest Charles DOWNS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 53524.

Supreme Court of Florida.
May 22, 1980.
Rehearing Denied September 12, 1980.
*789 Richard Lovett Brown, Jacksonville, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Raymond L. Marky, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Ernest Charles Downs was convicted of the murder in the first degree of Forrest Jerry Harris, Jr. The jury recommended that the death penalty be imposed, and, after weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the trial court imposed a sentence of death. Downs' conviction and sentence of death are before this Court on direct appeal pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution. Downs also appeals his conviction for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. We have reviewed the record, considered the fifteen points raised on appeal, and have found no reversible error.
In April, 1977, John Barfield approached Downs with an offer of five thousand dollars if Downs would kill Harris. Downs accepted the contract to kill Harris and enlisted the assistance of Larry Johnson. On April 23, 1977, at Downs' insistence, Johnson phoned Harris and identified himself as Joseph Green, from whom Harris was expecting a call, and told Harris that he wanted to talk to him about flying contraband. They arranged a meeting in Jacksonville. Downs drove down a dirt road and left Johnson there to await Downs' return with Harris. Downs picked up Harris *790 and drove to the location where he had left Johnson. Harris exited the car and approached Johnson at which time Downs shot Harris four times in the head with a .25 caliber automatic pistol. Together, Downs and Johnson dragged the body off the road into the bushes where Downs fired another shot into Harris' chest to make sure that he was dead.
Downs argues that his conviction should be reversed because the trial court erred in allowing into evidence a diagram prepared by Johnson outside the courtroom, because he was denied due process by the prosecutor's interruption of defense counsel during defense reply summation, because he was denied an impartial jury, because he was deprived of due process by not being allowed to videotape depositions, because his right to cross-examine a witness was curtailed, because he was deprived of his right to compulsory process for obtaining witnesses, because he was denied his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination, because he was denied due process by admission of a particular hypothetical question propounded by the prosecutor to the medical examiner, because the judge commented on the evidence, and because the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction.
For the most part, Downs' points on appeal are completely without merit and do not require explication; however, his allegation that he was denied an impartial jury under the sixth and fourteenth amendments and contrary to the dictates of Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S. Ct. 1770, 20 L. Ed. 2d 776 (1968), does warrant discussion. Downs contends that it was improper to excuse five jurors for cause who indicated an inability to vote for the death penalty but an ability to determine guilt.
The Supreme Court, in Witherspoon, held that a sentence of death cannot be carried out if the jury that imposed or recommended the death penalty was chosen by excluding veniremen for cause who voiced general objections to the death penalty or expressed conscientious or religious scruples against its infliction but who did not state that they would automatically vote against the imposition of such punishment. At Witherspoon's trial, the prosecution eliminated almost half the prospective jurors because they expressed qualms about capital punishment. Only five out of the fortyseven jurors excused for cause in Witherspoon stated that under no circumstances would they vote to impose the death penalty. The Supreme Court explained:
391 U.S.  at 520-521, 88 S. Ct.  at 1776. The Supreme Court did not disturb the conviction but only held that under the circumstances the death sentence would not be carried out.
Although in Witherspoon the Supreme Court was not directly confronted with the question presented by Downs  whether a juror, who states that he is able to determine guilt in an unbiased manner but would never vote for the death penalty, may be excused by the State for cause  it did say:
391 U.S.  at 517-518, 88 S. Ct.  at 1774-1775. Furthermore, the Court noted:
391 U.S.  at 523, n. 21, 88 S. Ct.  at 1777, n. 21. See also Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S. Ct. 2954, 57 L. Ed. 2d 973 (1978).
In Witt v. State, 342 So. 2d 497 (Fla. 1977), we applied Witherspoon and held that it is proper to exclude prospective jurors for cause who say that they could never vote to impose the death penalty.
The identical point presented by Downs was dealt with by the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, in Spinkellink v. Wainwright, 578 F.2d 582 (5th Cir.1978), cert. den., 440 U.S. 976, 99 S. Ct. 1548, 59 L. Ed. 2d 796 (1979). Therein, two veniremen, excluded for cause, stated that they would automatically vote against imposition of the death penalty but that they could fairly judge defendant's guilt or innocence. The Fifth Circuit found nothing constitutionally impermissible in the exclusion of these veniremen and reasoned:
578 F.2d  at 596.
The jurors in the present case who were excluded stated that they could not, under any circumstances, vote to impose the death penalty after a verdict of guilty was returned. By stating that they were unwilling to consider all the penalties provided by law, they evidenced their inability to follow the law and were properly excluded by the trial court.
In addition to reviewing the record in light of the errors alleged by Downs, which we find to have no merit, we also have reviewed the record pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.140(f) to determine whether the interests of justice require a new trial and conclude that no *792 new trial is required. Although defense counsel diligently tried to find weak points in the State's case and to raise doubts as to the credibility of the State's witnesses, the evidence of Downs' guilt is overwhelming, and the jury could not have reasonably returned any other verdict. Downs received the full due process of the law and a fair trial free of any reversible error. Accordingly, we affirm the convictions.
We next consider Downs' challenges to the imposition of the death penalty. The trial court, in a detailed sentencing order, stated:
Downs argues that he was deprived of due process of law by a four-day delay and non-sequestering of the jury between the end of the guilt phase and the beginning of the penalty phase, that failure to instruct the jury during the sentencing phase that life imprisonment means a minimum of twenty-five years without parole denied him due process, that the death penalty statute violates the eighth and fourteenth amendments because it prevents the sentencers from considering non-statutory mitigating circumstances, and that the death penalty was not appropriate in light of the fact that Johnson was given immunity.
Downs was not denied due process by holding the penalty phase four days subsequent to the guilty phase of the trial, nor by the non-sequestering of the jury during this time. Section 921.141, Florida Statutes (1977), provides that the penalty proceedings shall be conducted before the jury "as soon as practicable." The jury verdict of guilty was returned at 10:20 Friday evening, and the court felt that it was unreasonable to commence penalty proceedings the next morning. Appellant's counsel requested that the sentencing advisory hearing be held as soon as possible and further stated that if the hearing was to be held Monday or Tuesday, he would prefer Tuesday. The sentencing hearing was held as soon as practicable after the guilty verdict. Furthermore, the trial judge expressly directed the jury to avoid any outside influences. The defense has not alleged that the jury violated the judge's directive. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in not sequestering the jury during this period of time between the guilty phase and the sentencing phase of the trial.
*795 Downs' argument that the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in granting Johnson immunity violated his constitutional rights and renders Florida's death penalty statute unconstitutional is without merit. The Supreme Court of the United States, in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S. Ct. 2909, 49 L. Ed. 2d 859 (1976), rejected a similar argument. Justices Stewart, Powell, and Stevens, in their separate opinion, stated:
428 U.S.  at 199, 96 S. Ct.  at 2937. Justice White, with whom Chief Justice Burger and Justice Rehnquist joined, said:
428 U.S.  at 225-226, 96 S. Ct.  at 2949. See also Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 254, 96 S. Ct. 2960, 2967, 49 L. Ed. 2d 913 (1976); Spinkellink v. Wainwright, 578 F.2d 582 (5th Cir.1978).
We find that the prosecutor's exercise of discretion did not deprive Downs of his constitutional rights, and we hold that the death penalty is not inappropriate merely because Johnson did not receive the same sentence as Downs. The present case is distinguishable from Slater v. State, 316 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 1975), and is more analogous to Salvatore v. State, 366 So. 2d 745 (Fla. 1978), and Smith v. State, 365 So. 2d 704 (Fla. 1978).
*796 The trial court, in Slater, imposed the death penalty upon Slater after a jury recommendation of life, while the triggerman of the robbery-murder was permitted to plead nolo contendere to the charge of first-degree murder and received a life sentence. Slater was an accomplice and did not have the murder weapon in his hand. The Slater jury recognized these circumstances when it recommended life imprisonment, and we held that imposition of the death sentence under the particular facts of that case would not constitute equal justice under the law.
In Salvatore v. State, the defendant contended that imposition of the death penalty in his case was unconstitutional because his co-defendant was not sentenced to death. The jury, in Salvatore, recommended that the death penalty be imposed. We held that the death sentence should not be reduced merely because the co-defendant did not also receive a death sentence, and we affirmed Salvatore's sentence. We distinguished the facts in Salvatore from Slater and said:
366 So. 2d  at 752 (emphasis supplied).
The record in the present case establishes that Johnson and Downs were not equally situated and reveals that Downs accepted the contract to kill, formulated the scheme, solicited Johnson's participation, and shot the victim, although Johnson had attempted to dissuade him from going through with the killing and even told Downs that he was not going to help him with the killing. Johnson testified that because he was fearful that Downs might shoot him, he went along with Downs, but again informed Downs that he was not going to kill Harris but Downs would have to do the killing himself. When Downs left Johnson with a machine gun, at the end of the dirt road to await Downs' and Harris' return, Johnson testified that he hid the gun under some boards because he had no intention of using it.
Later, while Downs was in Alabama, Johnson came forward and advised a detective for the Jacksonville sheriff's department of the murder. He testified that he had not come forward before because he was afraid that Downs would take revenge on him or his family and because he feared he would be arrested for the murder. With Downs far removed in Alabama, he no longer feared Downs' revenge. In response to Downs' assertion that it possibly was unnecessary for the State to grant immunity to Johnson in order to make its case, the State asserts that the state attorney undoubtedly believed that it was necessary and that his statements to the judge and jury reveal his good faith belief that the granting of immunity in exchange for Johnson's testimony and production of physical evidence was in the best interests of the State.
Johnson was responsible for the present case coming to light, and the jury was aware that Johnson had received immunity when it returned its advisory recommendation of death.
The remaining points raised by Downs relative to the imposition of the sentence of death are likewise without merit.
Accordingly, having found no reversible error, we affirm the judgments and sentences.
It is so ordered.
ENGLAND, C.J., and ADKINS, BOYD, OVERTON, SUNDBERG and ALDERMAN, JJ., concur.