Quad murders: Bay investigators say Williams was there

September 29, 2009 02:06:00 PM
By DAVID ANGIER / News Herald Writer

MARIANNA — Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen told jurors in Jackson County on Tuesday that murder defendant Wesley Williams confessed he was in Danielle Baker’s home when she was killed.

“He said he didn’t do it,” McKeithen said about an interview he had with Williams in January 2008. “He said he was present, he knew who did it, and he could prove it.”

McKeithen said he asked Williams if revealing everything would clear him.

“He said it would be according to how you look at it,” McKeithen said. Williams, he said, believed he would not be charged with “the main charge.”

Bay County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Joe Smiley said he was present for the admission, but neither man recorded the conversation.

Williams, 25, is accused of killing Baker, 19, and Amad, 3, Amarion, 1, and Aaron, 3 weeks. Baker was shot to death inside her Cottondale Village apartment on March 17, 2005. The three boys suffocated after being bound with duct tape. Williams, who fathered two of the boys, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse and faces the death penalty if convicted as charged. His trial began last week.

Deputy Public Defender Walter Smith, told jurors that Williams had nothing whatsoever to do with the killings. Prosecutor Larry Basford said the killing was done so Williams could avoid paying Baker child support.

Basford concluded his case Tuesday morning and rested after lunch.

His last witness was local Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Hunter who, working off Dr. William Siebert’s autopsy notes, told jurors that Baker was killed with a single gunshot to the head and the three children were smothered by the tape.

Hunter said the downward angle of the wound, and the gun being 2 inches to 2 feet from Baker’s head when it discharged, indicates the killer was probably standing over her when the shot was fired. Baker was found slumped over with her back against her kitchen cabinets. She probably was killed while sitting or standing where she was found.

Hunter said her injury was devastating and she would have been unconscious immediately, even if her heart continued to beat. The children, he said, were probably unconscious within a minute of their airways being taped over and died a few minutes later.

Hunter said two of the children showed signs of chemical burns to their skin, but he believed this came after they died. Siebert noted in his report the smell of bleach in the bathroom where the children’s bodies were found. Basford said the bleach probably was used to destroy evidence.



The defense

Smith began his defense Tuesday afternoon, calling Maurice Jones to the stand. Jones said he went with Perry Johnson, a man who spent time with Baker the night before her death, to Miami so Johnson could obtain a kilogram of cocaine. Jones said his understanding was the cocaine was “fronted,” or given to Johnson with the understanding he would pay for it later.

“I just know it was a front thing,” Jones said of the transaction. “He owed the dude some money.”

One of Smith’s defenses is Baker and her children were killed by the drug suppliers as they were searching for Johnson to get their money.

Basford asked Jones if any of Johnson’s friends would think to go to Baker’s residence in search of Johnson, considering the two were just beginning a relationship. Jones, who seemed to get angrier the longer the questioning went on, said he didn’t know Baker or her relationship with Johnson.

Candy Zuleger, lab manager for Trinity DNA Solutions in Milton, told jurors about tests she ran on glove fragments found on the tape used to bind Amarion. She said she found two minor DNA signatures on the fragments, neither one of them Williams’. However, she said, because Williams shares much of his DNA profile with Amarion, his son, she was not able to rule him out as a contributor to the genetic material found on the glove.

Zuleger said the genetic material she found all came from males.

“So, two males contributed DNA material to those glove fragments other than Amarion Baker?” Smith asked.

“That’s what it looks like,” she said.

Man Convicted Of Lunsford Killing Dies

John Couey Sentenced To Death In 2007

POSTED: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
UPDATED: 4:15 pm EDT September 30, 2009

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- John Evander Couey, a convicted sex offender awaiting execution for kidnapping, raping and burying 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford alive in 2005, died of natural causes Wednesday.

Couey, 51, had been ill for some time and died in a Jacksonville hospital, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

"It was not a surprise," she said.

Plessinger declined to provide any specifics, citing a federal law protecting the privacy of hospital patients.

Jessica's grandmother, Ruth Lunsford, 77, said in a telephone interview that she couldn't feel bad about Couey's death.

"He murdered my granddaughter. He didn't show any mercy to my granddaughter," she said. "God took control of it. He took him out of this world. ... I'm not crying, honey. If my legs and feet would hold up, I'd go out and shout all over Citrus County."

The crime prompted many states to pass laws named for Jessica that impose restrictions on sex offenders, including tougher penalties and registration requirements. Florida's version also bans them and others convicted of serious crimes from school grounds.

Couey died just over a month before the Florida Supreme Court was scheduled to hear his automatic appeal. He had an IQ of 78, slightly above the level generally considered mentally disabled, but the judge rejected an argument by his lawyer that he couldn't legally be executed.

Couey spent much of his 2007 trial, which was moved to Miami because of publicity about the case, drawing in coloring books. He looked straight ahead as Circuit Judge Ric Howard told him he should be executed.

Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, teared up then as he listened to the judge read a detailed history of the case. Outside court, he had a message for Couey: "Skip all these appeals. Take your punishment. Stand up and be a man."

Couey took Jessica from her bedroom to his nearby trailer in February 2005, triggering a massive search. The third-grader's body was found about three weeks later in a grave in Couey's yard, only about 150 yards from her home.

Couey's confession was thrown out as evidence because he did not have a lawyer present. Jail guards and investigators testified he repeatedly admitted details of the slaying but said he hadn't meant to kill the girl.

Prosecutors also introduced overwhelming physical evidence, including fingerprints and DNA.

Jessica's body was found wrapped in two garbage bags under a foot of dirt.

Couey previously had been convicted of exposing himself to a 5-year-old girl in 1991. His criminal record also included 24 burglary arrests and carrying a concealed weapon.

Jerry Townsend files

http://www.oranous.com/innocence/JerryTownsend/

Jerry Townsend files

Supreme Court Starts Term with First Amendment Cases

Sullivan v. Florida and Graham v. Florida.

Argument: Nov. 9.

Terrance Graham and Joe Sullivan were both sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for separate offences they committed as minors.Graham pleaded guilty at age 16 to armed burglary and attempted armed robbery of a restaurant. Due to a probation violation, he was sentenced to the maximum penalty.Sullivan was convicted in 1989 at age 13 of sexual battery involving a 72-year-old woman.These cases come after the 2005 Ropert v. Florida ruling in which the court ruled 5-4 that sentencing minors to the death penalty violates Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment.Graham and Sullivan argue that sentencing juveniles to life without parole also violates the Eighth Amendment because it eradicates hope.Fourteen friend-of-the-court briefs side with Graham and Sullivan; six support the state.Pottawattamie County, Iowa v. McGhee. Argument: Nov. 4.Retired police officer John Schweer was shot and killed July 21, 1977, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Two Pottawattamie County prosecutors were found to have planted evidence and withheld exculpatory evidence during the criminal trial. Suspects Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee were convicted in 1978 and released 20 years later, after that discovery. The are seeking civil damages from the county and the prosecutors, who argue they are immune to a civil suit because they were acting on behalf of the government."In this case, the prosecutors were acting very, very, very badly," said Lisa Kung, of the Southern Center for Human Rights. "The question is how much immunity do we give a prosecutor?"The ruling could give blanket immunity to anything a prosecutor does if the court sides with the prosecutors.

Law experts: Fixes to Fla. death penalty ignored

By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer

Lawyers, current and retired judges and a former death row inmate Wednesday criticized Florida for ignoring suggestions on how to fix its death penalty procedures.

An American Bar Association team made the recommendations three years ago. A forum at Florida State University was designed in part to "brush off any dust," said Sandy D'Alemberte, the school's president emeritus and a former ABA president.

"There has just been a lack of political will, both executive and legislative," D'Alemberte said. "I hope at some point people will understand this is such an expensive system we're running and it's one that's been extremely ineffective."

D'Alemberte said the forum's purpose was not to advocate abolishing the death penalty but to push for changes in a system that one judge called "a morass."

Sen. Victor Crist, a Tampa Republican who focuses on death penalty issues and chairs a committee that oversees court and prison system spending, said the Legislature has looked at the recommendations and decided most weren't needed.

"To say that we have a dysfunctional death penalty system is false and misleading," Crist said. "Florida is at the forefront of anywhere in the world that has decided to keep the death sentence."

Some key recommendations are for unanimous jury votes to recommend the death penalty, improved jury instructions, uniform criteria to help prosecutors decide what cases should merit a request for death and better legal representation for appeals.

Twenty-two inmates have been released from Florida's death row, more than any other state, because courts or a governor have determined they had been wrongly convicted. They include Juan Melendez, who was freed in 2002 after spending 17 years on death row.

"You can always release an innocent man from prison," Melendez said in an interview. "But you can never, and I repeat, you can never release an innocent man from the grave."

Crist, though, said he believes the high number of releases proves Florida's system does prevent innocent people from being executed.

Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper of Dade City said she was afraid federal courts may begin overturning some death sentences because Florida is the only state that lets juries recommend death and agree on aggravating circumstances to justify that sentence both by less than a unanimous vote.

"One of these days Florida is going to find itself in trouble," said Tepper, who participated in the forum by phone.

The Florida Supreme Court in 2005 also urged the Legislature to require unanimous jury recommendations in an opinion on one of Tepper's cases.

Crist did agree with the critics on one issue - the state should restore a legal office that represented death row inmates in northern Florida for their appeals.

At the urging of former Gov. Jeb Bush, the Legislature abolished that office and set up a system of private lawyers as an experiment in privatization but kept two others going in central and South Florida.

Judges have complained the private lawyers have not been up to par. Crist said he's worried about losing the confidence of the courts and has sponsored bills for the past three years to restore the northern office. They have passed in the Senate but haven't been taken up in the House.

House Criminal and Civil Justice Policy Council Chairman William Snyder, R-Stuart, said he was unfamiliar with ABA recommendations. Snyder noted he's only been in the Legislature for three years and no one's ever come to see him about them.

Inmates' families can call number to voice complaints, concerns

By Naseem Sowti Miller
Staff writer

Published: Friday, June 12, 2009 at 6:30 a.m.
From now on, people who have a complaint or concern about the welfare of a loved one who is incarcerated at the Marion County Jail can call a specific phone number or fill out an online inquiry form — and expect to hear from a jail official within 24 hours.

“We realized that complaints came from a lot of different avenues,” said Marion County Sheriff’s Major Paul Laxton, corrections bureau chief. “This way, they come to one central place, and we can address them. There’s always a watch commander here who will get the information, and they can look into the situation and get back with them.”

The watch commander of the jail is required to initiate contact with the citizens within 24 hours and respond accordingly to the inquiry, according to jail officials. Laxton said the Inmate Welfare Information Line at 352-438-5970 and the related online form at www.marionso.com/bureau-corrections-visitation.php are not intended for general checking on inmates or inquiring about other issues related to their arrest.

Laxton said the addition of the Inmate Welfare Information Line was not in response to the U.S. Justice Department investigation of the jail.

“We’re always looking for ways to provide a better service for public,” he said.

DOJ began looking into the jail in March to determine whether adequate suicide prevention measures are in place and how force is applied by corrections officers. DOJ investigators are slated to have a week-long visit to the jail at the end of August.

Also this week, the jail was evaluated by three auditors from the American Correctional Association. The national organization has been accrediting the jail every three years for the past two decades. The auditors look at all areas and services of the jail, from the kitchen to the infirmary.

Sgt. Jeff Owens, the accreditation manager at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, described the three-day process as “very intense.”

“But we do it, so we can show the community that we do strive for excellence, and we have an outside body that confirms that.”

Officials from the MCSO will find out in early August if the jail’s ACA accreditation will be renewed.

Owens said that the jail scored well in all areas.

During the exit interview, which was held on Wednesday morning in front of more than 300 MCSO employees, the auditors gave the jail 100 percent for complying with mandatory national standards and 99 percent for non-mandatory standards, according to jail officials.

“We’re confident that there’s no reason they won’t recommend us (for re-accreditation),” Owens said.

The jail is also accredited by the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission and CFA, another Florida accreditation body.

Paul Flemming: Death needs more than a simple majority

You couldn't get spinach on your pizza after E. coli-tainted shipments of the leafy stuff killed a couple people. The Cardinals won the World Series. "Basic Instinct 2," "Ice Age 2" and "Jackass 2" played in theaters. Among those who died in 2006 was an odd musical trio: Buck Owens, Billy Preston and Syd Barrett.

Clarence Hill, Arthur Rutherford, Danny Rolling and Angel Diaz also died that year. They were executed by the state of Florida.

That same year, a group assembled by the American Bar Association released a weighty tome — a literal and figurative description of the 400-plus page assessment of Florida's death penalty.

Those who labored to produce it ranged across the ideological spectrum, and its leadership was at great pains to insist — correctly — that the report did not take a position on the death penalty itself, only its administration and the many flaws in Florida's system.

"The ABA does not have a position against the death penalty," Sandy D'Alemberte, former president of the ABA and former Florida State University president, said this week. "It does have a position that the death penalty ... ought to at least be administered fairly, honestly and without discrimination."

An even dozen recommendations were put forward, ranging from reforms to address faulty witness identifications to ways of reducing ambiguous jury instructions and racial disparity in the death penalty's application.

On Wednesday, a panel gathered at FSU's Law School to follow up and get things rolling after three years of nothing.

The report "sits there, and I think that's probably its state. It sits there," said Mike Minerva, former public defender in the Second Judicial Circuit that includes Tallahassee and among the eight authors of the report.

Wednesday's coffee-and-cookies gathering of about 100 people was part of the ABA's Death Penalty Moratorium Project, an effort to get states that have capital punishment to evaluate and fix their systems before executing anyone else.

Coincidentally, Angel Diaz's 2006 lethal injection was so thoroughly screwed up that then-Gov. Jeb Bush enacted a moratorium until the state could get its act together. There were no executions for the next 18 months, though the deliberations had nothing to do with the ABA report released two months previous and everything to do with procedures to minimize the likelihood of further botched efforts.

A unanimous Florida Supreme Court, in an opinion authored by now-former Justice Raul Cantero, a Bush appointee and then the court's most reliably conservative member, called for the Legislature to require juror unanimity to recommend a death sentence. Florida is alone among the 35 states that execute prisoners in not requiring that all jurors agree to the death penalty. The ABA report also suggests the same thing.

Also in 2006, then-Rep. Bruce Kyle, a Fort Myers Republican, offered a resolution rebuking the state's Supreme Court and saying the House thought a simple majority of jurors was just dandy to condemn suspects. It passed by a voice vote.

Another 2006 highlight was a November election. Florida voters passed Amendment 3, a proposal by the Legislature to require that amendments to the state's constitution be approved by 60 percent of those casting ballots.

To recap: Changing the state's constitution is of such import that it should require three of five voters' assent to alter it. Deciding to put a person to death can be determined by a 7-5 vote.

By those standards, a jury vote recommending death wouldn't be enough, at 58 percent, to pass a constitutional amendment.

Since 1973, Florida has released 19 men from Death Row. One is Juan Melendez, convicted in 1994 and sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. That didn't stop him from serving 18 years, eight months and one day on Death Row before justice was served and he was released in 2002.

"You can never release an innocent man from the grave," Melendez said Wednesday. "The death-penalty law is not working in the state of Florida."

Almost everything in Tallahassee is open to equivocation, debate and compromise. Not this.

Whether you support the death penalty or oppose it, it is beyond debate that its administration should be fair, just and correct.

As a bulwark to help assure that, jury unanimity must be required. Every day the Legislature does not act is a failure and a damning indictment of our state.

Source(www.tallahassee.com)

Florida County Crime Labs Feeling the Heat

It has been a rough August for a few of Florida’s county-run crime labs. First, last week we found out that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab is having a bit of financial difficulty:

The crime lab has been in operation in Broward since 1969, but with the state of the economy, auditors and county commissioners are searching for funds to keep it going.

Evidently, they don’t have the money to pay for the lab’s $7 million budget, especially with the State of Florida only subsidizing 13% percent of that budget. One option was to charge local law enforcement agencies for use of the lab’s services. Another, is to turn the lab over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and let them run it. However, the local Sheriff wants none of that:

Lamberti said it’s essential that the crime lab stay in Broward, for the sake of solving crimes before it’s too late.

He points to the recent case of a Taco Bell manager found dead in an Oakland Park restaurant. About the only thing Lamvberti’s detectives had to go on were fingerprints on a cup left at the scene.

“The closest state lab to Broward County is Fort Meyers. The evidence would have had to been transported there, analyzed,” Lamberti said. “It would have been weeks before we got those finger prints back.”

The lab lifted the prints, and the BSO had a suspect nabbed in the same day, before he could run.

“Within 21 hours we had the evidence analyzed, mainly finger prints, and we had the suspect in custody, all within 21 hours,” Lamberti said.

A little criminal fear mongering solves every problem. But this raises the question of which would be better, a better funded State lab that has more moving parts and may be less efficient or a locally controlled but cash strapped lab able to more timely respond to criminal investigative needs. Well, with this news from last week as evidence, maybe law enforcement-run labs, whether local or state, are really the problem:

Fourteen months after the DNA match, the rape suspect, Edward Mozie, would be arrested in a separate case for murdering Christine Myers in Sunrise.

Records show the DNA match sent by CODIS — the national DNA database — to MDPD on July 18, 2004 would have linked Edward Mozie to a rape on January 18, 2004 in Northwest Miami-Dade. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirms it received a copy of the notification on that date.

However, in a memo obtained by the CBS4 I-Team, MDPD says it has no record of the match being received by the department’s Crime Lab at that time. That means the information never got passed along to MDPD detectives who were looking for the rapist in the Northwest Miami-Dade attack.

Mozie was arrested on September 20, 2005 by the Sunrise Police Department for the murder of 18-year-old Christine Myers — 14 months after the DNA match that should have led to his arrest on a rape charge.

So did FDLE get the match and not pass it on to Miami Dade PD or did MDPD get it but not pass it onto investigators? Evidently, it is no one’s fault, or at least all agencies are covering their behinds to avoid obvious responsibility for a woman’s death. The FBI says they sent the match. FDLE says they got a copy of the match on the same day (even though they had the rapists DNA in the databse since 1997 and could have provided the match), and MDPD says they never received it.

Whatever way you cut it, this illuminates the problems with law enforcement-run labs. They are inefficient. And they are subjectively biased instead of scientifically objective because they work for the agency whose job it is to put people in prison.

The easiest way to solve this issue would be to make these government run labs independent from law enforcement agencies. While there is absolutely no chance of that happening in Florida, it should be the goal.

Source(floridainnocence.org)

Wrongfully Convicted Caravella Being Freed From Jail Now

Wrongfully Convicted Caravella Being Freed From Jail Now

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/09/wrongfully_convicted_caravella.php

By Bob Norman
Tuesday, Sep. 8 2009 @ 6:06PM

It's a good day for justice. Anthony Caravella, who was wrongfully convicted of murder when he was 15-year-old, is being freed from the Broward County Jail right now, according to the Public Defender's Office.
After the jump you can read assistant Public Defender Diane Cuddihy's motion to vacate the murder sentence that details the whole sordid case (which was prosecuted by outgoing Judge Robert Carney). Here's a little clue from the motion about the state of mind of Miramar police when they were dealing with Caravella, who is mildly retarded:
Investigation has also revealed that the defendant's friend Dawn Simone, was taken into custody for obstruction of justice along with the defendant the night he was arrested on the juvenile pick-up order. She stated that the police were yelling at her and the defendant and they were pulling and tugging the defendant. They were both taken to the Miramar Police Station. The police told the defendant that they would let Ms. Simone go if he told them anything about the murder. At one point, Dawn Simone saw a detective shove the defendant in the back causing him to stumble. She stated that the police were very angry and very threatening. She also heard yelling and what she believed to be the police hitting the defendant coming from the interrogation room. She also advised that after fingerprinting her, the police forced her hand to her face, causing the ink to smear on her face. Ms. Simone was allowed to see the defendant face-to-face without the police. The defendant advised Ms. Simone that she was in a lot of trouble and that he was sorry and he would help her. That night, the defendant gave his first statement wherein he stated that he was present at the time of the crimes, but did not take part in the murder or rape. Dawn Simone was released that evening to the custody of her mother, Donna Simone. Dawn Simone did not testify at the motion to suppress or trial. Dawn Simone was available and willing to testify to the above facts at all times.
13. Additionally, Dawn Simone will testify that she and the defendant were transported to the police station in the same vehicle and the police kept asking the defendant if he had burglarized any of the houses they were passing and the defendant randomly pointed to houses saying, "I did that one, and that one," and finally the defendant stated that he had "robbed" the detective's mother's house. 14. Donna Simone also was not called by trial counsel and was available and willing to testify at all times. She will testify that she was home when two detectives came to her house to arrest the defendant. She will testify that the police were upset with the defendant and took him into her garage. She will testify that they took a phone book with them when they entered the garage and would not let her enter. She heard what she believed to be the police beating the defendant with the phone book. The defendant looked "roughed up" afterwards and the police arrested both the defendant and her daughter Dawn. ... Over the course of the next few days, the defendant remained in the Juvenile Detention Center and gave two more statements to the police, admitting a greater role in the murder/rape with each statement and finally confessing he committed the crime alone. The defendant was shoved, slapped, hit and otherwise coerced during the course of these statements
Again hit the jump to read the entire chilling motion, including the coaching of Caravella by detectives during his false confession.
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 17TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN ANDFOR BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

State of Florida, Case No. 84-339CF10A
v. Judge Rodriguez-PowellAnthony Caravella,
/
AMENDED VERIFIED MOTION FOR POST CONVICTION RELIEF
The Defendant, Anthony Caravella, by and through his undersigned counsel, respectfully files this amended motion pursuant to Rule 3.850 Fla.R.Crim.P. (2009) and asks this Court to vacate the judgment of conviction and sentence rendered in this cause.This case involves two tragedies; first, the horrific murder of Ada Jankowski, and second the wrongful conviction and nearly 26 year incarceration of Anthony Caravella. This amended motion is brought after the receipt of DNA results that prove Caravella is innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted at 16 years of age. INTRODUCTION1. Ada Jankowski was found dead by an adult by-passer on November 4, 1983 in a field outside Miramar Elementary School. She had been sexually assaulted, strangled with a ligature from behind, and stabbed 29 times. (TT 1084; 1086; 1097) The police had no leads and made no arrest. 2. The defendant was arrested on an unrelated juvenile charge on December 28, 1983. He was fifteen-years-old at the time of the arrest. He was indicted for first degree murder and sexual battery in the death of Mrs. Jankowski. The only evidence against the defendant were four recorded statements and one oral statement made over a 5 day period while he was in custody on the juvenile charge. Each statement was different from the others and drastically contradicted the physical evidence in the case.3. Evidence presented at a motion to suppress established that the defendant was mentally retarded with a full I.Q. of 67. (TT 495) At trial the medical examiner testified to a dual cause of death, strangulation and multiple stab wounds. (TT 1086) A serologist testified that semen was present in the victim's vagina. (TT 1129) A woman who lived near the school testified that she heard two screams around 2:45 a.m. the morning the body was discovered. 4. The defendant was convicted and sentenced to life. His conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. Caravella v. State, 485 So. 2d 833 (table) (Fla. 4th DCA 1986).5. This is an amended motion filed after receipt of exonerative DNA results. The DNA results fatally undermine the state's case against the defendant. They prove that he admitted to acts he did not commit. The DNA results expose the defendant's statements for what they were- unreliable, coerced and false. The state tenuously constructed its entire case with this now unbelievable and implausible evidence. 6. The defendant was represented at trial by then Special Assistant Public Defender T. Don Tenbrook and on direct appeal by the Office of the Public Defender, 15th Judicial Circuit. 7. Through stipulation between the state and the defendant, the former trial court (Judge Tobin) ordered DNA testing. Several items were submitted for testing, including vaginal and rectal swabs and slide from the victim. On October 18, 2001, the The Broward Sheriff's Office Crime Lab submitted a report stating that it did not obtain a DNA profile from the sperm fractions found in the victim's vaginal, oral, or rectal swabs or smear slides.8. On March 31, 2009, this Court entered stipulated orders directing certain evidence be sent to Forensic Science Associates for further DNA testing at defense expense. The court ordered the transport of the victim's vaginal, oral and rectal swabs and smear slides, fingernail clippings from the victim, public hair combings and DNA standards from the victim. A DNA standard from the defendant was also provided.9. On August 27, 2009, Forensic Science Associates submitted a report stating that a DNA profile of the male perpetrator was retrieved from the sperm on the vaginal swabs and that this DNA evidence conclusively eliminates the defendant as the sperm donor. Thus, the defendant did not commit the sexual battery/murder of Ada Jankowski. The report was received September 2, 2009.10. The state prosecuted the defendant as the sole perpetrator of the sexual battery/murder of Ada Jankowski. (TT 973; 974; 976; 982; 1827;1828) The only evidence against the defendant was his four taped statements and one oral statement to the police wherein he eventually admitted raping and stabbing the victim.11. Investigation has revealed that the defendant was threatened with the arrest and prosecution of his friend, Dawn Simone, was promised and received face-to-face visitation and with Simone in exchange for giving a statement, and was beaten, pushed and slapped by the police. 12. Investigation has also revealed that the defendant's friend Dawn Simone, was taken into custody for obstruction of justice along with the defendant the night he was arrested on the juvenile pick-up order. She stated that the police were yelling at her and the defendant and they were pulling and tugging the defendant. They were both taken to the Miramar Police Station. The police told the defendant that they would let Ms. Simone go if he told them anything about the murder. At one point, Dawn Simone saw a detective shove the defendant in the back causing him to stumble. She stated that the police were very angry and very threatening. She also heard yelling and what she believed to be the police hitting the defendant coming from the interrogation room. She also advised that after fingerprinting her, the police forced her hand to her face, causing the ink to smear on her face. Ms. Simone was allowed to see the defendant face-to-face without the police. The defendant advised Ms. Simone that she was in a lot of trouble and that he was sorry and he would help her. That night, the defendant gave his first statement wherein he stated that he was present at the time of the crimes, but did not take part in the murder or rape. Dawn Simone was released that evening to the custody of her mother, Donna Simone. Dawn Simone did not testify at the motion to suppress or trial. Dawn Simone was available and willing to testify to the above facts at all times. 13. Additionally, Dawn Simone will testify that she and the defendant were transported to the police station in the same vehicle and the police kept asking the defendant if he had burglarized any of the houses they were passing and the defendant randomly pointed to houses saying, "I did that one, and that one," and finally the defendant stated that he had "robbed" the detective's mother's house. 14. Donna Simone also was not called by trial counsel and was available and willing to testify at all times. She will testify that she was home when two detectives came to her house to arrest the defendant. She will testify that the police were upset with the defendant and took him into her garage. She will testify that they took a phone book with them when they entered the garage and would not let her enter. She heard what she believed to be the police beating the defendant with the phone book. The defendant looked "roughed up" afterwards and the police arrested both the defendant and her daughter Dawn. 15. Investigation has revealed that Dawn Simone was again contacted by the detectives and brought by them in a police car to the Miramar Police Station. She was told that the defendant agreed to give a statement if he was allowed to see Ms. Simone. She said that they were again very angry and threatening and told her that she had to go with them. Ms. Simone had a face-to-face visit with the defendant. The defendant gave another statement. 16. Over the course of the next few days, the defendant remained in the Juvenile Detention Center and gave two more statements to the police, admitting a greater role in the murder/rape with each statement and finally confessing he committed the crime alone. The defendant was shoved, slapped, hit and otherwise coerced during the course of these statements.VERFIED MOTION FOR POST CONVICTION RELIEF17. The allegations contained in the defendant's Verified Motion for Post Conviction Relief are reasserted in this motion. Specifically, those allegations are:a. On October 28, 2002, undersigned counsel was contacted by Assistant State Attorney Carolyn McCann regarding an audio tape she had discovered while reviewing the state's file in this cause.b. That audio tape recorded a phone conversation of January 17, 1984, wherein Jorge Delgado admitted to Miramar Police Detective Mantesta that he committed the homicide with the defendant. (Detective Mantesta was one of the arresting and interrogating officers of the Defendant. Detective Mantesta had already arrested the defendant for the rape murder of the victim after extracting five different statements from the defendant.)c. Detective Mantesta asked Delgado if he understood what he was saying. When Delgado answered affirmatively, Detective Mantesta advised Delgado that he would immediately come to his home. Despite knowing that the conversation was being taped, Detective Mantesta did not engage Delgado in further conversation and rushed him off the phone. These facts are highly suspect and would have been used to question Mantesta's investigation and his motives.d. The audio tape, although delivered to and received by the state attorney, was never disclosed to the defendant or his counsel, despite the defendant's written discovery demand and demand for Brady evidence. e. The audio tape is critical for impeachment because Detective Mantesta, who is recorded speaking to Jorge Delgado, did not file a supplemental report regarding that conversation with Delgado or conduct any follow-up investigation. The lack of any follow-up reveals the inadequate investigation conducted by the police and calls into question their decision to charge a mentally retarded 15-year-old juvenile who gave coerced conflicting and confused statements that contradicted the physical evidence in the case. The case was a high profile case and the police were under pressure to arrest someone for this murder. f. The state's failure to disclose the tape to the defense violates its discovery obligation under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667 (1985) and Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220.g. An evidentiary hearing was previously ordered on this count.18. The state's case against the defendant relied exclusively on statements made by the defendant. The trial court noted that if the motion to suppress was granted, the state would be left without a case and the defendant would probably walk free. (TT 342) The defendant's statements were dissimilar to each other, contradicted the physical facts of the case and were the subject of a motion to suppress. The motion to suppress was granted in part by Judge Arthur Franza due to the absence of the defendant's mother at the time of the third statement. Judge Franza entered an order suppressing the third taped statement, but admitting the other four statements. (TT 586-590). 19. The defense at trial was quite simple -- Anthony Caravella did not commit the murder and, because of his age, mental capacity and coercive and abusive police tactics, told the police what he believed that they wanted to hear. The DNA results confirm this theory and exonerate the defendant. MOTION TO SUPPRESS THE FIRST TAPED STATEMENT (December 29, 1983 1:25a.m.)20. The defendant was arrested on December 28, 1983, at 10:51 p.m. on an unrelated juvenile pick up order two months after the victim's body was discovered. (TT 4;13;1273) Detective Mantesta and Detective Pierson executed the pick up order. According to Detective Pierson, the defendant was taken into an interrogation room at the Miramar Police Station and asked if he had any knowledge of the murder. (TT 16;1273) The defendant indicated that he knew something about the murder. A taped statement was then taken in which the defendant informed the detectives that the murder was committed by three juveniles. (TT 37;1279) 21. The defendant gave a lengthy recorded statement beginning at 1:25 a.m. on December 29, 1983, two and a half hours after he was arrested. References to a pre-tape conversation were made during the taped statement. (TT 36; 67; 71; 84; 104;1280) The defendant stated that he was picked up by three juveniles at 4 a.m., Steve Chappell, "Don" and another boy whose name he did not know. (TT. 45;1280) He stated that were driving around and observed the victim walking by a canal towards Winn Dixie. (TT 48;1288) He stated that Steve told him that "we're going to throw this lady in the car," and the defendant responded no. (TT 52;1295) The defendant related that Steve stated, "C'mon Anthony, we're gonna do something with this girl," and the defendant again said no. The defendant stated that the three juveniles grabbed the victim and threw her into the car and put Steve's shirt in her mouth. He stated that Steve decided to bring the victim to the school field. (TT 54;1295;1298) He stated that the juveniles threw the victim into the back seat next to the defendant.(TT 57-58;1300) The defendant stated that he told the juveniles he wanted nothing to do with the victim. (TT 57-58;1301) He told the detective that the three juveniles carried the victim through the gate into the school field and that he went and lay down on a near-by patio. (TT 61-62;1304-1305)23. The defendant said that Don pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim. (TT 68;1310) "Animal" (Steve) asked to stab her also. He said the victim screamed once or twice. He said, "Then she was really dead. They kept on stabbing her." (TT 68;1310) The defendant said they were using a "big butcher knife, big butcher knife. A carving knife, yeah." (TT 69;1311-1312) The defendant was then asked, "It wasn't -- it couldn't have been a steak knife?" He responded, "That's what I'm talking about. Big long, long knife." The detective replied, "I'm not talking about a hunting knife now. You didn't get a close look at the knife, did you?" (TT 69;1312) (Expert medical testimony established that the stab wounds were consistent with a kitchen steak knife. TT 1061)24. The defendant stated that they took all of the victim's clothes off and she was completely nude. (TT 71;120;1313) The following exchange occurred:Q. All right. How did they rape her? Did they take all of her clothes off?A. Yeah, they did.Q. They took every bit of her clothes off?A. Uh-huh.Q. All of it?A. Yeah.Q. Her pants completely off? And her blouse and shirt was off, you know, she was totally nude or what?A. Yeah.
(TT 71;1313) Because this description did not match the physical evidence, the detective addressed the victim's clothing again:Q. Was all her clothes off of her body?A. At the time, yeah.Q. She was laying there completely nude with not clothes on at all?A. Yeah.Q. You're sure of that?A. I know, yeah, I'm sure.Q. Your sure that they just didn't pull her--her shirt up to her arms and didn't get it completely off?A. No.
(TT 120;1313) The defendant said that Don stabbed the victim once, Steve stabbed her a few times and the third juvenile stabbed her three times in the chest. (TT 76-77;1318-1319) He did not see the victim stabbed anywhere but the chest. (TT 77;1319) He responded to a question regarding the victim's face and said that the third juvenile slapped her in the face with the knife. (TT 78;1320-1321) He stated that Don threw the knife after the victim died. (TT 80;1322-1323) The defendant said that he did not see a chair lying around. (TT 102; 1343) He stated that Don held the victim by the neck, but she was not choked. (TT 116; 1357) He described the victim as taller than his 5'10 to 6' frame (TT 124-125;1364)ORAL STATEMENT (December 30, 1983)25. The defendant agreed to take a polygraph test and was interviewed by Broward Sheriff's Office polygraphist Sergeant Anthony Fantigrassi. (TT 351;1398) This interview was not recorded. After Fantigrassi decided that the defendant's answers showed deception, he conducted another non-recorded interview. Fantigrassi testified that the defendant admitted to striking the victim several times and kicking her when she fell down. (TT 359;1410-1411) He stated that the defendant admitted to pinning the victim down by placing his forearm across her neck and that he pulled up the victim's shirt exposing her breasts. (TT 359;1411). He said that the defendant first told him the other boys raped the victim but he did not, and later admitted to having sex with the victim. However, he admitted to stabbing the victim. (TT 360;1412;1414) He stated that the defendant also admitted that the victim had been hit with a chair. (TT 361;1414) THE SECOND TAPED STATEMENT (December 30, 1983 5:00p.m.)26. On December 30, 2003, the defendant again spoke to the police. He stated that he met Steve after 3 a.m. (TT 189;1484) He, Steve and Don discussed raping and killing someone. (TT 191;1487;1491) They went to pick up the juvenile whose name he did not know. Don showed them his knife. (TT 207;1487;1500) He initially stated that the victim was choked, but later, when asked directly if she was choked at all, said no. (TT190; 219;1512) He stated that everyone got out of the car and threw the victim in. (TT 2081502-1504) He said that they brought her to the school field and started hitting her. (TT 214;1507) Steve hit her with a chair, but he was unaware of chair being damaged. (TT 214-215;1507) He said that Don and Steve took off the victim's clothes. (TT 216;1509) The defendant stated that he took off the victim's shirt up to her shoulders. (TT 216;1509) He said that Don, Steve, the other juvenile and the defendant all had sex with the victim and stabbed her. (TT 217;221;1510) He said the victim was stabbed about 40 times. (TT 221;1514) He stated that the victim was taller than him. (TT 232;1525) THE THIRD TAPED STATEMENT (January 3, 1984 - SUPPRESSED)27. On January 3, 1984, the defendant gave a third statement wherein he stated that Steve Chappell was not present during the abduction or murder, but that the defendant had implicated him because he was angry with Chappell. (TT 262; 306) The defendant stated that the other two individuals were involved. (TT 263) He stated that they ran out of gas and were walking when they encountered the victim. (TT 265) They hit the victim with a bottle over the eye. (TT 265) He stated that they picked her up and brought her to the school. (TT 265) They threw her down and began beating her. (TT 266) Don hit the victim with a chair. (TT 267) When asked what happened to the chair, he stated that it was left there. (TT 267) The other two raped the victim; the defendant did not. (TT 267) He stated that they took her pants completely off, but left her shirt on halfway. (TT 268) The detective asked specifically if they took her pants completely off and he responded "yeah." (TT 268) All three stabbed the victim. (TT 269-270) The defendant said that he stabbed the victim in the heart and she started screaming again. (TT 270) He stated that the victim was stabbed in the shoulder, chest, stomach and face. (TT 271-273)The defendant stated that he saw Jorge Delgado that night and had gotten the knife from him. (TT 283) He said that the knife shown him by the detectives was not the knife used in the homicide. (TT 277) The defendant gave descriptions of the other juveniles and stated that he knew where they lived. (TT 307) THE FOURTH TAPED STATEMENT (January 4, 1984)28. On January 4, 1984, while driving around with the detectives to show them the residences of the other juveniles, the defendant stated that he was lying about the others. He stated that he committed the crime alone. (TT 313; 321;1636) He was taken to the Miramar Police Department and gave a taped statement wherein he stated that he encountered the victim walking down the street, asked her the time and was angered when she ignored him. (TT 400;1615) He stated that he hit her over the head with a glass Pepsi bottle and dragged her into the school field. (TT 405;1615-1619) He stated that the victim was five foot something, but not as tall as him. (TT 410;1623) He stated that he hit the victim with the leg of a folding chair. (TT 424-425;1636) He did not hit the victim with the back of the chair. (TT 425;1637) He did not hit the victim with her chain, but broke it and threw it. (TT 426;1638) It was not difficult to break the chain off the victim's neck. (TT 426;1638) He ripped off the chain after he finished raping and stabbing the victim. (TT 444; 1656) He stated that he took the victim's pants completely off. The detective asked if he pulled the victim's pants all the way down or partially down. (TT 427;1640) He responded, "all the way down." The detective again asked if any section of the pants remained on the victim and he replied "no." (TT 428;1640) Her shoes were not on and he did not know how they came off. (TT 428-429;1640) He stated that he took off the victim's underwear, pulled her shirt up and ripped off her bra. (TT 431;1641-1642) He stated that he had vaginal sex with the victim but did not ejaculate. (TT 433-434;1646) He said that he stabbed the victim. He agreed with the detective when asked if he stabbed the victim in the back, shoulder, face and stomach. (TT 436;1648) He said that he did not stab her in the neck.( TT 442;1654) He stated that he stabbed her in the top of the buttocks. (TT 442;1654) When asked, he said that he "could have" stabbed the victim between her legs, but that he was stabbing her in the back. (TT 442;1654) He said that he did not slash the victim's face. (TT 447;1659) He stated that nothing happened to the knife, he just wiped the handle. (TT 453;1659;1665) He testified that he did not choke the victim. (TT 409) PHYSICAL EVIDENCE29. The knife used to stab the victim was broken. (TT 1022; 1025) The knife handle was found east of the victim's body and the blade was under the victim's foot. (TT 1017) A broken cafeteria style chair, not a folding chair, was found next to the victim's body. (TT 1016;1030;1040) The victim's pants were removed from the body with the exception of the right leg. (TT 1035) The right pant leg was pulled over the right shoe. (TT 1035) The victim suffered 29 stab wounds. (TT 1084) She was stabbed in the face, neck, abdomen, back, pubic region and anus. (TT 1060-1075) She died from strangulation, consistent with the use of a ligature from the back, and multiple stab wounds. (TT 1086;1097) It would have taken four minutes to effect death by strangulation. (TT 1094) There was intact sperm on the vaginal swab, which confirmed an ejaculation within 24 hours. (TT 1129;1169) Both the victim and the defendant had type A blood. (TT 1131;1144)ARGUMENTI. WHEN VIEWED IN LIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED AT TRIAL, THE NEWLY DISCOVERED DNA EVIDENCE PROVES THAT CARAVELLA IS INNOCENT AND UNDERMINES CONFIDENCE IN THE VERDICT. SUCH EVIDENCE IS ADMISSIBLE AND PROBABLY WOULD PRODUCE AN ACQUITTAL ON RETRIAL.
30. In order to obtain relief based on newly discovered evidence of innocence, a defendant must demonstrate new facts (1) that were "unknown by the trial court, by the party, or counsel at the time of trial, and it must appear that defendant or his counsel could not have known them by the use of diligence," and (2) that if considered by the jury are "of such a nature that it would probably produce an acquittal on retrial." Jones v. State, 591 So.2d 911, 915-16 (Fla. 1991). In making this determination, the Court "will necessarily have to evaluate the weight of both the newly discovered evidence and the evidence which was introduced at the trial." Jones, 591 So.2d at 916. As the Supreme Court of Florida recently explained, the Jones standard is met when the newly discovered evidence "weakens the case against [the defendant] so as to give rise to a reasonable doubt as to his culpability." Williamson v. State, 961 So.2d. 229 (Fla. 2007). The newly discovered DNA results, which show conclusively that someone other than Caravella deposited sperm inside the victim while she was being raped and stabbed to death, certainly create reasonable doubt about the defendant's guilt. Had this evidence been available at the time of Caravella's trial, he probably would have been acquitted. Jones v. State, 591 So.2d 911, 915-16 (Fla. 1991). As a result, Caravella's conviction and sentence must be vacated.A. THE DNA EVIDENCE CONSTITUTES ADMISSIBLE NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE AS DEFINED BY RULE 3.850 AND JONES V. STATE
31. The exonerative DNA results were unknown by the court and the parties at the time of trial in 1985. Indeed, DNA testing was not a generally accepted science in Florida courts until 1988. A defendant may request DNA testing "at any time." Fla.Stat.925.11; Fla.R.Crim. P. 3.853. Favorable results from DNA testing ordered pursuant to Rule 3.853 are cognizable as newly discovered evidence in a motion for new trial pursuant to Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850, provided that it is presented to the Court within two years of the date on which the results are received. Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850(a),(d). Because this motion is filed within two years of the date of the report provided by Forensic Science Associates, it is timely filed and satisfies the first prong of the Jones standard.B. THE NEWLY DISCOVERED EXONERATIVE EVIDENCE IS ADMISSIBLE AND PROBABLY WOULD PRODUCE AN ACQUITTAL ON RETRIAL.
32. Caravella was convicted based entirely on the confused, coerced and conflicting statements made to police wherein he admitted to sexual battery and murder. On august 27, 2009, Forensic Science Associates issued a report that established that the sperm found in the victim's vagina, deposited there during the crime, was not from Caravella. The DNA profile obtained from the vaginal swab did not match Caravella's DNA. This conclusively proves, according to the state's theory of its case, that the defendant did not rape and murder the victim. The state's entire case was built on then Anthony Caravella's statements wherein he admitted to raping and stabbing the victim. 33. Yet, the defendant's confused statements are both intrinsically and extrinsically inconsistent. He admitted to several very divergent accounts of the murder. Moreover, his versions of the murder do not comport with the physical evidence of the crime. The police were aware of these contradictions as evidenced by their repeated attempts to lead the defendant into statements consistent with the physical evidence. The defendant denied having choked the victim. The physical evidence established that one cause of death was strangulation with a ligature from behind. The defendant's description of the stabbings does not include stabbing the victim in the neck, vagina or rectum. The physical evidence established that the victim was stabbed in the neck, vagina and rectum. 34. The defendant repeatedly claimed that the victim's pants were completely removed. The physical evidence established that the right leg of the pants were partially on. The defendant claimed that the victim's shoes were not on and that he did not know where or how they came off. The physical evidence established that the victim's right shoe was on. The defendant initially denied seeing any chair and, after being repeatedly asked about a chair, finally stated that he hit the victim with a chair. However, he claimed that the chair was a folding chair and that it did not break. The physical evidence established that the victim was hit with a non-folding cafeteria style chair that broke into two pieces. 35. Undeterred by these obvious inconsistencies and despite the defendant's clearly diminished capacity, police continued the harsh, coercive interrogation. They only stopped questioning Caravella when they finally got what they wanted- an admission by the defendant that he raped and stabbed the victim by himself. The state's reliance on the defendant's statements and prosecution of the defendant as the sole perpetrator demand that his conviction and sentence by vacated. 36. The new DNA evidence proves that someone other than Anthony Caravella raped and murdered the victim. This is not only the strongest affirmative evidence of the defendant's innocence, but it also eviscerates the state's only remaining evidence by conclusively demonstrating that the defendant falsely admitted to a crime he did not commit. The defendant's confused statements were always highly suspect. When weighed against the exonerative DNA results and considering the suggestive, harsh, coercive tactics used to obtain these statements, these admissions now have no evidentiary value. It is an understatement to suggest that the new DNA results would probably produce an acquittal had the jury known about them. Not only do these results meet the Jones standard, no rational juror could possibly convict Anthony Caravella in light of the exonerative DNA results. Thus, this Court must vacate the defendant's conviction and sentence, his indictment should be dismissed, and the Defendant should be released from custody immediately.II. THE DEFENDANT WAS DEPRIVED HIS RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS UNDER THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AS WELL AS HIS RIGHTS UNDER THE FIFTH, SIXTH, AND EIGHTH AMENDMENTS, BECAUSE THE STATE WITHHELD EVIDENCE THAT WAS MATERIAL, EXCULPATORY, AND IMPEACHING IN NATURE
37. The defendant's reasserts the claims set forth in his Verified Motion for Post Conviction Relief as follows:38. The state failed to disclose exculpatory and impeaching evidence it had knowledge and possession of prior to the defendant's trial. That evidence consists of a telephone recording made at the Miramar Police Department on January 17, 1984, wherein another individual, Jorge Delgado, confessed to killing the victim Ada Jankowski with the defendant. The state's theory of the case at trial was that the defendant was the lone perpetrator of the murder. In addition, the lead detective at no time admitted to defense counsel or the jury that another individual claimed responsibility for the murder of Ada Jankowski.39. In Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 281-82, 144 L.Ed. 2d 286, 119 S.Ct. 1936 (1999), the United States Supreme Court enunciated the three components of a true Brady violation as follows: The evidence at issue must be favorable to the accused, either because it is exculpatory, or because it is impeaching; (2) that evidence must have been suppressed by the State, either willfully or inadvertently; and (3) prejudice must have ensued . Under the prejudice prong, the defendant must show that the suppressed evidence is material. Id. at 282. "Evidence is material only if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine the confidence in the outcome. In determining materiality, the cumulative effect of the suppressed evidence must be considered. Cardona v. State, 826 So. 2d 968, 973 (Fla. 2002) 40. In Rogers v. State 782 So. 2d 373, 382, 384 (Fla.. 2001), the court concluded that police reports were favorable to Rogers because they could have been used to show that a person other than Rogers was involved in the robbery with the co-defendant and, therefore, the reports could have been used to impeach the codefendant's testimony at trial. 41. In the instant case, the audio tape could have been utilized to show the inadequacies of the police investigation. The audio tape was material in the motion to suppress because it reveals how readily the police accepted the inconsistent statements of a 15-year-old mentally retarded juvenile, and yet never investigated the confession of another juvenile. The audio tape would have been critical evidence to impeach Detective Mantesta. He never pursued the investigation of Delgado and was protective of Delgado. He did not question Delgado about the murder despite knowing that the conversation was being recorded. Instead, he rushed Delgado off the phone and advised that he would immediately come to his home. These facts put the defendant's statements as well as the entire police investigation in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the order denying in part the motion to suppress and the jury verdict. Way v. State, 760 So. 2d 903, 913 (Fla. 2000).42. There is no doubt that the state had possession of the audio tape in that it was discovered in the state attorney's file. Thus the second prong of Bagley is met.43. The defendant was prejudiced by the state's failure to disclose the audio tape. The fact that another juvenile confessed to committing the murder, even though he implicated the defendant, was damning to the state's case. The state proceeded under the theory that the defendant acted alone. Delgado's confession and the failure of the police to investigate that confession put the whole investigation in question. 44. The defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing in this matter. In Floyd v. State, 808 So. 2d 175 (Fla. 2002), the Florida Supreme Court remanded for an evidentiary hearing claims that the state withheld information which would have been used to impeach a witness who testified against him.CONCLUSION 45. "The suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused," violates due process. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 (1963); Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 437 (1995); Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 281-82 (1999). Exculpatory evidence that trial counsel unreasonably failed to discover and present to the jury violates the defendant's right to the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). Newly discovered exculpatory evidence that the State failed to disclose or defense counsel unreasonably failed to discover and present nevertheless warrants a new trial under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850. Jones, 591 So.2d at 915-16. Under all three standards, the defendant must prove prejudice by demonstrating that had the evidence been presented at trial, there is a likelihood that he would have been acquitted. In all three instances, evidence presented herein must be considered cumulatively with other arguments presented in this motion and other admissible evidence presented during and after trial. State v. Gunsby, 670 So. 2d 920 (Fla. 1996); Mordenti v. State, 894 So. 2d 161 (Fla. 2004); Sims v. State, 754 So. 2d 657, 660 (Fla. 2000).The newly discovered DNA evidence proves that the defendant did not commit the sexual battery and murder for which he was convicted and demands that the defendant's conviction and sentence be vacated. The hidden audio-tape further undermines the reliability of the verdict. A new trial should be ordered. WHEREFORE, movant requests this Court to grant his motion for post conviction relief, vacate the defendant's conviction and sentence, dismiss the indictment against him, and immediately release the defendant.
STATE OF FLORIDA )COUNTY OF )Before me, the undersigned authority, this day personally appeared Anthony Caravella, who first being duly sworn, says that he is the Defendant in the above-styled cause, that he has read the forgoing Motion for Post-Conviction Relief and has personal knowledge of the facts and matters therein set forth and alleged; and that each and all of these facts and matters are true and correct.
______________________________Anthony Caravella
SWORN AND SUBSCRIBED TObefore me this ____ dayof ____________, 2009. Produced Identification: _________________________Notary Publicmy commission expires:
Howard FinkelsteinPublic Defender17th Judicial Circuit
______________________________Diane M. Cuddihy Florida Bar No. 434760Chief Assistant Public Defender201 S.E. 6th StreetNorth Wing - Third FloorFort Lauderdale, Fl. 33301Attorney for Defendant
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICEI HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing was furnished by hand to Carolyn McCann, Assistant State Attorney, Office of the State Attorney, Broward County Courthouse, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this day of September, 2009.
______________________________Diane M. Cuddihy

DNA Tests Prove Broward Man Innocent

Yesterday, DNA results were released in the case of Anthony Caravella, a mentally retarded man who was convicted at the young age of 15 of raping and murdering Ada Jankowski in Miramar, Broward County, Florida. Paula McMahon of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

“This means Anthony is innocent, it exonerates him,” said Diane Cuddihy, the Broward chief assistant public defender who reopened Caravella’s case and has been working on it since 2001.

The test, performed by a private lab in Richmond, Calif., eliminated Caravella as a potential source for the sperm found inside the Miramar victim’s body 26 years ago.

The test yielded the DNA profile of an unidentified male that could be checked against genetic databases to see if there’s a match with anyone on file.

While the State will likely argue that this evidence got there through some innocent means, let’s be clear about what we have here. The State convicted Caravella of stabbing the victim to death and raping her in the meantime, despositing his semen inside of her during the crime. Their own lab, in 1983, identified sperm on a swab of material taken from the victim’s vagina. Now, 25 years later, Forensic Science Associates, one of the best private labs in the nation, found some sperm cells on a slide made from the same swab, extracted the DNA from those sperm cells and determined, conclusively, that the sperm could not have come from Anthony Caravella. So we tested the perps sperm and it doesn’t match the defendant, so it means the defendant is not the perp. It is as simple as that, no matter how much the State may try to confuse the issue.

From a scientific standpoint, what is interesting is that when the local crime lab had a crack at this evidence, they got no DNA result. In fact, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab, didn’t even detect semen, despite the fact that lab analysts did see sperm on the tested vaginal swab in 1983.

Everyone in the local law enforcement community is baffled, but should any of us really be surprised at this point? Another point about government-run crime labs that we didn’t mention in our post the other day is that, for unknown reasons, they just are not as good as independent private labs at getting DNA results in these challenging old cases. Maybe it is because the scientist is not as experienced. Or they did not painstakingly search on the slide for microscopically visible sperm cells. Or maybe they just don’t view the importance of the case in the same way as a private lab would. Who knows. All we know is that time and time again, private labs succeed where government-run crime labs have failed.

What we do know, is that when the prosecutor Carolyn McCann says that they need to review the methods of the private lab because the result doesn’t comport with what her lab found, while certainly necessary, she is really only trying to intimate that something is amiss in an attempt to delegitimize the perfectly legit results. The only thing that is amiss, is that we now know a guy has spent 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit and no one, except his attorney, is trying to rip down the prison walls to free him.

Another important point about this case, which I suspect will be the focus of ongoing conversations about this case, is Mr. Caravella’s mental retardation (IQ of 67) and how that, combined with coercive and suggestive interrogation methods by law enforcement, led to what DNA results show was a false confession. As we have documented in our policy section of our website, false confessions contributed to a wrongful conviction in about 25% of the DNA exoneration cases nationwide. One of those cases, that of Jerry Frank Townsend, makes this case more troubling because both are Broward cases, both involve law enforcement suggestively interrogating a mentally retarded person until they confess and using that false confession to close cases, and both cases may even involve at least one of the same law enforcement officers.

Congratulations to Mr. Caravella and Diane Cuddihy, his long time attorney for this result. IPF has been in touch with Ms. Cuddihy for a while and will let you know about new developments in this case when they happen. When Caravella is exonerated, he will be the 243rd DNA exoneree nationwide, the 11th in Florida, and the 4th in Broward County alone. Hopefully, the State will do the right thing and right this wrong before too long.

Source(floridainnocence.org)

Wrongly incarcerated man denied compensat

SARASOTA, Fla. -- A judge has ruled that a Florida man who was wrongly incarcerated for 20 years won't receive compensation from the state.

Administrative Law Judge Linda M. Rigot said James Joseph Richardson had to prove he did not poison his seven children with pesticide, a crime he was convicted of in 1967. She said Richardson's attorney had to establish "actual innocence."

Richardson was freed after 20 years in prison after problems with the case surfaced. He was seeking $1 million from the state.

Source(/www.miamiherald.com)

DNA Testing Once Again Clears Wrongly Imprisoned Man

Mentally retarded suspect was coerced into confession, defense says

After serving 26 years in prison, it appears that Anthony Caravella did not rape and murder a 58-year-old woman in 1983.

A recent DNA test determined that the 41-year-old mentally retarded man with an IQ of 67 did not ejaculate his sperm into the victim.

So now Broward prosecutors are planning to ask a judge to release him under some form of supervision, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Defense attorneys were not surprised by the findings, claiming the then-15-year-old boy was coerced into a confession. In fact, he gave five contradictory confessions before police were satisfied with their evidence.

Prosecutors were so confident he was guilty they demanded the death penalty. But the jury voted against it.

The DNA found on Ada Cox Jankowski belongs to a still unidentified man. Investigators plan to run it through local and national databases to see if they find a match.

This is not the first time DNA has cleared a mentally disabled man who served time in prison after questionable confessions for rapes and murders committed in South Florida.

In 1993, schizophrenic John Purvis, 52, was released from prison after serving nine years in prison after DNA cleared him of murdering a mother and her baby.

In 1998, Jerry Frank Townsend, who has the mental capacity of an 8-year-old, was released from prison after serving 22 years when DNA testing proved he did not commit six murders and one rape.

And in 2000, a DNA test exonerated Frank Lee Smith, who had been sentenced to death for raping and killing an 8-year-old girl. However, he had already died of cancer in 1999 after serving 14 years on death row.

In fact, there have been many men throughout the country cleared of heinous crimes after DNA testing exonerated them, including the man who served 25 years in prison as Miami’s Bird Road Rapist.

Source(www.nbcmiami.com)

Dreams, Nitemares, and Reality

Dreams, Nitemares, and Reality

I got lost in my dreams because reality for me is a recurring nitemare right now.
I am going to come up out of this madness but I'm still trying to figure out how.
My sleep is filled with dreams of love, life and the pursuit of happiness
Then I awake to the same old prison cell and another day of hell.

Pleasant dreams about the good times that was and still could be
Then I wake up and reality sets in.
I find myself living the nitemare again

Sometimes I get mixed up and my reality invades my dream
The nitemare takes over the dream and I try to scream
Then I wake up to the reality of my nightmare,
Does anyone really care?

Alphonso Green

A look at what death row holds for King

Juan Melendez

By Robert Eckhart

Published: Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.

When Judge Deno Economou decides if convicted killer Michael King should be sentenced to life in prison or death by lethal injection, he will also be ruling on every detail, every day, and every meal of the rest of King's life.

Men serving life in prison have jobs. They can exercise in the yard, eat in communal dining rooms and sleep in dormitories.

They have dayrooms where they can watch TV.

Death row means about 23 hours a day alone in a 6-foot by 9-foot cell. The state keeps the death row inmates away from others for their own protection. And for the protection of others, because these are people with very little to lose.

Air conditioning is forbidden on death row, so inmates mostly keep still.

"It's awful," said the Rev. Larry Reimer, who has visited for 27 years to minister to a death row inmate. "It is hotter there than you permit animals to be kept."

Reimer, pastor at United Church of Gainesville, goes to Union Correctional Institution once a month to see Douglas Raymond Meeks, a 35-year veteran of death row, one of the inmates with the longest tenure there.

Reimer also has seen the recently arrived death row inmates. He may not know their names, but he knows the look.

"The young men who've just come there, they look like they don't know how they're going to cope with this."

If sentenced to death, Michael King will likely be sent to death row at Union, joining about 300 other inmates in the separate building where they are kept.

Still life with concrete

Inmates can buy their own TVs on death row: 13-inch portables with clear covers so they cannot hide contraband in them. They listen to them with headphones.

Their meals are delivered to them, along with the plastic sporks that are the only cutlery they can use.

When they want to talk, they shout down the hall to each other.

Reimer says it gets noisy sometimes, especially when the inmates are trying to converse long-distance.

To keep themselves busy, most inmates settle into a routine of reading and TV programs and make the most of their 90-minute excursions into an exercise yard twice a week.

The death row yard is separate, with 10 to 15 inmates allowed to exercise at a time, playing basketball and volleyball on the concrete.

Juan Melendez, who was exonerated and released in January 2002 after 17 years, 8 months and one day on death row, remembers the hopelessness and the roaches and rats. He also remembers the camaraderie with other inmates. He got to know them in the exercise yard, and by chatting cell-to-cell.

They taught Melendez how to speak English. They also taught him how to get a plastic trash bag from a trusty and hang yourself with it from the towel rack that is one of a handful of furnishings in a death row cell.

"I had to wet the floor and sleep on the floor. That's how hot it was," Melendez said.

At 5 a.m., Melendez said, the trusties put the breakfast trays into metal slots in each cell.

"If you wait five seconds to get the tray, you ran out of luck," he said. "The roaches beat you to it. They were waiting for breakfast, too."

Melendez, 58, spent about half his time on death row in Florida State Prison when the electric chair was the state's only form of execution. Lethal injection was added in 2000.

He said the surge of power to the chair made a buzzing sound that he could hear in his cell.

"When it happens, nobody says nothing," he said. "Everybody is quiet. Everybody's in silence."

A member of several anti-death penalty groups, Melendez now travels across the country as a lecturer.

Death row inmates can have visitors, and they can write letters.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections says death row inmates do not necessarily have it worse than inmates in general population.

"Whether or not one is better than the other really depends on your vantage point," said spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

On death row, inmates do not have to work and they can get their own TV screens. Inmates in general population live up to 100 in the same dorm room.

A toll on sanity

The state-appointed lawyers who represent death row inmates visit them a minimum of four times a year.

"If you do this kind of work, you realize that the existence for these guys on death row is just a lot tougher than being in general population," said Neal Dupree, an attorney who heads up the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel of South Florida.

Death row takes its biggest toll on the inmates' sanity, Dupree said.

"You're cut off from everything. You're cut off from everybody. You really have to be strong," Dupree said. "People become depressed, withdrawn. Some of them get angry. Mostly, it's a depression."

After 14 years of legal arguments, attorneys in the south region succeeded in getting a prisoner off of death row last week.

David Lee Thomas, 43, convicted of murder and attempted robbery in Lee County in 1991, is mentally retarded -- a "mitigating" fact that his defense attorneys did not raise at his trial. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 ruled it unconstitutional to execute people who are mentally retarded.

The lead defense attorney in the Thomas case, Rachel Day, negotiated a settlement with prosecutors that will move Thomas off death row and into general population. He will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

"He knows that serving a life sentence, the conditions will be considerably better for him than they were on death row," Day said. "He'll have a lot more freedom to work, to study, to walk, to exercise, than he would on death row, which is extremely confined."

As Thomas leaves, King appears to be on his way there. The 12 jurors voted unanimously to recommend the death sentence for him.

Circuit Judge Deno Economou will hand down King's sentence in the coming weeks. Judges rarely go against the jury recommendation.

Killer asks state Supreme Court to run tests he claims would exonerate him

Exonerated - Juan Melendez and his lawyer McClain

By Jane Musgrave

The Palm Beach Post

9:06 PM EDT, September 3, 2009


A 53-year-old man who has spent more than half of his life on Death Row for one of the bloodiest murders in Palm Beach County history today tried to persuade the Florida Supreme Court to give him one more chance to prove his innocence.

In a 30-minute hearing, an attorney representing Paul Scott argued that DNA testing should be done of blood left at the scene of the brutal 1978 beating death of Boca Raton resident James Alessi.

Justices appeared unimpressed with arguments made by attorney D. Todd Doss.

Like Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Lucy Brown, who rejected Scott's request in 2006, the justices indicated that they believed the results of such tests would be meaningless.

"I'm having a hard time understanding how this would make any difference and would establish your client's innocence," said Justice Charles Canady. "It's a 'So what?' " said Justice R. Fred Lewis. "It's tested and it's his or it's not, so what?"

Scott, who has offered various accounts of his involvement in the murder, has never denied being in the house. Further, he has admitted hitting Alessi, with a flower pot, a vase and a kitchen chair. But, he claims Alessi was alive when he ran out. His accomplice, Richard Kondian, delivered the fatal blows with a champagne bottle, he claims.

While the champagne bottle was never found, a circle of blood on the floor could have been from the bottle. If only Alessi's or Kondian's blood was found, it would bolster Scott's claims that he didn't kill Alessi, Doss said.

Assistant Attorney General Celia Terenzio countered that it wouldn't overcome other evidence that proved Scott was involved in the murder.

Scott has launched numerous appeals and drummed up support from a varied cast of characters since he was convicted 30 years ago. Bob Pauley, a Palm Beach County school teacher, wrote a song and book about Scott's innocence. Sister Helen Prejean, whose fight on behalf of a Louisiana Death Row inmate was made into the 1995 Academy Award-winning movie Dead Man Walking, wrote a letter urging Scott's release.

Even Kondian's attorney, noted local defense attorney David Roth, took the unusual step of appealing for clemency for Scott.

Kondian, who claimed he killed Alessi because he tried to sexually assault him, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. He was released 14 years later in 1994.

"I felt very strongly that the disparity in the sentencing was horribly unjust," Roth said earlier this year.

Still, Alessi's parents, who live in Lighthouse Point, have said Scott deserves no mercy. Just because Kondian got lucky, doesn't mean Scott should be spared, his father Carmen Alessi has said.

"I want him fried," he said earlier this year.

Alphonso Green, on death row for two murders in Tampa, dies of cancer

Murderer dies amid appeals

By Jessica Vander Velde, Times Staff Writer

Published Saturday, September 5, 2009

TAMPA — Patricia Anderson waited 23 years for Alphonso Green to die.

Green stabbed Anderson's parents to death in 1986 while high on crack, and although it took a jury only two hours to find him guilty — and just 10 minutes to recommend the death penalty — 23 years later he was still alive.

All of his direct appeals were exhausted, but Green, 58, was seeking to be released on the grounds that his attorney had been ineffective, said Assistant State Attorney Chris Moody. An execution date had not been set.

But on Friday, Anderson, 70, answered the phone at her Tampa house and was shocked when a state official told her Green had passed away.

He died of natural causes early Thursday at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

Spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger wouldn't discuss Green's medical history because of privacy laws, but Moody and Anderson said Green had been suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Anderson was relieved to hear that Green died.

"It was something I wanted to hear for a long time," she said.

Late on the night of Oct. 10, 1986, Green, then 35, went to the Tampa house of Robert J. Nichols, 77, and Dora V. Nichols, 72, to take back a $250 check from his landlords. He wanted the money to buy more crack. He used a butcher knife to murder the couple as they tried to escape. Neighbors could hear the couple pleading, "Please, don't do this."

"I'm going to try to just put that chapter behind me and get him out of my life," Anderson said. "But I can never get over losing my parents."

Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

Fla. man faces execution in cheerleader slaying

The Associated Press

A Florida jury has convicted a man of murdering a 17-year-old high school cheerleader, putting her body in the trunk of a car and setting the vehicle on fire in an orange grove.

The Bartow jury deliberated for about seven hours Thursday before convicting Eric Rodriguez. The same jurors will return Tuesday to consider whether the 23-year-old Haines City man should receive the death penalty.

Investigators said Rodriguez was one of three men who confessed to luring Angelia Headrick to an apartment in January 2007, robbing her of money and a small amount of drugs, then killing her.

One accepted a plea deal sentencing him to 15 years in prison in exchange for his testimony. The other has yet to stand trial.

Jury recommends death for Michael King

SARASOTA - A jury of 12 has decided unanimously that Michael King should be put to death for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Denise Lee. A judge will now use that recommendation for the final sentence.

Denise Lee's family says Michael King deserves exactly what he's getting; that the punishment fits the crime. Monday, a jury of 12 agreed. After three weeks, closing arguments were heard from both the prosecution and defense

After nearly three hours, the jury reached a decision. "Majority of the jury, by a vote of 12-0, advise and recommend to the court that it impose the death penalty upon defendant. So say we all, this fourth day of September, 2009, signed by the foreperson."

It's something Denise Lee's family has waited to hear. "Denise did an awesome job of putting him where he belongs in prison, and getting him sentenced to death. She took another piece of trash off the street. And I'm sorry for his son's loss...but our family is without Denise, and the boys are without their mother," said Denice's father, Rick Goff.

Her mother says Michael King is getting what he deserves. "King has been taken care of, and he's going to go to hell. We know Denise is in heaven."

Her husband Nathan Lee said he's ready for it all to be over. "Focusing on the boys and getting...moving on as a family and trying to start thinking happy things of Denise, and not having to listen to horrible evidence of things that happened to her. I want to get back to doing stuff like that."

Unfortunately, Friday's decision means that it's not over, because it is simply a recommendation for the judge; although generally, the judge usually agrees with the jury. In about three to four weeks, they will hold a Spencer Hearing, where they'll talk more about the evidence that wasn't presented in court. And then soon after that, Judge Deno Economou will make his final ruling.

Judge orders examination of suspect's fingerprints

The suspect, who is serving a life sentence in a Florida prison for other crimes, confessed to being the author of the murders for which Pablo Ibar was sentenced.

A judge in Florida, U.S., ordered a re-examination of the fingerprints of a prisoner suspected of being the author of the murders for which Pablo Ibar was sentenced nine years ago. Those samples will then be compared with ones that were found at the crime scene.

The new suspect is a Puerto Rican named Willie Ortiz, who is serving a life sentence in a Florida prison for other serious crimes.

Ortiz became a suspect after a witness informed authorities that the Puerto Rican had confessed to being the author of the triple murder that put Ibar on death row in 2000.

Ibar's attorney, Benjamin Waxman, is undergoing a process to have the trial which condemned the Cuban American of Basque origin to death declared null and void.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain financially supports Spanish people who are on death row to help them to pay their legal fees.