Fourth Judicial Circuit,
Duval County Case # 00-1549
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable
Henry E. Davis
Attorney, Trial: Refik W. Eler –
Private (Court-Appointed)
Attorney, Direct Appeal: Nada
Carey – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Collateral Appeals:
Jefferson Morrow – Registry
Date of Offense: 12/26/99
Date of Sentence: 06/14/02
Circumstances of Offense:
On the evening of 12/25/99, Mary
Ann Hobgood left her parents’ house with her friend, Misty Jones, in a
car driven by Jones’ boyfriend, Luther Douglas. Douglas was driving a
red Ford Escort, which belonged to the mother of one of Douglas’
children, Jimela Dozier.
The three then stopped at a liquor store and
bough a bottle of rum and soda, which Douglas and Hobgood drank. They
then went to several area bars and, when Douglas dropped Jones off at
home around midnight, he left with Hobgood in the car.
Douglas called Jones in the
early hours of 12/26/99, first telling her that he had dropped Hobgood
off at a bar and then stating that he had taken Hobgood home. When
Jones saw Douglas later in the morning, she noticed scratch marks on
Douglas’ neck that had not been there the previous evening.
In Douglas’
presence, Jones called Hobgood’s home and was informed that she had not
returned home. When Hobgood’s sister called Jones later in the day,
Jones lied and told her that they [Jones and Hobgood] had been out with
Jones’ ex-boyfriend, Timothy Hightower, the previous evening. Jones
later stated that she lied to Hobgood’s sister because Douglas was
listening to the conversation.
Jones then confronted Douglas regarding Hobgood’s whereabouts, while the two were driving in the red Ford
Escort. During the drive, Jones noticed that the car was clean, inside
and out, whereas it had been dirty and cluttered with trash on the
previous evening.
Douglas admitted beating Hobgood and throwing her out
of the car. Douglas also told Jones that if she was questioned about
the crime, she should implicate Hightower, or else she would end up like
Hobgood.
When police questioned Jones
about Hobgood’s whereabouts, she told them the same story that she had
told Hobgood’s sister – she and Hobgood had gone out with Hightower.
Jones recanted that statement when police again questioned her in
January of 2000.
On the afternoon of 12/26/99,
Hobgood’s body was found along a set of railroad tracks. She was found
on her back in a shrub line, with her legs stretched out in front of
her. Hobgood’s body was nude from the waist down, and her knit top and
black bra were torn and pushed up to her shoulders.
Near the body,
police found a lug wrench, a rubber car part (later determined to be
from the red Ford Escort), and a blood-soaked maroon jacket, that was
later determined to have belonged to Douglas.
Forensic investigation
determined that Hobgood died as the result of blunt head trauma, with
ten blows to the face, seven blows to the back of the head, and seven to
ten blows to her hands and arms.
Additionally, her jaw and nose were
broken, several of her teeth had been knocked out and her right shoulder
was dislocated. An autopsy showed that additional, extensive injury was
received post-mortem, most likely the result of being run over by a
car.
A rape kit indicated the presence of semen, later determined to be
Douglas’, in the vagina of Hobgood. Forensic testing in the red Ford
Escort yielded traces of blood in, on, and under the car that matched
Hobgood’s blood.
When questioned by police,
Douglas initially claimed that the blood found in the car belonged to a
friend, Eric Ransom, but police later determined that Ransom was
incarcerated at the time of the murder. Police then arrested Douglas
for the rape and murder of Hobgood. While in jail awaiting trial,
Douglas implicated himself in the crimes to a fellow inmate.
Trial Summary:
03/02/00
Indicted as follows:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder
Count II: Sexual Battery
Count III: Kidnapping
03/15/02
Jury returned guilty verdicts for Counts I and II of the indictment
State nolle prossed Count III of the indictment
04/05/02
Jury recommended death by a vote of 11-1
06/14/00
Sentenced as follows:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder – Death
Count II: Sexual Battery –
Life Imprisonment
Case Information:
Douglas filed a Direct Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court on
07/25/02, citing the following errors: allowing crime scene and autopsy
photographs into evidence; failing to find mitigating circumstances;
finding the aggravating circumstance of heinous, atrocious, or cruel
murder; disproportionate death sentence; and Florida’s unconstitutional
death penalty statute. On 05/06/04, the FSC affirmed the convictions
and sentences.
Douglas filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme
Court on 10/13/04 that was denied on 01/10/05.
Douglas
filed a 3.851 Motion with the Circuit Court on 05/17/05 that is pending.
Floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us
