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Henry GARCIA
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Rape - Robbery
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders:
January 16,
1983
Date of birth:
September 26,
1948
Victims profile: Julia
Ballentine, 90, and her sister Mabel Avery, 86
Eleventh
Judicial Circuit, Dade County Case # 85-23640-B
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable
Arthur Rothenberg
Attorney, Trial: Sandra Jaggard
– Private
Attorney, Direct Appeal: Michael
Zelman – Private
Attorney, Collateral Appeals:
William Hennis & Roseanne Eckert – CCRC-S
Date of Offense: 01/16/83
Date of Sentence: 08/19/88
Date of Resentence: 07/10/91
Circumstances of Offense:
Julia Ballentine, 90, and her
sister Mabel Avery, 86, shared a house in the Leisure City area of
Homestead, Florida.
On Monday morning, 01/17/83, neighbors became
concerned when the sisters did not answer their phone. After knocking
on the door and windows and receiving no answer, the neighbors
discovered that the rear screen door was slashed open.
One of the
neighbors entered the house and found a body in each of the bedrooms.
Avery had fourteen stab wounds and nine defensive wounds on her arms and
hands. Ballentine had thirty stab wounds and twelve defensive wounds,
and was sexually assaulted prior to death.
The medical examiner
testified that the murder occurred in the early morning hours of Sunday,
01/16/83.
Feliciano Aguayo, a social and
work acquaintance of Henry Garcia, testified that on the evening of
01/15/83, he and Garcia played pool prior to Garcia’s date with a young
woman. The woman broke off the date, and Aguayo testified that Garcia
was upset and asked Aguayo to drive him to Leisure City. After trying
to convince Garcia to go home, Aguayo dropped Garcia off at the Leisure
City Lounge.
Around 7:00 a.m. on 01/16/83,
Aguayo’s mother testified that she saw Garcia running to her house from
the direction of the victims’ house, which was half a mile away. Aguayo
and his mother both testified that Garcia was covered with fresh blood.
Garcia explained that he had been walking in a nearby field when he was
attacked by two men and a woman, and that he had stabbed the woman in
self-defense.
Garcia showed Aguayo the knife, which had drying blood on
it and was bent at the tip. Aguayo noted that Garcia had no visible
injuries, except for a scratch around his eye. Later that day, Aguayo
and his mother drove to the spot where they believed Garcia had been
attacked, but could find no signs of a struggle.
One of Garcia’s co-workers,
Rufina Perez, testified that she overheard Garcia discussing the
murder. According to the conversation, Garcia admitted getting into
trouble with some women, but that he did not have to worry about them
because the women were “already in hell.” When asked how he committed
the crime, Garcia said, “I went through the back door and I ripped out
the screen door.”
Additional Information:
In
the penalty phase of trial, the State presented evidence of Garcia’s
prior criminal history, and used this as an aggravating circumstance.
Garcia’s prior criminal history included convictions for assault with
intent to rob in 1968, bank robbery and use of a dangerous weapon in May
of 1972, mutiny at a U.S. penitentiary in January of 1979, and
aggravated battery with the use of a deadly weapon on 07/01/83.
Trial Summary:
10/09/85
Indicted as follows:
Count I First-Degree
Murder
Count II First-Degree
Murder
Count III Sexual Battery
Count IV Armed Burglary
05/18/88
Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the indictment
06/01/88
Jury recommended a death sentence for each murder by votes of 12-0
08/19/88
Sentenced as follows:
Count I First-Degree
Murder – Death
Count II First-Degree
Murder – Deat
Count III Sexual Battery –
Life Imprisonment
Count IV Armed Burglary –
Life Imprisonment
06/14/90 FSC
reversed the convictions, vacated the sentences, and remanded for a new
trial
05/23/91
Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the indictment
05/28/91
Jury recommended a death sentence for the Ballentine murder by a vote of 12-0 and life
imprisonment for the Avery murder
07/10/91 The
judge overrode the jury recommendation of life imprisonment and
resentenced Garcia to death for both the Ballentine and Avery murders
Case Information:
Garcia filed a Direct Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court on
09/06/88. His appeal centered on the Circuit Court’s exclusion of
payroll records that were argued to be exculpatory evidence and the
State’s statement to the jury that the police were unable to find
exculpatory evidence because none existed.
Garcia argued that a State
witness, Rufina Perez, who claimed to overhear a confession by Garcia,
could not have overheard Garcia because Garcia was no longer working
with Perez at the time of the alleged confession. The payroll records,
which Garcia alleged could prove the veracity of his statement and
impeach the testimony of Perez, were excluded from trial evidence as
unreliable and untrustworthy.
The FSC concluded that the payroll
records were relevant admissible evidence and the statements by the
State about the lack of exculpatory evidence were prejudicial to
Garcia’s case and denied him his right to a fair trial. On 06/14/90,
the FSC reversed Garcia’s convictions, vacated his sentences, and
remanded the case for a new trial.
After resentencing, Garcia filed a Direct Appeal with the Florida
Supreme Court on 08/14/91, citing the following errors: denial of
motions for judgment of acquittal; reading some portions of the trial
testimony to the jury and failing to read other portions; allowing the
prosecutor to introduce inadmissible and prejudicial hearsay;
prosecutorial misconduct during the trial (primarily, during closing
arguments); erroneously instructing the jury on the elements of the
crimes; admitting and allowing the use of inflammatory photographs;
allowing the State to prove the falsehood of Garcia’s alibi; erroneously
instructing the jury on circumstantial evidence; excusing a juror based
on inconsistent and inconclusive statements about the death penalty; the
cumulative effect of guilt phase errors mandates reversal; improper
finding of all aggravating circumstances (currently under prison
sentence; prior felony conviction; murder committed during a felony;
heinous, atrocious or cruel murder); failing to find any mitigating
circumstances; and overriding the jury recommendation of life
imprisonment for one of the murders.
The FSC affirmed the convictions
and sentences on 08/11/94.
Garcia filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme
Court on 01/23/95 that was denied on 04/24/95.
Garcia filed a 3.850 Motion with the Circuit Court on 03/26/97 and
amended the motion on 08/01/97. The motion was denied by the Circuit
Court on 04/01/04.
Garcia filed a 3.850 Motion Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court on
05/18/04 that is pending before the court.
Garcia filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus with the Florida
Supreme Court on 07/27/05 that is pending.
