Date of Sentence: 09/26/89
Circumstances of Offense:
Tallahassee police officers
Ernest Ponce de Leon and Greg Armstrong responded to a call on July 7,
1988, concerning a car that was parked behind a laundromat.
When they
arrived at the scene, they found three escapees from a Maryland prison
(Clarence Jones, Henry Goins, and Irvin Griffin) seated in the car along
with a woman, Beverly Harris, who was traveling with them.
As Armstrong
was checking driver’s licenses and Ponce de Leon was trying to complete
a computer check on the car’s tag, two shots were fired at Ponce de Leon
by one of the passengers.
Following the shooting, Officer Armstrong
engaged in a shootout with the passengers. Jones retrieved Officer
Ponce de Leon’s gun and he and Griffin fled the scene on foot. Both
Jones and Griffin were wounded.
Jones and Griffin broke into a house
near the scene of the crime where they were captured a short time later
by police. Officer Ponce de Leon died at the scene as a result of the
two gunshot wounds to his chest.
In his own defense, Jones stated
that an unknown drug dealer, who had met him and his accomplices at the
laundromat, was the person who shot Officer Ponce de Leon.
Codefendant Information:
Henry Goins pled guilty to Second-Degree Murder in exchange for a
30-year prison sentence. Irvin Griffin was found guilty as charged for
First-Degree Murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Additional Information:
When Jones was apprehended in Tallahassee, Florida, he was a known
escapee from a Maryland prison where he was serving three concurrent
25-year sentences for three counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and a
concurrent 5-year sentence for attempted robbery with a deadly weapon.
On
11/12/04, the Florida Supreme Court relinquished jurisdiction for a
mental retardation determination.
On 07/27/05, the Circuit
Court denied the mental retardation motion.
Trial Summary:
07/28/88
Defendant indicted on the following charges:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder
Count II: Attempted
First-Degree Murder
Count III: Armed Robbery with
a Firearm
Count IV: Armed Burglary of a
Dwelling
Count V: Armed Kidnapping
Defendant charged by information on the
following charge:
Count I: Aggravated Assault
with a Firearm
09/22/89
Defendant found guilty on all Counts
09/24/89 Count V was nolle prosequied
09/25/89
The jury recommended Death by a vote of 11-1
09/26/89
Defendant was sentenced as follows:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder – Death
Count II: Attempted
First-Degree Murder – Life sentence
Count III: Armed Robbery with
a Firearm – Life Sentence
Count IV: Armed Burglary of a
Dwelling – Life Sentence
Count I: Aggravated Assault
with a Firearm – 5 years
Case Information:
A
Direct Appeal was filed with the Florida Supreme Court (FSC) on
10/16/89. Issues that were raised on appeal included whether the trial
court erred by refusing to allow the defense to question two state
witnesses about their convictions involving drug-related offenses and
violence against a police officer. The defense wanted to question the
witnesses concerning their prior offenses in an attempt to potentially
connect them with the crime.
The judge ruled that their prior offenses
occurred too long before the crime at hand to have been relevant in the
proceedings. The FSC found all of the issues to be either harmless or
without error and affirmed the convictions and sentence of death on
05/16/91.
A
Petition for a Writ of Certiorari was filed with the United States
Supreme Court on 07/01/91 and denied on 10/07/91.
A
3.850 Motion was filed with the State Circuit Court on 12/21/92 and was
denied on 04/01/97.
A
3.850 Appeal was filed with the FSC on 07/11/97. Issues that were
raised included various claims as to whether the defendant was denied
effective assistance of counsel during his penalty phase, whether the
trial court’s refusal to find mitigating circumstances was
unconstitutional, and whether the State withheld exculpatory evidence.
The FSC found all of the issues either harmless or without error and
affirmed the trial court’s denial of the 3.850 Motion on 03/15/99
A
Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus was filed with the FSC on
03/27/00. Issues that were raised included whether the defendant’s
appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to present error regarding
the admission of details surrounding Jones’s prison escape and certain
photographic evidence and whether the Court improperly upheld the trial
judge’s instruction to the jury of two legally inapplicable
aggravators. The FSC found all of the claims to be either harmless or
without merit and denied the Petition on 07/05/01.
A
Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus was filed with the U.S. district
Court, Northern District, on 05/22/00 and amended on 03/14/02. On
08/23/02, the USDC ordered the petition held in abeyance pending the
resolution of state claims.
A
3.850 Motion was filed with the State Circuit Court on 06/17/02 and was
denied on 12/03/02.
A
3.850 Appeal was filed with the Florida Supreme Court on 01/10/03 and is
currently pending.
FloridaCapitalCases.state.fl.us
