03/29/83          Indicted as follows:

Count I:           First-Degree Murder (Bryant)

Count II:          First-Degree Murder (Moore)

02/27/84          Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the indictment

02/29/84          Jury recommended death by a vote of 10-2 (Bryant) and 8-4 (Moore)

03/22/84          Sentenced as follows:

Count I:           First-Degree Murder (Bryant) – Death

Count II:          First-Degree Murder (Moore) – Death

Case Information:

On 04/18/84, Lambrix filed a Direct Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.  He contended that errors occurred during the guilt phase of his trial.  The errors that occurred were the lack of a representative jury due to the exclusion of members opposed to the death penalty and restricted cross-examination of an investigator.  The Court affirmed Lambrix’s convictions and sentence on 09/25/86.

A Petition for Writ of Certiorari was filed on 10/02/87 to the United States Supreme Court. It was denied on 08/18/88.

Lambrix filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court on 10/27/88, which was denied on 11/18/88.

On 11/21/88, a 3.850 Appeal was filed to the Florida Supreme Court.  On 11/30/88, the Court affirmed the denial of Lambrix’s motion.

On 12/01/88, a Petition for Writ of Habeas was filed to the Circuit Court.  It was denied on 06/26/89.

On 07/04/89, Lambrix filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus to the Florida Supreme Court.  The petition was denied on 04/26/90.  A mandate was issued on 05/29/90.

A Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus was filed to the United States District Court, Middle District on 12/01/88.  It was denied on 05/12/92.

A Habeas Appeal was filed to the United States Court of Appeals, 11^th Circuit on 06/17/92.  On 01/03/96, the United States Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of Lambrix’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus.

A Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus was filed to the Florida Supreme Court on 06/16/93.  The petition was denied on 06/16/94.  Lambrix raised the issue of Espinosa, which was procedurally barred since it was not presented in his direct appeal.  Lambrix argued ineffective counsel, which was also barred due to the fact that it had previously been considered and rejected in another Habeas petition.

Lambrix filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court on 10/07/94, which was denied on 03/23/95

On 07/21/95, a 3.850 appeal was filed to the Florida Supreme Court.  The petition was denied on 09/12/96. Lambrix contended that he should have been allowed to represent himself in trial.  This argument was dismissed on the basis that he waited six years to present the issue, which is past the two-year limit stated in the 3.850 rule.  Lambrix also argued ineffective counsel, which was also barred.

A Petition for Writ of Certiorari was filed to the United States Supreme Court on 08/16/96.  The petition was granted on 11/01/96.

A Petition for Writ of Certiorari was filed to the United States Supreme Court on 12/06/96. The petition was affirmed on 05/12/97. A mandate was issued on 06/11/97.

On 11/17/97, a Petition for Writ of Certiorari was filed to the United States Supreme Court.  It was denied on 02/23/98.

On 01/20/98, Lambrix filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court, which was amended on 01/20/01.  The motion is currently pending.

FloridaCapitalCases.state.fl.us

Mike's Story

Deathrow.at

Imagine being convicted and condemned to death for the alleged crime of premeditated murder that simply never happened- a crime deliberately fabricated by an over zealous, politically ambitious State Prosecutor concerned more with manipulating a rural community's emotions into a vindictive passion to gain political popularity than objectively pursuing justice.  Even then, when the first jury could not agree on any verdict, a subsequent retrial was held in the same small community, and to ensure a conviction would be rendered at any cost, the State substituted the original local judge with a judge from another county known for his exteme bias against capital murder defendants.

No, this isn't the outline of an imaginative Hollywood plot.  It is the basis of the case against Cary Michael Lambrix in the state of Florida.  This case begins in February 1983.  At the time Mike Lambrix was 22 years old, living with a 31 year old woman by the name of Frances.  They shared a rented mobile home located on a large ranch in rural Glades County, Florida.  On the night of Saturday February 5, 1983, both Mike and Frances decided to go into the nearby town of LaBelle to have a few drinks at the Town Tavern.  Shortly after arriving, a man introducing himself as ‘Chip' joined Mike and Frances. Had Mike and Frances known that ‘Chip' was a 35 year old ex-convict and known drug smuggler with a criminal history of physically assaulting women, undoubtedly they would have avoided him.

As the three conversed, a young local waitress by the name of Aleisha Bryant joined Chip as his date and the four decided to go to another lounge that featured dancing.  For the rest of the evening and into the early morning hours the four continued drinking and dancing until ‘Squeaky's Lounge' closed. Chip had previously made plans to return to Miami and Aleisha had to work the early shift at LaBelle's Whites Restaurant, and so it was agreed the four would return to Mike and Frances's trailer to pass the few hours until Aleisha had to be at work and Chip would drop her off on his way out of town.

Once back at the trailer, Frances began to cook a late dinner of spaghetti while Mike, Chip and Aleisha congregated in the adjacent living room.  Frances later insisted all three were laughing, teasing and playing around.  The stereo was turned up loud, so she couldn't hear what was being said.  As Frances continued cooking, Mike and Chip decided to go out to his car to retrieve some music tapes for the stereo as Aleisha stayed inside with Frances.  It was now early Sunday morning, Feb 6th.  There were no lights and so Frances insisted she could neither see or hear anything outside.

Once outside, their judgement obviously impaired by a night of heavy drinking, Mike and Chip concocted a plan to play a practical joke on Frances and Aleisha by going around the trailer and scratching at the kitchen window in an attempt to spook them.  But, neither Frances or Aleisha heard the persistent scratching.  Now determined to succeed, Mike and Chip came up with an alternative plan.  Chip would hide at the nearby cattle feed trough while Mike went back inside and got the two women to come out and as they approached the trough, Chip would jump out. Once back inside, only Aleisha would venture out as Frances stayed inside to finish cooking. Almost an hour passed during which Frances claimed she neither saw or heard anything outside. Then Mike suddenly came back inside, ‘covered' with blood saying only ‘they're dead'. Frances said she repeatedly asked Mike what happened, but he wouldn't talk about it. Mike went into the bathroom and washed up and changed clothes, then he and Frances briefly discussed what to do, as Frances knew Mike had an arrest warrant outstanding from when he walked away from a state ‘Halfway House', where Mike was serving a sentence for a ‘bounced' check charge. It was mutually decided that they cold not call the Sheriff's Department as they would take Mike into custody.  So, they decided to superficially conceal the two bodies, then abandon Chip's car far away and leave the area for good.

Several days later Frances was herself arrested on unrelated charges and gave numerous statements denying knowing Mike or her recent whereabouts.  The police had no reason to suspect Mike of any "murder" and Frances made a point of not telling them anything about Chip or Aleisha.  Then days later Frances bonded out of jail and with the assistance of her family, retained a private lawyer and after receiving legal advice, she went into the State Attorney's office in Tampa, Florida and told them that Mike had "forced" her to help conceal the two bodies and that she could show them where.  When asked if she knew why Mike had allegedly killed Chip and Aleisha, she insisted repeatedly that she did not see or hear anything that transpired outside, and all she knew was that Mike and Chip went outside only to have Mike return alone 20 minutes later asking her and Aleisha to go outside.  But, she stayed in while Aleisha went out with Mike and almost an hour later Mike came back alone, "covered" with blood and in apparent shock said only that "they're dead", then washed up and changed clothes and then "forced" her to assist in superficially concealing the two bodies at the back of a large pasture behind the trailer.

Based upon the information Frances provided, the local Sheriff's department and State Attorney's office recovered the bodies and issued an arrest warrant charging Mike with murder. Without knowing what might have actually happened outside between Mike, Chip and Aleisha, the local State Attorney (Randall McGruther) came up with a theory that Mike had deliberately ‘lured' this local couple to the remote trailer with the pre-meditated intention of robbing and killing each, even though there was virtually NO evidence to support this fabricated theory. In fact, when the bodies were recovered, both had jewelry, money and other personal effects on them. Neither was ‘robbed' of anything and Mike was never charged with robbery.

The fact that no evidence existed to support the theory of robbery is an important point.  In Florida, as in many other states, if a person is killed during the commission of a robbery, then the perpetrator is charged with ‘Felony" murder and the State does not have to prove that the perpetrator actually intended to kill anyone.  Rather, the State need only prove that a robbery occurred and the person charged committed the robbery and because of or during that robbery a person died- even if by a heart attack- and it's Capital Murder.  But, since there was virtually no actual evidence that any robbery ever occurred, the state was prohibited from actually charging Mike with robbery and was obligated to prove the higher standard of actual premeditated intent to kill Chip and Aleisha.

By the time Mike was arrested several weeks later, the State Attorney's office had manipulated the local newspaper into working up the small community passions with this fabricated theory of cold blooded robbery and murder by an alleged "escaped convict", not bothering to point out Mike was not in prison, rather, he simply walked away from a State Halfway house.  But it wasn't about truth....it was about gaining public support for a politically ambitious prosecutor.

Mike adamently refused to talk to the police or media, but Mike's version of what happened that night never changed, with Frances insisting that she neither saw or heard anything outside.  Mike could provide an account of what had happened that resulted in their deaths.

It took a good ten minutes or better for Mike to make his way around the trailer perimeter fence and as he approached the trailer, Mike heard a quick scream coming from the pasture area where he left Chip and Aleisha.  Unsure of this strange sound, Mike waited a moment and heard another more pronounced scream, clearly someone in trouble.  Immediately Mike began back around the trailer towards the pasture.  The property bordered the 200 square mile "Fishery Creek Wildlife Management Area" and a swampy "Bee Branch Creek", so snakes, wild animals and even an occasional alligator ventured into the pasture adjacent to the trailer.  As Mike passed a car he had been working on earlier that day, he spontaneously grabbed the rod-type jack handle as protection.

Still assuming she was unconscious from the assault inflicted by Chip, Mike attempted to mouth to mouth revive her to no avail.  Realizing that she was dead, Mike returned to where he left Chip to check on him, but the blows had crushed his skull and he was obviously beyond help.  Now in a state of surreal shock, Mike returned to the trailer and told Frances "they're dead".  After he washed up and changed clothes, Mike and Frances mutually decided to superficially conceal the bodies and then abandon Chip's car away from the area.

The State attorney was not provided Mike's versions of events as a criminal defendant simply does not talk to the prosecuting attorney, nor did Mike provide the police with any statement, as by law any statement could be used against you.  Towards the end of 1983, the State attempted to have Mike plea guilty to a lesser charge, but Mike insisted on his innocence to any act of murder and a trial date was scheduled to begin December 2, 1983.

On the first day of the scheduled trial, for reasons that to this date are still not clear, Mike was brought into the Judge's chambers, and, on record effectively ordered by the trial Judge that he would NOT be allowed to testify at the trial.  Mike's appointed Public Defender felt that the State's wholly circumstantial case was so weak that the State could not prove any case beyond a reasonable doubt and so they approached the Judge and advised the Judge that they (Kentry Enguaison and Robert Jacobs) did not want Mike to testify and asked the Judge to instruct Mike that he could not testify.  Judge Adams did as they requested, even though there is a clearly established legal right to testify on your own behalf.

As the trial progressed, Mike's Public Defender methodically broke down the State's fabricated theory of premeditated murder through cross examination of the State's own witnesses.  The State claimed that Mike "lured" this couple back to his trailer to kill them, the motive being robbery, yet in truth Mike had no way of knowing that he would have by chance met them, and there clearly was no robbery.  The State's key witness, Mike's ex-girlfriend Frances, testified that Mike went out first with Chip and then came back alone "looking normal" and took Aleisha out. Frances admitted she saw or heard nothing and the last time she saw them, they were "laughing, teasing and playing around" with each other with no indication of animosity between any of them.

More importantly, the State's own Medical Examiner concluded that all the blows administered upon Chip were inflicted in a continuous swinging motion to the front temporal area of his head and there were no defensive wounds.  The position of the wounds and absence of defensive wounds strongly implies that Chip had to be the aggressor, and entirely supports Mike's claim of self defense.

As for Aleisha Bryant, the Medical Examiner concluded death as "probable strangulation", even though the physical signs of trauma normally associated with strangulation were not found, such as haemorraging in the neck area and fracture of the larynx.  But, more importantly, it was established that to inflict death by strangulation, substantial pressure had to be continuously applied for 3 to 5 minutes to render the victim unconscious.  A 19 year old 185 pound woman simply is not going to passively stand by and be strangled to death without fighting for her life. For this reason it is a standard procedure to collect "fingernail scrapings" from such a victim and fingernail scrapings were undoubtedly collected in this case.  But when Frances insisted that Mike had no bruises or scratches consistent with what Aleisha would have inflicted upon her assailant, and that Chip DID have such scratches, these fingernail scrapings conveniently disappeared from the State's evidence room.

No defense beyond establishing reasonable doubt was presented and without Mike being able to personally testify, his version of what actually transpired outside resulting in Chip's and Aleisha's death NEVER came out.  The jury deliberated 11 continuous hours without being able to agree upon any verdict when the trial judge declared it a ‘Hung jury' and dismissed that jury, ordering a retrial.

Judge Stanley's extreme bias quickly manifested itself at the retrial.  Motion to move the trial out of Glades County because of the saturation of prejudicial pretrial media coverage was denied. As Judge Stanley presided over impaneling a jury, attempts to strike biased jurors were circumvented and the jury that tried the case included 4 jurists related to members of the small local sheriff's department, including the stepfather of a local deputy (Ralph Alan Green)who was actually under an FBI investigation at the time for allegedly attempting to physically beat a confession out of Mike at the County Jail a month earlier, requiring Mike to be hospitalized.

Judge Stanley then prohibited Mike's Public Defender from questioning Frances, the State's key witness on the numerous conflicting stories she gave to the police that directly contradicted her trial testimony, and refused to allow evidence of alcohol intoxication in, as such evidence could preclude capital murder by legally negating actual premeditation.  Again Mike was not allowed to testify and no defense whatsoever was allowed.  NOT surprisingly, it took the jury less than 2 hours to convict Mike of two counts of premeditated capital murder, and one juror was later heard to complain that the only reason it took that long was because they couldn't get the coffee pot to work right away.

On March 22, 1984, Mike was sentenced to death and sent to Florida's death row.  The Judge then appointed   a local ex-prosecutor to represent Mike on appeal, and ex former Chief Justice Alan Sundberg later testified on Mike's behalf: this pretense of an appeal was unquestionably the most incompetent appeal he had ever seen in a capital case.  Having succeeded in preventing Mike from proving his actual innocence of murder at trial, the politically motivated Judge subsequently obstructed Mike's ability to prove his innocence on appeal, knowing that Mike's claim and evidence of self defense was not fully presented on appeal, it would be procedurally barred from review forever.