DC#
058279
DOB: 10/31/51
Twentieth Judicial Circuit, Lee
County, Case # 76-588 CF
Sentencing Judge, Trial: The
Honorable Thomas Sands
Sentencing Judge, Resentencing
I: The Honorable Thomas Sands
Sentencing Judge, Resentencing
II: The Honorable Thomas S. Reese
Sentencing Judge, Resentencing
III: The Honorable Thomas S. Reese
Sentencing Judge, Resentencing
IV: The Honorable Thomas S. Reese
Attorney, Trial: Gene S. Taylor
– Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Resentencing I:
Dennis Erdley – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Resentencing II:
Kinley Engralson – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Resentencing III:
Robert Jacobs – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney Resentencing IV:
Robert Jacobs – Assistant Public Defender
Attorneys, Direct Appeal I:
David S. Bergdoll & W.C. McLain – Assistant Public Defenders
Attorneys, Direct Appeal II:
Douglas A. Lockwood & Douglas M. Midgley – Assistant Public Defenders
Attorney, Direct Appeal III:
W.C. McLain – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Direct Appeal IV:
Robert F. Moeller – Assistant Public Defender
Attorneys, Collateral Appeals:
David Hendry & Mark Gruber – CCRC-Middle
Date of Offense: 08/14/76
Date of Sentence: 01/14/77
Date of First Resentence:
03/03/80
Date of Second Resentence:
05/08/85
Date of Third Resentence:
05/07/87
Date of Fourth Resentence:
05/14/91
Circumstances of the Offense:
Harold Lucas knew the victim,
16-year-old Jill Piper, for four years and they also used to date. One
witness testified that Lucas stated they were going to get married.
A
week prior to the murder, Lucas was arrested for criminal trespassing at
the Piper residence. After the arrest, Lucas, who worked at the Piper
family business, stopped going to work.
On 08/13/76, Lucas was in a park
with his friend, Harold Saunders, at 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. Lucas asked
Saunders to go and ask Ms. Piper if she called the Sheriff’s Department.
When Saunders questioned Ms. Piper, she indicated that she did not
called the police.
During this time, witnesses testified that Lucas
threatened Jill Piper. Other witnesses stated they did not hear Lucas
threaten Ms. Piper. Sometime around 3:00 p.m., Lucas left the park with
friends.
They drove around and were characterized as “pretty buzzed.”
Throughout the day, Lucas drank a total of two six-packs of 24-ounce
beers, smoked 10 to 20 marijuana cigarettes, and consumed five dollars
worth of THC. They returned to the park around 6:00 p.m.
They left the park again around
10:00 p.m. and drove to a gas station. Ms. Piper and Eddie Kent, a man
who Lucas had been in fights with before, were at the gas station. Mr.
Kent insulted Lucas by saying “Hello, Turkey” and Lucas responded by
starting a fight. Ms. Piper ran across the street to a pay phone and
called the Sheriff’s Department.
The argument ended, and Lucas got in
the car to leave. As the car was pulling away, Mr. Kent threw a beer
bottle at the car, shattering the bottle. The glass from the bottle
entered the car and cut Lucas’ ear. Ms. Piper threw rocks and yelled
profanities at the car. Mr. Kent and Terri Rice testified that Lucas
threatened to kill both of them.
Ms. Rice and Ms. Piper left the
gas station and met Ricky Bird at the park around 11:00 p.m. They asked
if he would spend the night at Ms. Piper’s house for additional
protection and he agreed. The three proceeded to Ms. Piper’s house. They
parked the car across the street.
Once in the house, Ms. Piper took a
20-gauge shotgun and a .38 revolver, both loaded, out of a gun cabinet
in the house. She took the shotgun and gave the handgun to Mr. Bird. As
the three talked, Ms. Piper decided that they should move the car into
her driveway. The three walked across the street and drove the car back.
Mr. Bird entered the house to
make sure that no one had gone inside while they were moving the car.
While the two women stayed outside of the house, Ms. Rice saw someone at
the side of the house with a gun. She assumed that it was Mr. Bird, but
upon closer inspection she realized that it was Lucas.
She testified
that he raised a rifle and shot Ms. Piper, who was standing in front of
Ms. Rice. Ms. Rice ran into the house and told Mr. Bird what had just
occurred and the two ran into a back bedroom. Ms. Rice testified that
she never saw Ms. Piper inside the house after she was shot.
Mr. Bird testified that he had
heard three shots outside, and then saw Ms. Rice enter the house. After
Ms. Rice entered, Ms. Piper stumbled into the house. She had two wounds
in her back and stated, “That son of a bitch shot me.”
He stated that he
and Ms. Rice then ran into a back bedroom and locked the door. Both
testified that they heard Ms. Piper screaming and begging and then heard
three more shots. Lucas then shot the bedroom door open and shot Mr.
Bird in the stomach and then physically attacked Ms. Rice in the
bathroom. As Lucas was leaving, he fired a shot through the bathroom
door that hit Ms. Rice in the hip. Ms. Piper’s body was found outside of
the house.
Lucas testified that he
remembers getting high on the night of 08/13/76, and that he lost
consciousness and woke up in the woods. He stated that he did not have
gun with him when he woke up. When he began walking home, a friend
picked him up and told him that there was a newspaper article about the
incident and that Lucas was named as the primary suspect. Lucas went
back to the woods and, when law enforcement attempted to arrest him, he
ran, but was eventually arrested.
*****
Trial Summary:
08/30/76
Defendant was indicted on the following charges:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder
Count II: Attempted
First-Degree Murder
Count III: Attempted
First-Degree Murder
10/08/76
Motion for a change of venue
10/26/76 Motion denied
01/14/77 Defendant
found guilty on all charges
01/14/77 Jury
recommended the sentences of death by a 12-0 vote
02/09/77
Defendant was sentenced as follows:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder – Death
Count II: Attempted
First-Degree Murder – 30 years
Count III: Attempted
First-Degree Murder – 30 years to be served consecutive to
First Resentencing:
06/14/79
Case remanded to circuit court for resentencing by
the Florida Supreme Court
03/03/80
The judge sentenced the defendant as follows:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder – Death
Count II: Attempted
First-Degree Murder – 30 years
Count III:Attempted
First-Degree Murder – 30 years to be served consecutive to Count II
Second Resentencing:
07/01/82 Case remanded to circuit court for
a new sentencing hearing by the Florida Supreme Court
08/24/84 Tenth Circuit Public Defenders’
Office withdrew as counsel
03/15/85 Twentieth Circuit Public Defenders’
Office was appointed to represent Lucas
05/08/85
The judge sentenced the defendant as follows:
Count I: First Degree
Murder – Death
Count II: Attempted First
Degree Murder – 30 years
Count III:Attempted First
Degree Murder – 30 years to be served consecutive to Count II
Third Resentencing:
07/03/86
Case remanded to the circuit court by the Florida
Supreme Court for new sentencing proceedings before a new jury
05/03/87 Jury
recommended a sentence of death by a vote of 11-1
05/07/87
The judge sentenced the defendant as follows:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder – Death
Count II: Attempted
First-Degree Murder – 30 years to be served concurrent with Count I
Count III: Attempted
First-Degree Murder – 30 years to be served consecutive to Count I and II
Fourth Resentencing:
09/20/90
Case remanded by the Florida Supreme Court to the
Circuit Court for resentencing on Count I.
05/14/91 Defendant was
sentenced to death
*****
Case Information:
Lucas filed a direct appeal to
the Florida Supreme Court on 02/22/77. He raised two issues in the
appeal: the trial court committed reversible error by allowing an
unrevealed rebuttal witness to testify without conducting an evidentiary
hearing as to why the state was not complying with the rules of
discovery and the trial court erred in considering non-statutorial
aggravating factors.
The Court found that, because the defense did not
object to the rebuttal witness, the trial judge made no error. The
Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court erred in considering
the heinousness of the attempted murders as a non-statutory aggravating
factor.
The Court affirmed the conviction, but remanded the case for resentencing “without the benefit of a new sentence recommendation by a
jury” Lucas v. Florida (376 So. 2d 1149) on 06/14/79. The
rehearing was denied on 12/05/79, and the mandate was issued on
01/02/80.
On 03/03/80, the Circuit Court
judge sentenced Lucas to death for the murder of Ms. Piper and to two
thirty-year sentences for the attempted murders of Ms. Rice and Mr.
Bird.
Lucas filed a direct appeal to
the Florida Supreme Court on 03/11/80. He asserted that the trial judge
abused his discretion by not properly reweighing and re-evaluating the
valid aggravating and mitigating circumstances. The Court found that the
judge erred by not impaneling an advisory jury during the resentencing,
but did not fault the judge because he was following the previous
mandate issued by the Court.
The Court remanded the case to the trial
court for a new sentencing proceeding on 07/01/82. The mandate was
issued on 08/03/82.
Judge Shands passed away prior
to the second resentencing; Judge Reese reviewed the trial transcript
and the transcript of the previous penalty proceedings. He again
sentenced Lucas to death for the murder of Ms. Piper and to two 30 year
terms for the attempted murder for both Ms. Rice and Mr. Bird on
05/08/85.
On 05/30/85, Lucas filed another
direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. Lucas claimed that the trial
court erred by not allowing the presentation of additional evidence and
not impaneling a new jury. The Court found that the trial judge did not
error by not impaneling a new jury but that both sides should have been
able to present additional evidence.
The Court remanded the case to the
trial court for a complete new sentencing proceeding before a newly
impaneled jury on 07/03/86. The rehearing was denied on 02/12/86, and
mandate was issued on 08/18/86.
Lucas was given a new sentencing
hearing in front of a new jury and, on 05/03/87, the jury recommended
the sentence of death for the murder of Ms. Piper. On 05/07/87, Lucas
was again sentenced to death for the murder of Ms. Piper and to 30 years
for the attempted murders of Ms. Rice and Mr. Bird.
On 06/05/87, Lucas filed a
direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. The Court stated that the
trial court’s finding as to aggravating and mitigating factors must be
unmistakably clear, and found that the sentencing order did not meet
this requirement. The Court vacated the Lucas’ sentence and remanded the
case to the trial court for resentencing with a newly impaneled a jury
on 09/20/90. The mandate was issued on 10/22/90.
On 05/14/90, Judge Reese again
sentenced Lucas to death for the murder of Ms. Piper. Lucas filled a
direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court on 06/17/91. The main issues
raised by Lucas surrounded the aggravating and mitigating factors used
by the judge to render a sentence of death, but the Court found these to
be meritless, a harmless error. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the
sentence on 12/24/92. The rehearing was denied on 03/05/93, and the
mandate was issued on 04/05/93.
Lucas filed a Petition for Writ
of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court on 06/03/93. The
petition was denied on 10/04/93.
Lucas filed a 3.850 Motion with
the Circuit Court on 10/04/94. The motion was denied on 06/22/01.
Lucas filed a 3.850 appeal to
the Florida Supreme Court on 07/30/01. In this appeal his main issue
raised was receiving ineffective counsel. The Court found no merit in
his claims and affirmed the denial of his 3.850 Motion on 01/09/03.
Lucas also filed a Petition for
Writ of Habeas Corpus to the Florida Supreme Court on 02/11/02, which
was denied on 01/09/03. The Motion for Rehearing was denied on
03/14/03.
Lucas then filed a Petition for
Habeas Corpus to the United States Middle District Court. The petition
is currently pending.
FloridaCapitalCases.state.fl.us
