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Date of Sentence: 04/15/94
Date of Resentence: 03/19/99
Date of Resentence: 06/26/03
Circumstances of the Offense:
On 03/09/94, Gerald Delane
Murray was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary with an assault,
and sexual battery with great force. Murray was sentenced to death for
the murder and life for the other two offenses.
At around midnight on 09/15/90,
Murray and his friend, Steven Richard Taylor, were dropped off at a
mobile home neighborhood by a friend (James “Bubba” Fisher) where the
victim, 59-year-old Alice Vest, lived. A Ford Ranchero was reported
stolen from a residence near the place where Murray and Taylor had been
dropped off.
At around 4:30 a.m., a passing motorist noticed the
vehicle parked in a driveway next door to the mobile home where Vest
lived. Later that day, the Ford Ranchero was found abandoned behind a
used car dealership, located only a few blocks away from where Taylor
lived at the time.
That same morning of 09/15/90,
residents of the mobile home neighborhood where Vest lived discovered
Vest’s badly beaten body in the bedroom of her mobile home. According
to the testimony of the medical examiner, Vest had been vaginally and
anally raped, strangled, and stabbed approximately 20 times.
The
medical examiner testified that most of the stab wounds were made with a
knife, and the remaining stab wounds were made with a pair of scissors,
both of which were found at the scene of the crime. The initial cause
of death was ligature strangulation. Vest was alive while she was being
stabbed, and she was strangled with an electrical cord after the
stabbings.
The examiner pointed out multiple fractures found on Vest’s
lower jaw, indicating that she received several blows to the head, which
were done with a bottle, metal bar, and candlestick. These items were
also found at the scene of the crime. Finally, the medical examiner
testified that Vest’s breasts were bruised, as a result of “impacting,
sucking, or squeezing” while she was alive.
In the medical examiner’s
opinion, Vest was alive for approximately ten minutes from the first
stabbing to the strangulation. The medical examiner was unsure whether
Vest was conscious during all or any part of the attack. According to
other trial testimony, the phone line to Vest’s mobile home had been
cut, the mobile home had been burglarized, and various pieces of jewelry
were missing.
During trial, the State admitted
hair evidence recovered from Vest’s mobile home. Hair evidence was also
sent to an FBI lab in Washington, D.C., for comparison with known hair
samples from three persons: Murray, Taylor, and Vest. The hair expert
from the FBI concluded that the hairs found on Vest’s nightgown and body
were pubic hairs that had the same microscopic characteristics of
Murray’s hairs. Taylor was excluded as a possible source of the hairs.
Additional evidence at the trial
revealed that, approximately six months after his indictment for Vest
(11/22/92), Murray escaped from Duval County Jail and was accompanied by
a fellow inmate, Anthony Smith. Smith testified for the State that
Murray confessed to the rape, robbery, and murder of Vest.
On 06/09/93,
approximately seven months after his escape, Murray was captured in Las
Vegas, Nevada. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying two false
identification cards.
Codefendant Information:
Steven Richard Taylor (DC#
288500)
Taylor was convicted and sentenced to death for first-degree murder, 15
years for burglary of a dwelling, and 27 years for sexual battery.
Taylor was tried separately for his offenses (CC# 91-2456).
*****
Trial Summary:
02/24/94 Indicted
as follows:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder
Count II: Burglary with
Assault
Count III: Sexual Battery
with Great Force
03/09/94 Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of
the indictment
03/28/94 Jury recommended death by a vote of 11-1
04/15/94 Sentenced as follows:
Count
I: First-Degree Murder – Death
Count II: Burglary with
Assault – Life
Count III: Sexual Battery
with Great Force – Life
03/06/98 Jury unable to reach a verdict
10/12/98 Judge L. Haldane Taylor presiding
02/03/99 New jury impaneled and sworn
02/12/99 Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts and
recommended death by a vote of 12-0
03/19/99 Resentenced to death
05/22/03 New jury impaneled and sworn
06/19/03 Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts
06/26/03 Resentenced to death by a vote of 12-0
*****
Case Information:
Murray filed a Direct Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court on 04/20/94.
He raised numerous issues. First, Murray claimed the trial court abused
its discretion in ten ways: by permitting the state to peremptorily
challenge three jurors; in denying Murray’s motion to suppress hair
evidence seized pursuant to an allegedly defective search warrant; in
allowing the state’s expert to testify about the results of DNA typing
because the state’s method of DNA typing and probability calculations do
not meet the Frye test for admissibility; by admitting hair evidence
recovered from the victim’s body and from the victim’s nightgown because
the evidence had been tampered with; in denying Murray’s motions for
continuance at trial and penalty phase; in admitting evidence of
Murray’s pre-trial escape, theft of automobiles, and possession of false
identification; in excluding the testimony of three defense witnesses
concerning Murray’s true motive for escape; in overruling Murray’s
objection to the standard heinous, atrocious, or cruel instruction and
denying Murray’s requested instruction on that aggravator; in rejecting
Murray’s statutory and nonstatutory mitigating factors; and, in
admitting hearsay evidence concerning Murray’s prior violent felonies at
the penalty phase.
Second, the prosecutor’s comments during the guilt phase closing
argument deprived Murray of a fair trial. Third, the evidence at trial
was insufficient to support Murray’s convictions. Fourth, the trial
court erred in finding the especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel
aggravating factor. Fifth, the trial court improperly doubled the
felony murder and pecuniary gain aggravating factors. Sixth, the trial
court erred in finding that the murder was committed for pecuniary
gain. Seventh, the prosecutor’s comments during the penalty phase
closing argument deprived Murray of a fair trial. Eighth, section
921.141 (7), Florida Statutes (1995), which allows presentation of
victim evidence in a capital sentencing proceeding is unconstitutional.
Ninth, the trial court’s use of Murray’s contemporaneous convictions for
burglary and sexual battery to support the felony murder aggravating
factor violated Murray’s right against double jeopardy. Tenth, the
trial court improperly instructed the jury regarding its role in the
sentencing process. Eleventh, the record does not support the death
penalty. Twelfth, Florida’s death penalty statute is unconstitutional
because electrocution constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Thirteenth, Murray’s death sentence is disproportionate. Finally, the
trial court erred in enhancing Murray’s sentence for burglary and
imposing it to run consecutively to his death sentence.
On 04/17/97,
the Court reversed Murray’s convictions and remanded for retrial. The
Court questioned the admissibility of DNA evidence used against him
because no semen or fingerprints were found at the scene to connect
Murray to the crime; Murray’s case relied heavily on extensive DNA
evidence.
On
04/29/99, Murray filed a Direct Appeal (Retrial I) to the Florida
Supreme Court. On 10/03/02, the Court reversed Murray’s convictions,
vacated sentences and death sentence, and remanded for a new trial
because the
testing of DNA evidence in his case did not meet scientific standards.
Murray filed for a Direct Appeal (Retrial II) to the Florida Supreme
Court on 07/14/03, which is currently pending.
FloridaCapitalCases.state.fl.us |
