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POSSIBLE INNOCENCE: Florida Supreme Court Vacates 1985 Capital Conviction
Death Penalty Information Center ^ | 3/24/2005

Posted on 03/29/2005 5:47:21 PM PST by syriacus

The Florida Supreme Court has vacated James Floyd's 1985 conviction and death sentence, ruling that critical evidence was withheld by the prosecution and that the evidence might have been enough to change the verdict at trial.

In its 4-2 decision, the Court ruled that the prosecutor's failure to inform Floyd's defense counsel that an eyewitness had seen two white men entering the victim's home on the day of the murder and saw them leave in a suspicious manner approximately one hour later "severely compromised Floyds' constitutional right to a fair trial."

The ruling noted that the state's case against Floyd, who is black, was based mainly on circumstantial evidence, and included no eyewitness, fingerprint or DNA evidence linking him to the murder. "We conclude that our confidence in the defendant's murder conviction has clearly been shaken by the evidence that the State suppressed in this case.

While there is not a 'smoking gun' in the suppressed evidence that would completely exonerate the defendant, there was also not a 'smoking gun' in the State's case against him," the court wrote. Bernie McCabe, the state attorney in Pinellas County, said he didn't know if the state would attempt to bring Floyd to trial again.


TOPICS: Government; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: deathpenalty; fssc; jamesfloyd; mccabe; pinellascounty; vacatedconviction
Gee, they suppress evidence, and testimony, in Florida.
1 posted on 03/29/2005 5:47:22 PM PST by syriacus
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To: syriacus

Wow, must be a pro-life Court, to want to save a MURDERER enough to re-investigate the case./ sarcasm / roll eyes / snort and spit tacks.


2 posted on 03/29/2005 5:51:22 PM PST by bboop
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To: bboop

State attorney in Pinellas County, eh? Vomit.


3 posted on 03/29/2005 5:53:15 PM PST by livius
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To: bboop
re-investigate the case

I wonder which judge handled the original case.

4 posted on 03/29/2005 5:55:43 PM PST by syriacus (Greer honors alleged death wishes of mentally unsound, bulimic women by starving them to death.)
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To: syriacus

Can Floyd sue?


5 posted on 03/29/2005 5:56:35 PM PST by syriacus (Greer honors alleged death wishes of mentally unsound, bulimic women by starving them to death.)
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To: livius

Bernie McCabe is the one who suposedly had two different past investigations of the Terri Schiavo case quashed.


6 posted on 03/29/2005 6:01:25 PM PST by expatpat
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To: syriacus
Excerpt: Some Info on the case

On January 17, 1984, the St. Petersburg Police Department received a telephone call requesting police to check on the welfare of Annie Barr Anderson, who was eighty-six years old. Upon arrival at Anderson's home, Officer Ray Olsen was met by Anderson's pastor.

He explained that he was concerned because he had not seen Anderson that day, her car was in the rear driveway, her newspaper had not been picked up, her mail remained in the mail box, and she failed to answer after several knocks on her door.

Olsen entered the home through the unlocked back door and discovered Anderson lying on her bed, dead. The medical examiner testified that Anderson had received multiple stab wounds, one to the upper chest that penetrated the heart and was rapidly fatal; eleven to the abdomen that were potentially fatal; and one in the left wrist that exited the hand.

Officer Donald Crotty of the St. Petersburg Police Department testified that Floyd cashed a $500 check on Anderson's account on January 16, 1984.

Two days later, the bank summoned police when Floyd tried to cash a $700 check on her account. When detectives confronted Floyd, he fled. The detectives gave chase, arrested Floyd, and discovered Anderson's checkbook in his pocket. The detectives also discovered in Floyd's jacket an athletic sock containing dried blood. Officer Robert Engelke testified that the blood on the sock was consistent with Anderson's blood type, but not Floyd's. The officer also testified that tire tracks on the driveway alongside Anderson's home were similar to the tire tread on Floyd's motorcycle.

7 posted on 03/29/2005 6:02:10 PM PST by syriacus (Greer honors alleged death wishes of mentally unsound, bulimic women by starving them to death.)
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To: syriacus
...ruling that critical evidence was withheld by the prosecution and that the evidence might have been enough to change the verdict at trial.

This sounds like Felos and Greer.. /s off

8 posted on 03/29/2005 6:06:07 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic (" I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just. " A. Lincoln)
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To: expatpat

That's interesting. I wonder if he or any of his buds are Scientologists - I hate to sound like a paranoid nutcase, but I was stunned when I found that Pinellas County is "Scientology central" and that many of the people involved in local politics down there are big players in the pro-death Scientology movement. I don't think Greer is a Scientologist, but Felos is and probably a number of people who were on the board of his "hospice" are as well. BTW, Scientologists in Clearwater starved a young woman to death some years ago as a "cure" for her mental problems, so they've had some practice.

Whether he's a Scientologist or not, I think they are all in bed with each other down there. It's a notoriously corrupt county, and even the bishop has been tagged for suspicious no-bid contracts (probably the reason that he has left the country and is surveying tsunami damage in Thailand instead of standing outside the hospice protecting one of his flock...).


9 posted on 03/29/2005 6:09:25 PM PST by livius
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To: expatpat
Bernie McCabe is the one who suposedly had two different past investigations of the Terri Schiavo case qua

Hmmmm.

10 posted on 03/29/2005 6:15:32 PM PST by syriacus (Greer honors alleged death wishes of mentally unsound, bulimic women by starving them to death.)
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To: livius
Scientologists in Clearwater starved a young woman to death some years ago as a "cure" for her mental problems, so they've had some practice.

Yes. Lisa McPherson (sp?)

11 posted on 03/29/2005 6:16:50 PM PST by syriacus (Greer honors alleged death wishes of mentally unsound, bulimic women by starving them to death.)
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To: syriacus

That was the one. It was a very scary story, with many parallels to this one. It was never very clear why the DA dropped the murder case against them.


12 posted on 03/29/2005 6:18:24 PM PST by livius
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To: syriacus
Undisclosed evidence may free man from death row

The state Supreme Court calls evidence never given to the defense "unsettling." A new trial is ordered.

By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer Published March 25, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - More than 20 years ago, a jury took only about an hour to convict James Floyd of murdering an 86-year-old woman in her home. They took another hour to send him to death row.

13 posted on 03/29/2005 6:27:14 PM PST by syriacus (Greer honors alleged death wishes of mentally unsound, bulimic women by starving them to death.)
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To: syriacus
I wonder which judge handled the original case.

Judge Philip A. Federico sentenced [Floyd] to die.

14 posted on 03/29/2005 6:30:16 PM PST by syriacus (Greer honors alleged death wishes of mentally unsound, bulimic women by starving them to death.)
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To: syriacus
http://stpetersburgtimes.com/2005/03/25/news_pf/Southpinellas/Undisclosed_evidence_.shtml

Sworn statements from a woman who pointed to another suspect also were left out.

So were inconsistent reports about pry marks that were found on Anderson's windows.

So were polygraph results that showed a witness was deceptive.

15 posted on 03/29/2005 6:32:48 PM PST by syriacus (Greer honors alleged death wishes of mentally unsound, bulimic women by starving them to death.)
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To: livius

Was McCabe the DA then?


16 posted on 03/29/2005 7:38:17 PM PST by expatpat
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