Rolling Executed By Lethal Injection
POSTED: 5:38 pm EDT October 25, 2006
STARKE, Fla. -- Danny Rolling was executed Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. for the 1990 murders and mutilations of five college students in Gainesville.
Rolling was strapped on a gurney, placed on a heart monitor and wheeled into the execution chamber late Wednesday afternoon, where the eight carefully marked syringes used in a lethal injection awaited.
The first two syringes contained sodium pentothal, which rendered Rolling unconscious. The third contained a saline solution that was used as a flushing agent. Another two syringes containing pancuronium bromide were then administered to paralyze him. Another syringe of saline solution was administered, and the final two doses of potassium chloride delivered the lethal doses that stopped his heart from beating.
Rolling was declared dead at 6:13 p.m.
Sadie Darnell, who was a spokeswoman for the Gainesville Police Department at the time of the murders, said she believes the process is so humane that it might disturb the families of the victims.
"One of my concerns is that for the family members who do witness that they may be struck and affected by how easy it is, that it's a gentle, mild form of death," she said.
Before the execution, Dianna Hoyt, whose stepdaughter, Christa Hoyt, was one of the victims, said she would rather have seen Rolling get executed by the electric chair like infamous serial killer Ted Bundy did when he was executed in Florida. Lethal injection became the alternative form of execution in 2000.
"I don't understand," said Hoyt, who attended the execution. "When he (Rolling) was convicted, it was the electric chair, and I really felt like it needed to go back to that."
Rolling's last-minute appeal contending that the chemicals used in Florida's execution process could cause severe pain was turned down Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court just a half hour before the execution. The court had previously turned down the same arguments in two other Florida executions this fall.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Rolling Prepares to Die
Gainesville student killer eats last meal and is moved to cell next to death chamber
Jim Leusner
Orlando Sentinel
October 25, 2006, 5:00 PM EDT
STARKE -- Barring any unexpected last-minute, high-court intervention, Danny Harold Rolling, the admitted Gainesville student killer, will be strapped to a gurney at 6 p.m. today and injected with a lethal cocktail of drugs.
His death would comes 16 years after the five murders set off a week of panic and fear in the college town.His final attempt to stop his death was before the U.S. Supreme Court today.
The appeal claims that the chemicals used in the execution procedure cause severe pain, but the high court has declined to intervene in two other Florida executions where the condemned used similar
arguments.
Corrections Department spokesman Robby Cunningham said Rolling, 52, was calm and cooperative ahead of the execution.
Before being moved to a cell next to the death chamber at Florida State Prison, Rolling visited with his brother Kevin, and his brother's pastor Jim Wallingworth, Cunningham said.Rolling ate his last meal of lobster tail, butterfly shrimp, baked potato, strawberry cheesecake and sweet tea shortly before noon. "He enjoyed his last meal. He ate every bite," Cunningham said.
The victims' families ran an advertisement Thursday in The Gainesville Sun, thanking the community for its support: "We hope you will remember August 1990 and the years that followed without any sense of community shame for what has happened here. You turned a blemish into a rose."
Crowds were expected outside the prison, with possibly the largest turnout since Ted Bundy's execution.
He was suspected in the deaths and disappearances of 36 women across the country. He was electrocuted Jan. 24, 1989, in the same death chamber where Rolling will die by lethal injection.
In Gainesville, the wounds of the town and the victims' families will live on."I don't think it – Gainesville -- will ever be exactly the same," former Alachua State Attorney Rod Smith, who put Rolling on death row in 1994, said recently.
"There will be a special memory of the terror inflicted."The lives of five young college students were violently cut short by Rolling's rage.
Sonja Larson of Deerfield Beach. Christina Powell of Jacksonville. Christa Hoyt of Archer. Tracy Paules of Miami. Manuel Taboada of Carol City.
After the largest and costliest manhunt in Florida history, Rolling -- a man previously considered a common criminal -- would be exposed as one of the nation's most notorious serial killers.Rolling would be the 63rd inmate to be put to death since Florida resumed executions in 1979 and the third this year.
He would be the 259th since 1924, when the state took over the duty from individual counties.--
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report
Jim Leusner
Orlando Sentinel
October 25, 2006, 5:00 PM EDT
STARKE -- Barring any unexpected last-minute, high-court intervention, Danny Harold Rolling, the admitted Gainesville student killer, will be strapped to a gurney at 6 p.m. today and injected with a lethal cocktail of drugs.
His death would comes 16 years after the five murders set off a week of panic and fear in the college town.His final attempt to stop his death was before the U.S. Supreme Court today.
The appeal claims that the chemicals used in the execution procedure cause severe pain, but the high court has declined to intervene in two other Florida executions where the condemned used similar
arguments.
Corrections Department spokesman Robby Cunningham said Rolling, 52, was calm and cooperative ahead of the execution.
Before being moved to a cell next to the death chamber at Florida State Prison, Rolling visited with his brother Kevin, and his brother's pastor Jim Wallingworth, Cunningham said.Rolling ate his last meal of lobster tail, butterfly shrimp, baked potato, strawberry cheesecake and sweet tea shortly before noon. "He enjoyed his last meal. He ate every bite," Cunningham said.
The victims' families ran an advertisement Thursday in The Gainesville Sun, thanking the community for its support: "We hope you will remember August 1990 and the years that followed without any sense of community shame for what has happened here. You turned a blemish into a rose."
Crowds were expected outside the prison, with possibly the largest turnout since Ted Bundy's execution.
He was suspected in the deaths and disappearances of 36 women across the country. He was electrocuted Jan. 24, 1989, in the same death chamber where Rolling will die by lethal injection.
In Gainesville, the wounds of the town and the victims' families will live on."I don't think it – Gainesville -- will ever be exactly the same," former Alachua State Attorney Rod Smith, who put Rolling on death row in 1994, said recently.
"There will be a special memory of the terror inflicted."The lives of five young college students were violently cut short by Rolling's rage.
Sonja Larson of Deerfield Beach. Christina Powell of Jacksonville. Christa Hoyt of Archer. Tracy Paules of Miami. Manuel Taboada of Carol City.
After the largest and costliest manhunt in Florida history, Rolling -- a man previously considered a common criminal -- would be exposed as one of the nation's most notorious serial killers.Rolling would be the 63rd inmate to be put to death since Florida resumed executions in 1979 and the third this year.
He would be the 259th since 1924, when the state took over the duty from individual counties.--
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report
Rolling faces execution for murders of 5 college students
STARKE, Fla. -- Danny Harold Rolling, the state's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, ate his last meal and met with his brother and spiritual adviser as he prepared to be executed Wednesday for the grisly hunting-knife slayings of five college students in 1990.
Rolling, 52, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Wednesday for the murders that threw the University of Florida into a panic as fall semester began in August 1990. Several victims' relatives plan to be in the execution chamber at Florida State Prison to watch.
Rolling was calm and cooperative ahead of the execution, Corrections Department spokesman Robby Cunningham said. He spent several hours Wednesday with his brother Kevin, and his brother's pastor Jim Wallingworth, officials said.
He was later moved to a cell a few feet from the death chamber, Cunningham told about 100 journalists outside the prison. Warden Randall Bryant was scheduled to read the death warrant listing Rolling's crimes and the reasons for his execution. Then Rolling would get a shower and a new suit and white dress shirt.
His final appeal was before the U.S. Supreme Court, where he was challenging the constitutionality of the chemicals used in Florida's execution procedure. But the high court has declined to intervene in two other Florida executions in which death row inmates used similar arguments.
The horror of Rolling's killings began when police officers found the bodies of the victims over a three-day period, one decapitated and posed, others mutilated and several sexually assaulted.
The spree touched off a massive manhunt, causing students to cower in fear and purchase weapons. Rolling was jailed for a supermarket robbery when investigators used DNA to link him to the killings months later.
Rolling pleaded guilty to the slayings in 1994, shocking the courtroom on the first day of his trial. "There are some things you just can't run from, this being one of those," Rolling told Circuit Judge Stan R. Morris, who accepted the pleas and found him guilty and later sentenced him to death.
He later told The Associated Press: "I do deserve to die, but do I want to die? No. I want to live. Life is difficult to give up."
The looming execution has reopened old wounds for some of the victims' families, including Dianna Hoyt, the stepmother of victim Christa Hoyt. She plans to be in the execution chamber.
"It is very hard for us to see someone else die," she said. "But, he deserves it."
Ricky Paules, the mother of Tracy Paules, will be joined by another daughter to watch: "If you see us crying, it is not for Rolling, but for Tracy."
The victims' families ran an advertisement Thursday in The Gainesville Sun, thanking the community for its support: "We hope you will remember August 1990 and the years that followed without any sense of community shame for what has happened here. You turned a blemish into a rose."
Rolling ate his last meal of lobster tail, butterfly shrimp, baked potato, strawberry cheesecake and sweet tea shortly before noon.
"He enjoyed his last meal. He ate every bite," Cunningham said.
Crowds of death penalty opponents and supporters were expected outside the prison, with possibly the largest turnout since Bundy's execution. He was suspected in the deaths and disappearances of 36 women across the country. He was electrocuted Jan. 24, 1989, in the same death chamber where Rolling will die.
That case was still fresh in the minds of many when Rolling's killings began the next year in roughly the same area as some of Bundy's.
The bodies of Sonja Larson, 18, and Christina Powell, 17, were found stabbed to death on a Sunday afternoon in 1990, in a town house just off the University of Florida campus. Hoyt, 18, whose decapitated head was left on a bookshelf, was found the next morning in her isolated duplex; and Paules and Manny Taboada, both 23, were discovered dead a day later at Gatorwood Apartments.
For months, a large task force of local, state and federal agents followed hundreds of leads and took blood samples from dozens of men. They did not know that Rolling was already behind bars in Marion County after robbing a grocery store.
Then authorities in Rolling's hometown of Shreveport, La., investigating a triple slaying that they believe he committed, suggested that police should check out the drifter and ex-con. The DNA left at the crime scenes in Gainesville matched genetic material police recovered from Rolling during some dental work.
Throughout the years, Rolling has insisted he was not as atrocious as many thought.
In a letter to the AP in 2002, Rolling wrote, "I assure you I am not a salivating ogre. Granted ... time's past; the dark era of long ago _ Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde did strike up and down the corridors of insanety."
Rolling, who often drew dark and sexual pictures, claimed he had good and bad multiple personalities. He blamed the murders on abuse he suffered as a child from his police officer father and his treatment in prison. He said he killed one person for every year he was behind bars.
He served a total of eight years in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi before the killings.
In his trips through north central Florida courts, Rolling twice sang gospel songs when he was sentenced. A tape of his own songs was found by investigators at a campsite in Gainesville where he stayed while committing the killings.
Rolling would be the 63rd inmate to be put to death since Florida resumed executions in 1979 and the third this year. He would be the 259th since 1924, when the state took over the duty from individual counties.
Rolling, 52, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Wednesday for the murders that threw the University of Florida into a panic as fall semester began in August 1990. Several victims' relatives plan to be in the execution chamber at Florida State Prison to watch.
Rolling was calm and cooperative ahead of the execution, Corrections Department spokesman Robby Cunningham said. He spent several hours Wednesday with his brother Kevin, and his brother's pastor Jim Wallingworth, officials said.
He was later moved to a cell a few feet from the death chamber, Cunningham told about 100 journalists outside the prison. Warden Randall Bryant was scheduled to read the death warrant listing Rolling's crimes and the reasons for his execution. Then Rolling would get a shower and a new suit and white dress shirt.
His final appeal was before the U.S. Supreme Court, where he was challenging the constitutionality of the chemicals used in Florida's execution procedure. But the high court has declined to intervene in two other Florida executions in which death row inmates used similar arguments.
The horror of Rolling's killings began when police officers found the bodies of the victims over a three-day period, one decapitated and posed, others mutilated and several sexually assaulted.
The spree touched off a massive manhunt, causing students to cower in fear and purchase weapons. Rolling was jailed for a supermarket robbery when investigators used DNA to link him to the killings months later.
Rolling pleaded guilty to the slayings in 1994, shocking the courtroom on the first day of his trial. "There are some things you just can't run from, this being one of those," Rolling told Circuit Judge Stan R. Morris, who accepted the pleas and found him guilty and later sentenced him to death.
He later told The Associated Press: "I do deserve to die, but do I want to die? No. I want to live. Life is difficult to give up."
The looming execution has reopened old wounds for some of the victims' families, including Dianna Hoyt, the stepmother of victim Christa Hoyt. She plans to be in the execution chamber.
"It is very hard for us to see someone else die," she said. "But, he deserves it."
Ricky Paules, the mother of Tracy Paules, will be joined by another daughter to watch: "If you see us crying, it is not for Rolling, but for Tracy."
The victims' families ran an advertisement Thursday in The Gainesville Sun, thanking the community for its support: "We hope you will remember August 1990 and the years that followed without any sense of community shame for what has happened here. You turned a blemish into a rose."
Rolling ate his last meal of lobster tail, butterfly shrimp, baked potato, strawberry cheesecake and sweet tea shortly before noon.
"He enjoyed his last meal. He ate every bite," Cunningham said.
Crowds of death penalty opponents and supporters were expected outside the prison, with possibly the largest turnout since Bundy's execution. He was suspected in the deaths and disappearances of 36 women across the country. He was electrocuted Jan. 24, 1989, in the same death chamber where Rolling will die.
That case was still fresh in the minds of many when Rolling's killings began the next year in roughly the same area as some of Bundy's.
The bodies of Sonja Larson, 18, and Christina Powell, 17, were found stabbed to death on a Sunday afternoon in 1990, in a town house just off the University of Florida campus. Hoyt, 18, whose decapitated head was left on a bookshelf, was found the next morning in her isolated duplex; and Paules and Manny Taboada, both 23, were discovered dead a day later at Gatorwood Apartments.
For months, a large task force of local, state and federal agents followed hundreds of leads and took blood samples from dozens of men. They did not know that Rolling was already behind bars in Marion County after robbing a grocery store.
Then authorities in Rolling's hometown of Shreveport, La., investigating a triple slaying that they believe he committed, suggested that police should check out the drifter and ex-con. The DNA left at the crime scenes in Gainesville matched genetic material police recovered from Rolling during some dental work.
Throughout the years, Rolling has insisted he was not as atrocious as many thought.
In a letter to the AP in 2002, Rolling wrote, "I assure you I am not a salivating ogre. Granted ... time's past; the dark era of long ago _ Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde did strike up and down the corridors of insanety."
Rolling, who often drew dark and sexual pictures, claimed he had good and bad multiple personalities. He blamed the murders on abuse he suffered as a child from his police officer father and his treatment in prison. He said he killed one person for every year he was behind bars.
He served a total of eight years in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi before the killings.
In his trips through north central Florida courts, Rolling twice sang gospel songs when he was sentenced. A tape of his own songs was found by investigators at a campsite in Gainesville where he stayed while committing the killings.
Rolling would be the 63rd inmate to be put to death since Florida resumed executions in 1979 and the third this year. He would be the 259th since 1924, when the state took over the duty from individual counties.
Protesters, media gather near prison for Rolling's execution
BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press
STARKE, Fla. - As serial killer Danny Rolling awaited execution Wednesday, the scene outside the Florida State Prison was eerily familiar to the evening more than 17 years ago when serial killer Ted Bundy died in Florida's electric chair.
More than 100 protesters gathered near dozens of death penalty supporters, curious onlookers and journalists on the barren cow pasture across from the prison where Rolling, 52, was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. Rolling was convicted of the 1990 hunting-knife slayings of five college students.
"They're doing a good thing," said Randy Hicks, a 35-year-old Lake Butler truck driver and former prison guard who occasionally watched over Rolling. "This guy deserves it. It's very overdue."
Death penalty opponents, who were cordoned off in a separate area by police tape, said the execution only served to provide Rolling additional attention. One group briefly held hands in a circle and sang quietly.
"The state of Florida is giving this psychopathic killer just what he wanted," said Mark Elliott of Clearwater, spokesman for Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "He will now enjoy celebrity status courtesy of a high profile state execution. Lock him up, throw away the key and let him die alone and unremembered."
Rolling terrorized the north central Florida town of Gainesville when he mutilated and murdered the college students - just 19 months after Bundy's execution in January of 1989.
Bundy, suspected in the deaths and disappearances of 36 women, was electrocuted in the same death chamber where Rolling will die.
Police ended a massive manhunt in the case after they discovered that DNA from Rolling, already jailed for a supermarket robbery, linked him to the killings.
Rolling pleaded guilty to the slayings in 1994, shocking the courtroom on the first day of his trial.
In a 2000 letter to The Associated Press, Rolling recalled the years he served in prison in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi before coming to Florida.
"A mangy dog gets more consideration than what I received," he wrote.
But Rolling added: "Any complaint I may have pales in comparison to the terrible wrong I inflicted upon good people. I stand in the shadow of their suffering. If it is to be mercy, then I shall be eternally grateful. If it to be the wrath of vengeance, then God grant me the strength to face what I must."
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/15847159.htm
Associated Press
STARKE, Fla. - As serial killer Danny Rolling awaited execution Wednesday, the scene outside the Florida State Prison was eerily familiar to the evening more than 17 years ago when serial killer Ted Bundy died in Florida's electric chair.
More than 100 protesters gathered near dozens of death penalty supporters, curious onlookers and journalists on the barren cow pasture across from the prison where Rolling, 52, was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. Rolling was convicted of the 1990 hunting-knife slayings of five college students.
"They're doing a good thing," said Randy Hicks, a 35-year-old Lake Butler truck driver and former prison guard who occasionally watched over Rolling. "This guy deserves it. It's very overdue."
Death penalty opponents, who were cordoned off in a separate area by police tape, said the execution only served to provide Rolling additional attention. One group briefly held hands in a circle and sang quietly.
"The state of Florida is giving this psychopathic killer just what he wanted," said Mark Elliott of Clearwater, spokesman for Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "He will now enjoy celebrity status courtesy of a high profile state execution. Lock him up, throw away the key and let him die alone and unremembered."
Rolling terrorized the north central Florida town of Gainesville when he mutilated and murdered the college students - just 19 months after Bundy's execution in January of 1989.
Bundy, suspected in the deaths and disappearances of 36 women, was electrocuted in the same death chamber where Rolling will die.
Police ended a massive manhunt in the case after they discovered that DNA from Rolling, already jailed for a supermarket robbery, linked him to the killings.
Rolling pleaded guilty to the slayings in 1994, shocking the courtroom on the first day of his trial.
In a 2000 letter to The Associated Press, Rolling recalled the years he served in prison in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi before coming to Florida.
"A mangy dog gets more consideration than what I received," he wrote.
But Rolling added: "Any complaint I may have pales in comparison to the terrible wrong I inflicted upon good people. I stand in the shadow of their suffering. If it is to be mercy, then I shall be eternally grateful. If it to be the wrath of vengeance, then God grant me the strength to face what I must."
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/15847159.htm
Prayer of Passage for Danny Rollings
Oh Goddess
There is great sadness
A cherished one has gone
Emptyness engulfs us
Loss languishes within
Help us bear this grief
Accompany their spirit
Comfort we who grieve
Let us rejoice in their life
May their essence be recorded
In the Great Book of Shadows
Renew our rememberance with joy
Blessed Be.
Carie Mendyk
There is great sadness
A cherished one has gone
Emptyness engulfs us
Loss languishes within
Help us bear this grief
Accompany their spirit
Comfort we who grieve
Let us rejoice in their life
May their essence be recorded
In the Great Book of Shadows
Renew our rememberance with joy
Blessed Be.
Carie Mendyk
Rolling will die, then what?
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/24/State/Rolling_will_die__the.shtml
Rolling will die, then what?
He’ll be the third inmate to die in 35 days, but that pace likely won’t continue.
By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
Published October 24, 2006
STARKE — Florida’s death chamber likely will claim its most infamous killer since Ted Bundy this evening with the execution of Danny Rolling, who murdered five Gainesville students 16 years ago.
Rolling’s death will cap a tumultuous two years for Florida’s death penalty, which has endured criticism from lawyers, politicians and the Florida Supreme Court. It was stalled for much of this year while a condemned inmate took an appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
After an 18-month hiatus, the state resumed executions this fall and Rolling will be the third inmate to die in five weeks. Not since four inmates were executed within nine days in 1998 has the state’s death penalty moved with such speed.
But will that pace continue? Will the state begin to effectively empty a death row that has swelled to 376 people while averaging less than three executions per year over the last decade?
The short answer: probably not.
“We always get these little flurries,” said Carolyn Snurkowski, a longtime death penalty lawyer for the state Attorney General’s Office.
“And (people say) it’s always the end of the death penalty or the beginning of a ton of (executions) going through. And I’ve never seen either of those things happen.”
Danny Rolling has spent 12 years on death row, about average for the 61 people executed in Florida.
Rolling raped, mutilated and posed some of the five victims he killed in Gainesville in 1990.
He later was arrested for robbing an Ocala supermarket. Police learned he was a suspect in a similar murder in Louisiana, then matched his DNA to the Gainesville crime scenes.
Rolling pleaded guilty to the murders, after which a jury unanimously voted for execution. Rolling did not have much grounds to appeal.
Still, even the thinnest of death row appeals take years. The cases are automatically reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court, and the condemned are afforded appeals to the federal courts as well.
While death penalty supporters have tried to limit these appeals, opponents point to one statistic to reinforce their importance: Twenty-two Florida death row inmates have been exonerated during the appeals process. That’s more than any other state.
Rolling’s appellate lawyer, Baya Harrison III, tried to follow the path of two other inmates who won stays this year because of issues surrounding lethal injection. But once those issues were resolved, both those inmates, Clarence Hill and Arthur Rutherford, were executed.
Harrison acknowledged Rolling has little fight left and likely will die tonight. He said Rolling not only has accepted that, but believes he deserves it.
Said Harrison: “He told me, 'I have kind of a relationship with my maker. But I don’t think even a merciful God is going to cut me some slack.’”
Rolling’s will be the most celebrated execution in years, but even the most high-profile executions can’t cure the death penalty’s ills.
The problem, many legal experts say, is that Florida’s death penalty law simply scoops up too many people, clogging the system.
For every Rolling, there are dozens of other killers who committed crimes that, though atrocious, don’t require the ultimate punishment, said Michael Mello, a University of Vermont law professor who worked as an appellate lawyer for Ted Bundy.
“We have this system in the first place because we want to kill the Bundys and kill the Danny Rollings,” he said.
“But lo and behold, we end up killing others.”
Unlike each of the other 37 states with the death penalty, Florida juries aren’t required to unanimously agree. Only a majority is required to vote for death.
In an opinion last year, the Florida Supreme Court urged lawmakers to change death penalty law so that only unanimous juries can sentence someone to death. Lawmakers didn’t listen.
This year, the American Bar Association issued a report that criticized Florida’s death penalty on many fronts, including the unanimous jury issue.
“The (Rolling) execution should not dissipate concerns over the major flaws in the system,” said Christopher Slobogin, a University of Florida law professor who led the team that issued the ABA report. “This is just a blip on the screen. It’s going to continue as business as usual with very few executions, partly because … there are legitimate concerns about who deserves to be put to death.”
Gov. Jeb Bush hasn’t signed any death warrants beyond Rolling’s, though he said Tuesday that he is reviewing a couple of other cases to see whether all the appeals have been exhausted, making them ready for execution.
If Rolling is executed tonight, his will be the 20th execution under Bush’s watch. That’s almost a third of the 62 executions since the state reinstalled the death penalty in 1979.
But a number of inmates gave up their appeals during the Bush administration and were executed voluntarily. In fact, six of the last 11 people executed in the state were volunteers.
For those who did not go voluntarily, the process often proves long and arduous. Bush blames the courts.
“I think the judiciary … in general have been slow to handle their part of this,” he said.
But defense lawyers say the system’s flaws — and lawmakers’ unwillingness to fix them — give them ammunition to muster their appeals.
“The problem isn’t lawyers throwing monkey wrenches, the problem is the death penalty itself,” said Martin McClain, who has represented more than 100 death row inmates. “The death penalty is a government program. And like any government program, reliability is an issue.”
Robert Batey, a professor at the Stetson University College of Law, said a number of issues — be it lethal injection protocol or the unanimous jury issue — will continue to slow the process down.
“I would never predict that anything with regard to the death penalty is going to be smooth,” Batey said.
“Undoubtedly, there will be other issues that come up.”
Times research staff contributed to this report.
Chris Tisch can be reached at tisch@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2359.
Rolling will die, then what?
He’ll be the third inmate to die in 35 days, but that pace likely won’t continue.
By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
Published October 24, 2006
STARKE — Florida’s death chamber likely will claim its most infamous killer since Ted Bundy this evening with the execution of Danny Rolling, who murdered five Gainesville students 16 years ago.
Rolling’s death will cap a tumultuous two years for Florida’s death penalty, which has endured criticism from lawyers, politicians and the Florida Supreme Court. It was stalled for much of this year while a condemned inmate took an appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
After an 18-month hiatus, the state resumed executions this fall and Rolling will be the third inmate to die in five weeks. Not since four inmates were executed within nine days in 1998 has the state’s death penalty moved with such speed.
But will that pace continue? Will the state begin to effectively empty a death row that has swelled to 376 people while averaging less than three executions per year over the last decade?
The short answer: probably not.
“We always get these little flurries,” said Carolyn Snurkowski, a longtime death penalty lawyer for the state Attorney General’s Office.
“And (people say) it’s always the end of the death penalty or the beginning of a ton of (executions) going through. And I’ve never seen either of those things happen.”
Danny Rolling has spent 12 years on death row, about average for the 61 people executed in Florida.
Rolling raped, mutilated and posed some of the five victims he killed in Gainesville in 1990.
He later was arrested for robbing an Ocala supermarket. Police learned he was a suspect in a similar murder in Louisiana, then matched his DNA to the Gainesville crime scenes.
Rolling pleaded guilty to the murders, after which a jury unanimously voted for execution. Rolling did not have much grounds to appeal.
Still, even the thinnest of death row appeals take years. The cases are automatically reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court, and the condemned are afforded appeals to the federal courts as well.
While death penalty supporters have tried to limit these appeals, opponents point to one statistic to reinforce their importance: Twenty-two Florida death row inmates have been exonerated during the appeals process. That’s more than any other state.
Rolling’s appellate lawyer, Baya Harrison III, tried to follow the path of two other inmates who won stays this year because of issues surrounding lethal injection. But once those issues were resolved, both those inmates, Clarence Hill and Arthur Rutherford, were executed.
Harrison acknowledged Rolling has little fight left and likely will die tonight. He said Rolling not only has accepted that, but believes he deserves it.
Said Harrison: “He told me, 'I have kind of a relationship with my maker. But I don’t think even a merciful God is going to cut me some slack.’”
Rolling’s will be the most celebrated execution in years, but even the most high-profile executions can’t cure the death penalty’s ills.
The problem, many legal experts say, is that Florida’s death penalty law simply scoops up too many people, clogging the system.
For every Rolling, there are dozens of other killers who committed crimes that, though atrocious, don’t require the ultimate punishment, said Michael Mello, a University of Vermont law professor who worked as an appellate lawyer for Ted Bundy.
“We have this system in the first place because we want to kill the Bundys and kill the Danny Rollings,” he said.
“But lo and behold, we end up killing others.”
Unlike each of the other 37 states with the death penalty, Florida juries aren’t required to unanimously agree. Only a majority is required to vote for death.
In an opinion last year, the Florida Supreme Court urged lawmakers to change death penalty law so that only unanimous juries can sentence someone to death. Lawmakers didn’t listen.
This year, the American Bar Association issued a report that criticized Florida’s death penalty on many fronts, including the unanimous jury issue.
“The (Rolling) execution should not dissipate concerns over the major flaws in the system,” said Christopher Slobogin, a University of Florida law professor who led the team that issued the ABA report. “This is just a blip on the screen. It’s going to continue as business as usual with very few executions, partly because … there are legitimate concerns about who deserves to be put to death.”
Gov. Jeb Bush hasn’t signed any death warrants beyond Rolling’s, though he said Tuesday that he is reviewing a couple of other cases to see whether all the appeals have been exhausted, making them ready for execution.
If Rolling is executed tonight, his will be the 20th execution under Bush’s watch. That’s almost a third of the 62 executions since the state reinstalled the death penalty in 1979.
But a number of inmates gave up their appeals during the Bush administration and were executed voluntarily. In fact, six of the last 11 people executed in the state were volunteers.
For those who did not go voluntarily, the process often proves long and arduous. Bush blames the courts.
“I think the judiciary … in general have been slow to handle their part of this,” he said.
But defense lawyers say the system’s flaws — and lawmakers’ unwillingness to fix them — give them ammunition to muster their appeals.
“The problem isn’t lawyers throwing monkey wrenches, the problem is the death penalty itself,” said Martin McClain, who has represented more than 100 death row inmates. “The death penalty is a government program. And like any government program, reliability is an issue.”
Robert Batey, a professor at the Stetson University College of Law, said a number of issues — be it lethal injection protocol or the unanimous jury issue — will continue to slow the process down.
“I would never predict that anything with regard to the death penalty is going to be smooth,” Batey said.
“Undoubtedly, there will be other issues that come up.”
Times research staff contributed to this report.
Chris Tisch can be reached at tisch@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2359.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Rolling 'calm' before execution for Gainesville serial killings
By RON WORD
Associated Press Writer
Danny Harold Rolling, the state's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, was "remarkably calm" as he awaited his execution for the grisly 1990 slayings of five college students in Gainesville, his attorney said Tuesday.
Rolling's lawyers filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay of execution. The Florida attorney general asked the court to reject Rolling's application.
Rolling, 52, of Shreveport, La., is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Wednesday for a reign of terror that paralyzed Gainesville as the University of Florida's fall semester was beginning.
"He was remarkably calm. He is a lot calmer than his lawyers are," said Baya Harrison, his appeals lawyer. He said Rolling told him: "I don't want to die, but it looks like I'm going to die."
His execution is reopening old wounds for some of the victims' families. Several relatives plan to watch the execution at Florida State Prison in Starke, including Diana Hoyt, the stepmother of Christa Hoyt, 18.
"This is a tough thing, but is a necessary thing to go through," she said. "This is the final thing we can do for Christa and for my late husband and her dad, Gary."
"It is very hard for us to see someone else die," she said. "But, he deserves it.
"Ricky Paules, the mother of 23-year-old victim Tracy Paules, will be joined by another daughter: "If you see us crying, it is not for Rolling, but for Tracy."
The students' bodies, some mutilated, posed and sexually assaulted, were found over a three-day period in August and September 1990. The killing spree touched off a massive manhunt, causing students to cower in fear and purchase weapons as the killer remained unidentified.
Rolling was jailed for a supermarket robbery when investigators used DNA to link him to the killings months later.
When he was finally scheduled to go on trial in 1994, he shocked the courtroom by pleading guilty to the five slayings."There are some things you just can't run from, this being one of those," Rolling told Circuit Judge Stan R. Morris, who accepted the pleas and found him guilty.
Rolling's remaining appeal contends that the chemicals used in Florida's execution process can cause severe pain. It is before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has turned down the same arguments in two other Florida executions this fall.
Harrison does not believe he will be able to halt the execution.
"It's tough, we are down to the last effort," Harrison said. "I'm not hopeful, to tell you the truth."
Crowds are expected outside the prison Wednesday, with possibly the largest turnout since Bundy's execution. He was suspected in the deaths and disappearances of 36 women across the country. He was electrocuted Jan. 24, 1989, in the same death chamber where Rolling will die by lethal injection.
That case was still fresh in the minds of many when Rolling's killings began the next year in roughly the same area as some of Bundy's.
Sonja Larson, 18, and Christina Powell, 17, were stabbed to death on a Sunday afternoon in 1990, in a townhouse just off the University of Florida campus. Christa Hoyt, who had been decapitated, was found the next morning in her isolated duplex; and Tracy Paules and Manny Taboada, 23, were discovered dead a day later at Gatorwood Apartments.
Authorities in Rolling's hometown of Shreveport, La., investigating a triple slaying that they believe he committed later suggested to a task force that it should check out the drifter and ex-con. The DNA left at the crime scenes in Gainesville matched genetic material police recovered from Rolling during some dental work.
Throughout the years, Rolling has insisted he was not as atrocious as many thought.
In a letter to The Associated Press in 2002, Rolling wrote, "I assure you I am not a salivating ogre. Granted ... time's past; the dark era of long ago - Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hyde did strike up & down the corridors of insanety."
Rolling claimed he had good and bad multiple personalities. He blamed the murders on abuse he suffered as a child from his police officer father and his treatment in prison. He said he killed one person for every year he was behind bars. He served a total of eight years in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi before the killings.
Associated Press Writer
Danny Harold Rolling, the state's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, was "remarkably calm" as he awaited his execution for the grisly 1990 slayings of five college students in Gainesville, his attorney said Tuesday.
Rolling's lawyers filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay of execution. The Florida attorney general asked the court to reject Rolling's application.
Rolling, 52, of Shreveport, La., is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Wednesday for a reign of terror that paralyzed Gainesville as the University of Florida's fall semester was beginning.
"He was remarkably calm. He is a lot calmer than his lawyers are," said Baya Harrison, his appeals lawyer. He said Rolling told him: "I don't want to die, but it looks like I'm going to die."
His execution is reopening old wounds for some of the victims' families. Several relatives plan to watch the execution at Florida State Prison in Starke, including Diana Hoyt, the stepmother of Christa Hoyt, 18.
"This is a tough thing, but is a necessary thing to go through," she said. "This is the final thing we can do for Christa and for my late husband and her dad, Gary."
"It is very hard for us to see someone else die," she said. "But, he deserves it.
"Ricky Paules, the mother of 23-year-old victim Tracy Paules, will be joined by another daughter: "If you see us crying, it is not for Rolling, but for Tracy."
The students' bodies, some mutilated, posed and sexually assaulted, were found over a three-day period in August and September 1990. The killing spree touched off a massive manhunt, causing students to cower in fear and purchase weapons as the killer remained unidentified.
Rolling was jailed for a supermarket robbery when investigators used DNA to link him to the killings months later.
When he was finally scheduled to go on trial in 1994, he shocked the courtroom by pleading guilty to the five slayings."There are some things you just can't run from, this being one of those," Rolling told Circuit Judge Stan R. Morris, who accepted the pleas and found him guilty.
Rolling's remaining appeal contends that the chemicals used in Florida's execution process can cause severe pain. It is before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has turned down the same arguments in two other Florida executions this fall.
Harrison does not believe he will be able to halt the execution.
"It's tough, we are down to the last effort," Harrison said. "I'm not hopeful, to tell you the truth."
Crowds are expected outside the prison Wednesday, with possibly the largest turnout since Bundy's execution. He was suspected in the deaths and disappearances of 36 women across the country. He was electrocuted Jan. 24, 1989, in the same death chamber where Rolling will die by lethal injection.
That case was still fresh in the minds of many when Rolling's killings began the next year in roughly the same area as some of Bundy's.
Sonja Larson, 18, and Christina Powell, 17, were stabbed to death on a Sunday afternoon in 1990, in a townhouse just off the University of Florida campus. Christa Hoyt, who had been decapitated, was found the next morning in her isolated duplex; and Tracy Paules and Manny Taboada, 23, were discovered dead a day later at Gatorwood Apartments.
Authorities in Rolling's hometown of Shreveport, La., investigating a triple slaying that they believe he committed later suggested to a task force that it should check out the drifter and ex-con. The DNA left at the crime scenes in Gainesville matched genetic material police recovered from Rolling during some dental work.
Throughout the years, Rolling has insisted he was not as atrocious as many thought.
In a letter to The Associated Press in 2002, Rolling wrote, "I assure you I am not a salivating ogre. Granted ... time's past; the dark era of long ago - Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hyde did strike up & down the corridors of insanety."
Rolling claimed he had good and bad multiple personalities. He blamed the murders on abuse he suffered as a child from his police officer father and his treatment in prison. He said he killed one person for every year he was behind bars. He served a total of eight years in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi before the killings.
Victim's Brother Talks About Execution Of Mass Murderer
POSTED: 4:16 pm EDT October 24, 2006
UPDATED: 4:50 pm EDT October 24, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. -- An Orlando man's sister was one of five people killed in the Gainesville murders. Channel 9 talked to her brother Tuesday, the day before Danny Rolling is set to be executed.
The man who murdered five University of Florida students will be executed Wednesday. Jim Larson, the brother of one of Danny Rolling's victims, said his death is long overdue.
The families of all five students are meeting in Gainesville on Wednesday for lunch together. Then they'll make the trip to Florida state prison at Starke.
Together, the Larsons are getting through it. Their family has been shattered in the most heart-wrenching, nightmarish way. They live with mental pictures that most of us cannot comprehend. They black them out by looking at photographs of wonderful memories.
Jim Larson is not looking forward to what he'll see Wednesday, but he'll be there for his sister and for his mother.
"I don't think it's gonna do anything for me, to be honest with you. It might put one more ugly picture in my head. I don't think it's gonna help," he said.
Sonja Larson was only 18 when she was brutally murdered. Because of her love of children, she was planning to become a teacher through her studies at the University of Florida. Before her first class, she and her roommate were found dead in their apartment, not just murdered, but bound, gagged, raped and mutilated.
"Maybe when I get on the other side of this, something will change in me. But I don't imagine so. I think that the images are there and it's just something I have to deal with now," Larson said. "I miss my sister."
Larson went on with his wedding four months after his sister's murder.
"She was supposed to be in the wedding. There was a spot for her there we left open," he said. "I remember the honeymoon being good. I don't think I thought about it too much, but it was there, I'm sure."
Several years later, his wife Carla was kidnapped and murdered. He said he doesn't cry much these days. His daughter Jessica keeps him going, day to day, helping him take care of things when he can't manage.
"I'll be happy when this is all over, when all the families can pick up the pieces and move on," he said.
But Larson will probably be faced with it all over again some day if his wife's killer, death row inmate John Huggins, is ever put to death. Larson said, depending on how it goes Wednesday, he might just stay home next time.
Rolling, the state's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, awaits his execution for the 1990 slayings of five college students in Gainesville. The students' bodies, some mutilated, posed and sexually assaulted, were found over a three-day period in August and September 1990.
Rolling was jailed for a supermarket robbery when investigators used DNA to link him to the killings months later. When he was finally scheduled to go on trial in 1994, he pleaded guilty to the five slayings.
UPDATED: 4:50 pm EDT October 24, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. -- An Orlando man's sister was one of five people killed in the Gainesville murders. Channel 9 talked to her brother Tuesday, the day before Danny Rolling is set to be executed.
The man who murdered five University of Florida students will be executed Wednesday. Jim Larson, the brother of one of Danny Rolling's victims, said his death is long overdue.
The families of all five students are meeting in Gainesville on Wednesday for lunch together. Then they'll make the trip to Florida state prison at Starke.
Together, the Larsons are getting through it. Their family has been shattered in the most heart-wrenching, nightmarish way. They live with mental pictures that most of us cannot comprehend. They black them out by looking at photographs of wonderful memories.
Jim Larson is not looking forward to what he'll see Wednesday, but he'll be there for his sister and for his mother.
"I don't think it's gonna do anything for me, to be honest with you. It might put one more ugly picture in my head. I don't think it's gonna help," he said.
Sonja Larson was only 18 when she was brutally murdered. Because of her love of children, she was planning to become a teacher through her studies at the University of Florida. Before her first class, she and her roommate were found dead in their apartment, not just murdered, but bound, gagged, raped and mutilated.
"Maybe when I get on the other side of this, something will change in me. But I don't imagine so. I think that the images are there and it's just something I have to deal with now," Larson said. "I miss my sister."
Larson went on with his wedding four months after his sister's murder.
"She was supposed to be in the wedding. There was a spot for her there we left open," he said. "I remember the honeymoon being good. I don't think I thought about it too much, but it was there, I'm sure."
Several years later, his wife Carla was kidnapped and murdered. He said he doesn't cry much these days. His daughter Jessica keeps him going, day to day, helping him take care of things when he can't manage.
"I'll be happy when this is all over, when all the families can pick up the pieces and move on," he said.
But Larson will probably be faced with it all over again some day if his wife's killer, death row inmate John Huggins, is ever put to death. Larson said, depending on how it goes Wednesday, he might just stay home next time.
Rolling, the state's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, awaits his execution for the 1990 slayings of five college students in Gainesville. The students' bodies, some mutilated, posed and sexually assaulted, were found over a three-day period in August and September 1990.
Rolling was jailed for a supermarket robbery when investigators used DNA to link him to the killings months later. When he was finally scheduled to go on trial in 1994, he pleaded guilty to the five slayings.
Rolling a Day Away From Death
Convicted killer Danny Rolling is reported to be calm less than 24 hours from his execution for the 1990 murders of five college students.
Rolling is scheduled to die tomorrow night at 6, at the Florida State Prison in Starke.
"I don’t want to die, but it looks like I’m going to die," Rolling said to his attorney.
Rolling has a last appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. He contends the chemicals used in Florida’s execution process cause severe pain.
He apparently spared his victims no pain. Some of the students he is accused of killing were mutilated, posed and sexually assaulted. He was linked to the serial killings after a supermarket robbery. Detectives used D-N-A to charge him in the murders months later.
In the next 24 hours, the prison will serve Rolling the final meal he requests.
Procedure calls for a visit from the warden and chaplain, who remain on site until after the execution. Five witnesses will attend the execution, among them Sarasota anchorwoman Linda Carson, the mother of CBS47 and FOX30 reporter Cathi Carson. Rolling has written letters to Mrs. Carson and she has covered his appeals cases for many years.
In Gainesville, U.F. students remember Rolling’s victims. A memorial to all five of those he killed still stands.
Rolling is scheduled to die tomorrow night at 6, at the Florida State Prison in Starke.
"I don’t want to die, but it looks like I’m going to die," Rolling said to his attorney.
Rolling has a last appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. He contends the chemicals used in Florida’s execution process cause severe pain.
He apparently spared his victims no pain. Some of the students he is accused of killing were mutilated, posed and sexually assaulted. He was linked to the serial killings after a supermarket robbery. Detectives used D-N-A to charge him in the murders months later.
In the next 24 hours, the prison will serve Rolling the final meal he requests.
Procedure calls for a visit from the warden and chaplain, who remain on site until after the execution. Five witnesses will attend the execution, among them Sarasota anchorwoman Linda Carson, the mother of CBS47 and FOX30 reporter Cathi Carson. Rolling has written letters to Mrs. Carson and she has covered his appeals cases for many years.
In Gainesville, U.F. students remember Rolling’s victims. A memorial to all five of those he killed still stands.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Families brace for Rolling's death
By LISE FISHER
Sun staff writer
Last month, the families of five slain college students got the news - convicted killer Danny Rolling's death warrant had been signed.
Some had sat through Rolling's sentencing 12 years ago, listening to the gruesome details of their loved ones' final moments. Year after year they politely and repeatedly answered questions from friends, the curious and the media, about the case, their relatives and Rolling's appeals even while trying to avoid speaking of him or saying his name. And, throughout it all, they wondered when and, sometimes, if the legal process that seemed to drag on and on would ever end.
Yet, while they say it is time, Rolling's pending execution at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Florida State Prison has brought even more emotion and another painful obstacle for the families to overcome.
"I'm at the beginning almost again where I could just start crying at the drop of a hat," said Dianna Hoyt, 62, Christa Hoyt's stepmother.
Officers found the body of the 18-year-old Newberry High School graduate at her Gainesville apartment on Aug. 27, 1990. Rolling had broken into her home and lain in wait for her to return.
In 1994, Rolling pleaded guilty to killing Christa Hoyt and four other Gainesville college students - Sonja Larson, 18, of Deerfield Beach, Christina Powell, 17, of Jacksonville, Manuel "Manny" Taboada, 23, of Carol City, and Tracy Paules, 23, of Miami - in August 1990.
Louisiana authorities also say Rolling was their only suspect in the 1989 stabbing deaths of three Shreveport residents, Julie Grissom, 24, her nephew Sean Grissom, 8, and her father, Tom Grissom, 55.
"There's nothing that is ever going to bring closure to it. Nothing will ever make me get over Christa's death," Dianna Hoyt said. "I guess I just want it to be over with and then just try to start all over again."
She said she doesn't hate Rolling, and angry doesn't capture her feelings either. "It's that he did a wrong. The other thing is it is the law of the land," she explained about Rolling's execution.
Carrying out his death sentence will give Dianna Hoyt one thing.
"It brings a peace of mind that he can no longer visualize these monstrous works and think about them again and get any type of joy or satisfaction out of them," she said. "I think of his mind as a videotape and it needs to be burned. It just needs to be destroyed."
While Rolling's life has continued in prison, he has outlived relatives of the students he killed.
Christa Hoyt's father, Gary Hoyt, died in 2000 at the age of 63. Jim Larson, Sonja Larson's father, died of colon cancer in 1996 when he was 67.
His wife, Ada Larson, 68, believes the stress and sorrow over their daughter's death hastened her husband's demise.
At first, Ada Larson said she didn't want to attend Rolling's execution. But now she thinks she should "see it through," for her daughter. "I'm certainly not joyful or anything. I thought it's about time. It's past time," she said.
She just wishes her husband could have been there with her.
All of the families of Rolling's victims plan to have relatives at the prison when he is executed. Some have traveled from out-of-state. Some will be witnesses. Prison officials also have said that others, relatives who do not want to watch the execution but want to be at the prison, will be provided with an area where they can gather and be together.
The unusually high number of relatives of Rolling's victims who want to witness the execution has posed a problem for the prison system.
A corrections spokeswoman last week said that the prison system is working to accommodate all of the families, including relatives in the Louisiana case, as they would do at any execution. She would not provide details about how many or who are listed as witnesses.
But some relatives said they have been told each family could only have a limited number of witnesses. One area law enforcement source also said he was told that extra seats may be added.
A list of witnesses, among them victims' family members, government and legal representatives and media, is set before each execution. At most recent executions, there were more seats than witnesses in the room.
Tracy Paules' sister Laurie Lahey, 42, said she plans to witness the execution.
"I'm not looking forward to it. I have to do it for my sister. It's the last thing I can do for her," Lahey said. There won't be closure. But, she said, "Justice will be served. We don't have to know that he's around anymore."
Lahey said there won't be the paperwork the families have received every time there's a new development in the case or another Rolling appeal. "The annoyance of him will be gone too," she said.
One member of the families who has regularly spoken about the case won't witness the execution. Mario Taboada, 45, Manuel Taboada's brother, said he will come to Gainesville this week but others from his family will be witnesses.
"I asked myself the question, 'Would any good come from me witnessing the execution,' and I really could not come up with an answer," he said.
He also said he doesn't want to hear what Rolling has to say in his final statement.An inmate set for execution is allowed to make a final statement in the execution chamber in front of prison officials and witnesses before the death sentence is carried out.
"I don't want to subject myself to any cynicism or sarcastic remarks that he may make," Mario Taboada said. "Sometimes the best way to get back at somebody is to ignore them."
Lise Fisher can be reached at 374-5092 or fisherl@gvillesun.com.
Sun staff writer
Last month, the families of five slain college students got the news - convicted killer Danny Rolling's death warrant had been signed.
Some had sat through Rolling's sentencing 12 years ago, listening to the gruesome details of their loved ones' final moments. Year after year they politely and repeatedly answered questions from friends, the curious and the media, about the case, their relatives and Rolling's appeals even while trying to avoid speaking of him or saying his name. And, throughout it all, they wondered when and, sometimes, if the legal process that seemed to drag on and on would ever end.
Yet, while they say it is time, Rolling's pending execution at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Florida State Prison has brought even more emotion and another painful obstacle for the families to overcome.
"I'm at the beginning almost again where I could just start crying at the drop of a hat," said Dianna Hoyt, 62, Christa Hoyt's stepmother.
Officers found the body of the 18-year-old Newberry High School graduate at her Gainesville apartment on Aug. 27, 1990. Rolling had broken into her home and lain in wait for her to return.
In 1994, Rolling pleaded guilty to killing Christa Hoyt and four other Gainesville college students - Sonja Larson, 18, of Deerfield Beach, Christina Powell, 17, of Jacksonville, Manuel "Manny" Taboada, 23, of Carol City, and Tracy Paules, 23, of Miami - in August 1990.
Louisiana authorities also say Rolling was their only suspect in the 1989 stabbing deaths of three Shreveport residents, Julie Grissom, 24, her nephew Sean Grissom, 8, and her father, Tom Grissom, 55.
"There's nothing that is ever going to bring closure to it. Nothing will ever make me get over Christa's death," Dianna Hoyt said. "I guess I just want it to be over with and then just try to start all over again."
She said she doesn't hate Rolling, and angry doesn't capture her feelings either. "It's that he did a wrong. The other thing is it is the law of the land," she explained about Rolling's execution.
Carrying out his death sentence will give Dianna Hoyt one thing.
"It brings a peace of mind that he can no longer visualize these monstrous works and think about them again and get any type of joy or satisfaction out of them," she said. "I think of his mind as a videotape and it needs to be burned. It just needs to be destroyed."
While Rolling's life has continued in prison, he has outlived relatives of the students he killed.
Christa Hoyt's father, Gary Hoyt, died in 2000 at the age of 63. Jim Larson, Sonja Larson's father, died of colon cancer in 1996 when he was 67.
His wife, Ada Larson, 68, believes the stress and sorrow over their daughter's death hastened her husband's demise.
At first, Ada Larson said she didn't want to attend Rolling's execution. But now she thinks she should "see it through," for her daughter. "I'm certainly not joyful or anything. I thought it's about time. It's past time," she said.
She just wishes her husband could have been there with her.
All of the families of Rolling's victims plan to have relatives at the prison when he is executed. Some have traveled from out-of-state. Some will be witnesses. Prison officials also have said that others, relatives who do not want to watch the execution but want to be at the prison, will be provided with an area where they can gather and be together.
The unusually high number of relatives of Rolling's victims who want to witness the execution has posed a problem for the prison system.
A corrections spokeswoman last week said that the prison system is working to accommodate all of the families, including relatives in the Louisiana case, as they would do at any execution. She would not provide details about how many or who are listed as witnesses.
But some relatives said they have been told each family could only have a limited number of witnesses. One area law enforcement source also said he was told that extra seats may be added.
A list of witnesses, among them victims' family members, government and legal representatives and media, is set before each execution. At most recent executions, there were more seats than witnesses in the room.
Tracy Paules' sister Laurie Lahey, 42, said she plans to witness the execution.
"I'm not looking forward to it. I have to do it for my sister. It's the last thing I can do for her," Lahey said. There won't be closure. But, she said, "Justice will be served. We don't have to know that he's around anymore."
Lahey said there won't be the paperwork the families have received every time there's a new development in the case or another Rolling appeal. "The annoyance of him will be gone too," she said.
One member of the families who has regularly spoken about the case won't witness the execution. Mario Taboada, 45, Manuel Taboada's brother, said he will come to Gainesville this week but others from his family will be witnesses.
"I asked myself the question, 'Would any good come from me witnessing the execution,' and I really could not come up with an answer," he said.
He also said he doesn't want to hear what Rolling has to say in his final statement.An inmate set for execution is allowed to make a final statement in the execution chamber in front of prison officials and witnesses before the death sentence is carried out.
"I don't want to subject myself to any cynicism or sarcastic remarks that he may make," Mario Taboada said. "Sometimes the best way to get back at somebody is to ignore them."
Lise Fisher can be reached at 374-5092 or fisherl@gvillesun.com.
Florida Supreme Court order - Danny Rolling
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/FSCorder.htm
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-19-2006_OrderDenyingPetition.pdf
in PDF
Supreme Court of Florida
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2006
CASE NO.: SC06-2041
DANNY HAROLD ROLLING vs. JAMES R. MCDONOUGH,
ETC., ET AL.
_______________________________________________________________
Petitioner(s) Respondent(s)
Danny Harold Rolling, who is under a pending death warrant with his execution
scheduled for October 25, 2006, has filed a Petition Seeking to Invoke the Court's All
Writs Jurisdiction.
We recently addressed the same claim now asserted by Rolling in
Rutherford v. Crist, Case No. SC06-2023 and denied relief. We find no basis for
distinguishing our decision in Rutherford, and accordingly, Rolling's petition is hereby
denied. No motion for rehearing will be allowed.
It is so ordered.
LEWIS, C.J., and WELLS, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, QUINCE, CANTERO and
BELL, JJ., concur.
A True Copy
Test:
kb
Served:
ROSA H. CARSON
CLYDE M. TAYLOR, JR.
BAYA HARRISON, III
CAROLYN M. SNURKOWSKI
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-19-2006_OrderDenyingPetition.pdf
in PDF
Supreme Court of Florida
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2006
CASE NO.: SC06-2041
DANNY HAROLD ROLLING vs. JAMES R. MCDONOUGH,
ETC., ET AL.
_______________________________________________________________
Petitioner(s) Respondent(s)
Danny Harold Rolling, who is under a pending death warrant with his execution
scheduled for October 25, 2006, has filed a Petition Seeking to Invoke the Court's All
Writs Jurisdiction.
We recently addressed the same claim now asserted by Rolling in
Rutherford v. Crist, Case No. SC06-2023 and denied relief. We find no basis for
distinguishing our decision in Rutherford, and accordingly, Rolling's petition is hereby
denied. No motion for rehearing will be allowed.
It is so ordered.
LEWIS, C.J., and WELLS, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, QUINCE, CANTERO and
BELL, JJ., concur.
A True Copy
Test:
kb
Served:
ROSA H. CARSON
CLYDE M. TAYLOR, JR.
BAYA HARRISON, III
CAROLYN M. SNURKOWSKI
PETITION SEEKING TO INVOKE THE COURT’S ALL WRITS JURISDICTION - Danny Rolling
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/petition.htm
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-19-2006_RollingPetition.pdf - PDF
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
CASE NO. SC06-______
DANNY HAROLD ROLLING,
Petitioner,
v.
JAMES R. MCDONOUGH,
Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, and CHARLES J. CRIST, Attorney
General of Florida,
Respondents.
PETITION SEEKING TO INVOKE THE COURT’S ALL WRITS
JURISDICTION, WITH APPENDIX
Baya Harrison, Esq. Clyde M. Taylor, Jr., Esq.
Florida Bar No. 099568 Fla. Bar No. 129747
310 North Jefferson St. 119 East Park Avenue
Monticello, FL 32344 Tallahassee, FL 32301
Tel: 850. 997.8111 Tel: 850.224.1191
FX: 850. 997.5852 FX: 850.224.0584
Co-counsel for Petitioner Co-counsel for Petitioner
2
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-19-2006_RollingPetition.pdf - PDF
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
CASE NO. SC06-______
DANNY HAROLD ROLLING,
Petitioner,
v.
JAMES R. MCDONOUGH,
Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, and CHARLES J. CRIST, Attorney
General of Florida,
Respondents.
PETITION SEEKING TO INVOKE THE COURT’S ALL WRITS
JURISDICTION, WITH APPENDIX
Baya Harrison, Esq. Clyde M. Taylor, Jr., Esq.
Florida Bar No. 099568 Fla. Bar No. 129747
310 North Jefferson St. 119 East Park Avenue
Monticello, FL 32344 Tallahassee, FL 32301
Tel: 850. 997.8111 Tel: 850.224.1191
FX: 850. 997.5852 FX: 850.224.0584
Co-counsel for Petitioner Co-counsel for Petitioner
2
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
Florida Supreme Court opinion in Danny Rolling
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/FSCopinion.htm
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-18-2006_Opinion.pdf in PDF
Supreme Court of Florida
____________
No. SC06-1966
____________
DANNY HAROLD ROLLING,
Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
[October 18, 2006]
PER CURIAM.
Danny Harold Rolling, a prisoner under sentence of death and an active
death warrant, appeals the circuit court’s order denying without an evidentiary
hearing his successive motion for postconviction relief. We have jurisdiction. See
art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the circuit
court’s order.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The execution of Danny Harold Rolling is set for October 25, 2006. The
factual background and procedural history of this case are detailed in this Court’s
opinion on Rolling’s direct appeal. See Rolling v. State, 695 So. 2d 278, 281-83
- 2 -
(Fla. 1997). After initially pleading not guilty, on February 15, 1994, the day
Rolling’s trial was scheduled to begin, he pled guilty to five counts of first-degree
murder, three counts of sexual battery, and three counts of armed burglary of a
dwelling with a battery. Id. at 282. “A penalty phase proceeding was held, and the
jury recommended that Rolling be sentenced to death for each murder by a vote of
twelve to zero. The trial court followed the jury’s advisory recommendation and
sentenced Rolling to death for each homicide . . . .” Id.
This Court affirmed
Rolling’s sentences of death,1 id. at 278, and the United States Supreme Court
denied his petition for writ of certiorari. Rolling v. Florida, 522 U.S. 984 (1997).
Rolling first filed a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion for
postconviction relief in November 1998, and filed an amended motion in April
1. On direct appeal, Rolling raised the following six claims of error: (1) the
trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a change of venue and
thereby violated his Sixth Amendment right to be fairly tried by an impartial jury
because pervasive and prejudicial pretrial publicity so infected the Gainesville and
Alachua County community that seating an impartial jury there was patently
impossible; (2) the trial court erred in denying Rolling’s motion to suppress his
statements which were obtained in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to
counsel; (3) the trial court erred in denying Rolling’s motion to sever and conduct
three separate sentencing proceedings; (4) the trial court erred in denying Rolling’s
motion to suppress physical evidence seized from his tent because the warrantless
search and seizure violated his reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth
Amendment; (5) the trial court erred in finding as an aggravating circumstance that
the homicide of Sonya Larson was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; and
finally (6) the trial court erred by giving an invalid and unconstitutional jury
instruction on the heinous, atrocious, or cruel aggravating circumstance.
- 3 -
1999, raising two claims.2 After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the trial court
denied relief, and this Court affirmed. Rolling v. State, 825 So. 2d 293, 294 (Fla.
2002).
Thereafter, Rolling sought federal habeas relief in the United States District
Court for the Northern District of Florida. The district court denied relief on July
1, 2005, and Rolling appealed. On February 9, 2006, the Eleventh Circuit issued
an opinion affirming the district court’s denial of Rolling’s petition for a writ of
habeas corpus. Rolling v. Crosby, 438 F.3d 1296, 1298 (11th Cir. 2006). The
United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on June 26, 2006. Rolling v.
McDonough, 126 S. Ct. 2943 (2006).
On September 22, 2006, Governor Jeb Bush signed a death warrant
authorizing Rolling’s execution. In response to the signing of the death warrant,
Rolling filed his second 3.851 motion on October 4, 2006, which raised four
claims.3 The State filed a response on October 6, 2006. On October 9, 2006, the
2. The claims were as follows: (1) ineffectiveness of trial counsel regarding
change of venue, and (2) ineffectiveness of trial counsel for failing to challenge
three particular jurors during voir dire.
3. The claims were as follows: (1) access to the files and records pertaining
to Rolling’s case in the possession of certain state agencies has been withheld in
violation of chapter 119, Florida Statutes, the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments
to the United States Constitution, and articles 1, 9, and 17 of the Florida
Constitution; (2) the existing procedure that the State of Florida utilizes for lethal
injection violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as it
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment; (3) the administration of pancuronium
bromide violates Rolling’s First Amendment right to free speech; and (4) newly
discovered empirical evidence demonstrates that Rolling’s conviction and sentence
- 4 -
trial court entered its order summarily denying all claims raised in the successive
motion. This appeal follows.
LETHAL INJECTION
Rolling first argues that the trial court erred in denying Rolling’s claim that
Florida’s method of execution by lethal injection violates Rolling’s right to be free
of cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of
the United States Constitution, and his right to free speech as guaranteed by the
First Amendment. Rolling also argues that the trial court erred in denying
Rolling’s motion to obtain public records from the Florida Department of
Corrections and the Medical Examiner for the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida
pertaining to autopsy and toxicology reports of persons executed in Florida by
lethal injection and protocols used in the lethal injection process.
This Court has
explained:
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850(d) provides that a
defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on postconviction
claims for relief unless “the motion, files, and records in the case
conclusively show that the movant is entitled to no relief.” Florida
Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851(f)(5)(B) applies the same standard
to successive postconviction motions in capital cases. In reviewing a
trial court’s summary denial of postconviction relief without an
evidentiary hearing, this Court “must accept all allegations in the
motion as true to the extent they are not conclusively rebutted by the
record.” Hodges v. State, 885 So. 2d 338, 355 (Fla. 2004) (quoting
Gaskin v. State, 737 So. 2d 509, 516 (Fla. 1999)). “To uphold the
of death constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and
Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
- 5 -
trial court’s summary denial of claims raised in a 3.850 motion, the
claims must be either facially invalid or conclusively refuted by the
record.” McLin v. State, 827 So. 2d 948, 954 (Fla. 2002) (quoting
Foster v. Moore, 810 So. 2d 910, 914 (Fla. 2002)).
Rutherford v. State, 926 So. 2d 1100, 1108 (Fla.), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 1191
(2006).
We find no error by the trial court under this standard.
Cruel and Unusual Punishment
In his first claim, Rolling argues that a research letter published in April
2005 in The Lancet presents new scientific evidence that Florida’s procedure for
carrying out lethal injection may subject the inmate to unnecessary pain. See
Leonidas G. Koniaris et al., Inadequate Anaesthesia in Lethal Injection for
Execution, 365 Lancet 1412 (2005). He supports this claim with an affidavit from
one of the study’s authors, Dr. David A. Lubarsky, asserting that Florida’s
procedure is substantially similar to the procedures used in the other states
evaluated in the study. Rolling ultimately asserts that the information in this study
is new information not previously available to this Court when it decided Sims v.
State, 754 So. 2d 657 (Fla. 2000).
The trial court summarily denied this claim and found that Rolling was not
entitled to an evidentiary hearing on whether lethal injection, as administered in
Florida, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, stating that this Court
determined in Sims, that lethal injection as administered by the Department of
Corrections did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. In Hill v. State, 921
- 6 -
So. 2d 579 (Fla.), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 1441 (2006), this Court addressed the
same claim now asserted by Rolling and upheld the trial court’s summary denial of
the claim. We again rejected such a claim in Rutherford v. State, 926 So. 2d at
1113-14. As in those cases, we affirm the trial court’s summary denial of this
claim in Rolling’s case.
First Amendment Claim
Rolling next asserts that the circuit court erred in denying an evidentiary
hearing on his claim that the administration of pancuronium bromide violates his
free speech rights as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution. Specifically, Rolling contends that the administration of
pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles, violates his right to free
speech because it renders him unable to communicate any feeling of pain that may
result if the execution procedure is carried out improperly. Thus, Rolling’s claim
is inextricably intertwined with his claim that there is a possibility that the first
chemical, sodium pentothal, will not be administered properly, leaving him wholly
or partially conscious.
The circuit court summarily denied this claim. In Rutherford, this Court
addressed the same claim and found that, because the defendant could not
demonstrate that the chemicals involved in lethal injection would be administered
improperly in his case, the defendant was not entitled to relief on this claim. 926
- 7 -
So. 2d at 1114-15. Therefore, as in Rutherford, we find Rolling’s identical First
Amendment claim to be without merit and find no error in the trial court’s denial
applying our decision in Rutherford.
Public Records Claim
Rolling next argues that the circuit court erred in denying an evidentiary
hearing on his claims arising from his public records requests. On September 28,
2006, Rolling filed a motion for production of additional public records to the
Florida Medical Examiner’s Office of the Eighth Circuit of Florida and the
Department of Corrections, and a motion for serological samples and for
independent testing to the trial court.
Rolling requested autopsy reports and
toxicology studies performed on the sixteen individuals executed by lethal
injection from 2000 to 2005 and all documents related to the Department of
Corrections’ administration of lethal injection and Rolling’s own medical records.
He also requested to have independent testing of post-execution blood samples of
Arthur Rutherford, scheduled for execution on October 18, 2006. The State filed
responses opposing each of these requests.
On October 4, 2006, the trial court
entered an order denying Rolling’s motion for production of additional public
records and motion for serological samples and for independent testing because
Rolling had served this public records request six days after Governor Bush signed
Rolling’s death warrant on September 22, 2006. The trial court stated that Rolling
- 8 -
was entitled to his own medical records as long as he complies with Department of
Corrections regulations. Rolling then argued that the withholding of public records
violates chapter 119, Florida Statutes, the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to
the United States Constitution, and article I, sections 9 and 17 of the Florida
Constitution. The circuit court denied this claim.
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.852(h)(3) applies to cases in which a
mandate was issued prior to the effective date of the rule. The effective date of the
rule was October 1, 1998, and this Court affirmed Rolling’s conviction and death
sentence on March 20, 1997.
The rule states:
Within 10 days of the signing of a defendant’s death warrant,
collateral counsel may request in writing the production of public
records from a person or agency from which collateral counsel has
previously requested public records. A person or agency shall copy,
index, and deliver to the repository any public record:
(A) that was not previously the subject of an objection;
(B) that was received or produced since the previous request; or
(C) that was, for any reason, not produced previously.
Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.852(h)(3) (emphasis added).
Because there is no evidence in the
record that Rolling has ever requested records from the Medical Examiner’s Office
or the Department of Corrections before his September 28, 2006 request, we find
that the trial court was correct in denying this claim without an evidentiary hearing.
See also Rutherford, 926 So. 2d at 1115-17 (denying the substantially same records
request because the defendant failed to demonstrate that he had previously
- 9 -
requested records concerning lethal injection in Florida, and reasoning that rule
3.852(h)(3) “is designed to allow an update of records previously requested”).
THE ABA REPORT
Rolling asserted a claim in the trial court that the American Bar Association
report entitled Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in the State Death Penalty
System: The Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report, published September 17,
2006, constitutes newly discovered evidence proving that imposition of the death
penalty is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of
the United States Constitution. The trial court denied this claim.
We recently
addressed this issue in Rutherford v. State, Nos. SC06-1931 & SC06-1946 (Fla.
Oct. 12, 2006), wherein we concluded that the ABA Report is not newly
discovered evidence because it “is a compilation of previously available
information related to Florida’s death penalty system and consists of legal analysis
and recommendations for reform, many of which are directed to the executive and
legislative branches.” Id., slip op. at 10. We also held that nothing in the report
would cause this Court to recede from its past decisions upholding the facial
constitutionality of the death penalty, and that the defendant did not allege how any
of the conclusions in the report would render his individual death sentence
unconstitutional. Id., slip op. at 11.
For these same reasons, we affirm the circuit
court’s summary denial of Rolling’s claim.
- 10 -
CONCLUSION
For the reasons explained above, we affirm the circuit court’s order denying
Rolling’s successive motion for postconviction relief. No motion for rehearing
will be entertained.
It is so ordered.
LEWIS, C.J., and WELLS, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, QUINCE, CANTERO, and
BELL, JJ., concur.
NO MOTION FOR REHEARING WILL BE ALLOWED.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court in and for Alachua County,
Stan R. Morris, Judge - Case No. 91-3832-CFA
Baya Harrison, Monticello, Florida and Clyde M. Taylor, Jr., Tallahassee, Florida,
for Appellant
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General and Carolyn M. Snurkowski, Assistant
Deputy General Counsel, Tallahassee, Florida,
for Appellee
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-18-2006_Opinion.pdf in PDF
Supreme Court of Florida
____________
No. SC06-1966
____________
DANNY HAROLD ROLLING,
Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
[October 18, 2006]
PER CURIAM.
Danny Harold Rolling, a prisoner under sentence of death and an active
death warrant, appeals the circuit court’s order denying without an evidentiary
hearing his successive motion for postconviction relief. We have jurisdiction. See
art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the circuit
court’s order.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The execution of Danny Harold Rolling is set for October 25, 2006. The
factual background and procedural history of this case are detailed in this Court’s
opinion on Rolling’s direct appeal. See Rolling v. State, 695 So. 2d 278, 281-83
- 2 -
(Fla. 1997). After initially pleading not guilty, on February 15, 1994, the day
Rolling’s trial was scheduled to begin, he pled guilty to five counts of first-degree
murder, three counts of sexual battery, and three counts of armed burglary of a
dwelling with a battery. Id. at 282. “A penalty phase proceeding was held, and the
jury recommended that Rolling be sentenced to death for each murder by a vote of
twelve to zero. The trial court followed the jury’s advisory recommendation and
sentenced Rolling to death for each homicide . . . .” Id.
This Court affirmed
Rolling’s sentences of death,1 id. at 278, and the United States Supreme Court
denied his petition for writ of certiorari. Rolling v. Florida, 522 U.S. 984 (1997).
Rolling first filed a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion for
postconviction relief in November 1998, and filed an amended motion in April
1. On direct appeal, Rolling raised the following six claims of error: (1) the
trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a change of venue and
thereby violated his Sixth Amendment right to be fairly tried by an impartial jury
because pervasive and prejudicial pretrial publicity so infected the Gainesville and
Alachua County community that seating an impartial jury there was patently
impossible; (2) the trial court erred in denying Rolling’s motion to suppress his
statements which were obtained in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to
counsel; (3) the trial court erred in denying Rolling’s motion to sever and conduct
three separate sentencing proceedings; (4) the trial court erred in denying Rolling’s
motion to suppress physical evidence seized from his tent because the warrantless
search and seizure violated his reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth
Amendment; (5) the trial court erred in finding as an aggravating circumstance that
the homicide of Sonya Larson was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; and
finally (6) the trial court erred by giving an invalid and unconstitutional jury
instruction on the heinous, atrocious, or cruel aggravating circumstance.
- 3 -
1999, raising two claims.2 After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the trial court
denied relief, and this Court affirmed. Rolling v. State, 825 So. 2d 293, 294 (Fla.
2002).
Thereafter, Rolling sought federal habeas relief in the United States District
Court for the Northern District of Florida. The district court denied relief on July
1, 2005, and Rolling appealed. On February 9, 2006, the Eleventh Circuit issued
an opinion affirming the district court’s denial of Rolling’s petition for a writ of
habeas corpus. Rolling v. Crosby, 438 F.3d 1296, 1298 (11th Cir. 2006). The
United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on June 26, 2006. Rolling v.
McDonough, 126 S. Ct. 2943 (2006).
On September 22, 2006, Governor Jeb Bush signed a death warrant
authorizing Rolling’s execution. In response to the signing of the death warrant,
Rolling filed his second 3.851 motion on October 4, 2006, which raised four
claims.3 The State filed a response on October 6, 2006. On October 9, 2006, the
2. The claims were as follows: (1) ineffectiveness of trial counsel regarding
change of venue, and (2) ineffectiveness of trial counsel for failing to challenge
three particular jurors during voir dire.
3. The claims were as follows: (1) access to the files and records pertaining
to Rolling’s case in the possession of certain state agencies has been withheld in
violation of chapter 119, Florida Statutes, the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments
to the United States Constitution, and articles 1, 9, and 17 of the Florida
Constitution; (2) the existing procedure that the State of Florida utilizes for lethal
injection violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as it
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment; (3) the administration of pancuronium
bromide violates Rolling’s First Amendment right to free speech; and (4) newly
discovered empirical evidence demonstrates that Rolling’s conviction and sentence
- 4 -
trial court entered its order summarily denying all claims raised in the successive
motion. This appeal follows.
LETHAL INJECTION
Rolling first argues that the trial court erred in denying Rolling’s claim that
Florida’s method of execution by lethal injection violates Rolling’s right to be free
of cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of
the United States Constitution, and his right to free speech as guaranteed by the
First Amendment. Rolling also argues that the trial court erred in denying
Rolling’s motion to obtain public records from the Florida Department of
Corrections and the Medical Examiner for the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida
pertaining to autopsy and toxicology reports of persons executed in Florida by
lethal injection and protocols used in the lethal injection process.
This Court has
explained:
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850(d) provides that a
defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on postconviction
claims for relief unless “the motion, files, and records in the case
conclusively show that the movant is entitled to no relief.” Florida
Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851(f)(5)(B) applies the same standard
to successive postconviction motions in capital cases. In reviewing a
trial court’s summary denial of postconviction relief without an
evidentiary hearing, this Court “must accept all allegations in the
motion as true to the extent they are not conclusively rebutted by the
record.” Hodges v. State, 885 So. 2d 338, 355 (Fla. 2004) (quoting
Gaskin v. State, 737 So. 2d 509, 516 (Fla. 1999)). “To uphold the
of death constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and
Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
- 5 -
trial court’s summary denial of claims raised in a 3.850 motion, the
claims must be either facially invalid or conclusively refuted by the
record.” McLin v. State, 827 So. 2d 948, 954 (Fla. 2002) (quoting
Foster v. Moore, 810 So. 2d 910, 914 (Fla. 2002)).
Rutherford v. State, 926 So. 2d 1100, 1108 (Fla.), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 1191
(2006).
We find no error by the trial court under this standard.
Cruel and Unusual Punishment
In his first claim, Rolling argues that a research letter published in April
2005 in The Lancet presents new scientific evidence that Florida’s procedure for
carrying out lethal injection may subject the inmate to unnecessary pain. See
Leonidas G. Koniaris et al., Inadequate Anaesthesia in Lethal Injection for
Execution, 365 Lancet 1412 (2005). He supports this claim with an affidavit from
one of the study’s authors, Dr. David A. Lubarsky, asserting that Florida’s
procedure is substantially similar to the procedures used in the other states
evaluated in the study. Rolling ultimately asserts that the information in this study
is new information not previously available to this Court when it decided Sims v.
State, 754 So. 2d 657 (Fla. 2000).
The trial court summarily denied this claim and found that Rolling was not
entitled to an evidentiary hearing on whether lethal injection, as administered in
Florida, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, stating that this Court
determined in Sims, that lethal injection as administered by the Department of
Corrections did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. In Hill v. State, 921
- 6 -
So. 2d 579 (Fla.), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 1441 (2006), this Court addressed the
same claim now asserted by Rolling and upheld the trial court’s summary denial of
the claim. We again rejected such a claim in Rutherford v. State, 926 So. 2d at
1113-14. As in those cases, we affirm the trial court’s summary denial of this
claim in Rolling’s case.
First Amendment Claim
Rolling next asserts that the circuit court erred in denying an evidentiary
hearing on his claim that the administration of pancuronium bromide violates his
free speech rights as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution. Specifically, Rolling contends that the administration of
pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles, violates his right to free
speech because it renders him unable to communicate any feeling of pain that may
result if the execution procedure is carried out improperly. Thus, Rolling’s claim
is inextricably intertwined with his claim that there is a possibility that the first
chemical, sodium pentothal, will not be administered properly, leaving him wholly
or partially conscious.
The circuit court summarily denied this claim. In Rutherford, this Court
addressed the same claim and found that, because the defendant could not
demonstrate that the chemicals involved in lethal injection would be administered
improperly in his case, the defendant was not entitled to relief on this claim. 926
- 7 -
So. 2d at 1114-15. Therefore, as in Rutherford, we find Rolling’s identical First
Amendment claim to be without merit and find no error in the trial court’s denial
applying our decision in Rutherford.
Public Records Claim
Rolling next argues that the circuit court erred in denying an evidentiary
hearing on his claims arising from his public records requests. On September 28,
2006, Rolling filed a motion for production of additional public records to the
Florida Medical Examiner’s Office of the Eighth Circuit of Florida and the
Department of Corrections, and a motion for serological samples and for
independent testing to the trial court.
Rolling requested autopsy reports and
toxicology studies performed on the sixteen individuals executed by lethal
injection from 2000 to 2005 and all documents related to the Department of
Corrections’ administration of lethal injection and Rolling’s own medical records.
He also requested to have independent testing of post-execution blood samples of
Arthur Rutherford, scheduled for execution on October 18, 2006. The State filed
responses opposing each of these requests.
On October 4, 2006, the trial court
entered an order denying Rolling’s motion for production of additional public
records and motion for serological samples and for independent testing because
Rolling had served this public records request six days after Governor Bush signed
Rolling’s death warrant on September 22, 2006. The trial court stated that Rolling
- 8 -
was entitled to his own medical records as long as he complies with Department of
Corrections regulations. Rolling then argued that the withholding of public records
violates chapter 119, Florida Statutes, the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to
the United States Constitution, and article I, sections 9 and 17 of the Florida
Constitution. The circuit court denied this claim.
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.852(h)(3) applies to cases in which a
mandate was issued prior to the effective date of the rule. The effective date of the
rule was October 1, 1998, and this Court affirmed Rolling’s conviction and death
sentence on March 20, 1997.
The rule states:
Within 10 days of the signing of a defendant’s death warrant,
collateral counsel may request in writing the production of public
records from a person or agency from which collateral counsel has
previously requested public records. A person or agency shall copy,
index, and deliver to the repository any public record:
(A) that was not previously the subject of an objection;
(B) that was received or produced since the previous request; or
(C) that was, for any reason, not produced previously.
Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.852(h)(3) (emphasis added).
Because there is no evidence in the
record that Rolling has ever requested records from the Medical Examiner’s Office
or the Department of Corrections before his September 28, 2006 request, we find
that the trial court was correct in denying this claim without an evidentiary hearing.
See also Rutherford, 926 So. 2d at 1115-17 (denying the substantially same records
request because the defendant failed to demonstrate that he had previously
- 9 -
requested records concerning lethal injection in Florida, and reasoning that rule
3.852(h)(3) “is designed to allow an update of records previously requested”).
THE ABA REPORT
Rolling asserted a claim in the trial court that the American Bar Association
report entitled Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in the State Death Penalty
System: The Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report, published September 17,
2006, constitutes newly discovered evidence proving that imposition of the death
penalty is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of
the United States Constitution. The trial court denied this claim.
We recently
addressed this issue in Rutherford v. State, Nos. SC06-1931 & SC06-1946 (Fla.
Oct. 12, 2006), wherein we concluded that the ABA Report is not newly
discovered evidence because it “is a compilation of previously available
information related to Florida’s death penalty system and consists of legal analysis
and recommendations for reform, many of which are directed to the executive and
legislative branches.” Id., slip op. at 10. We also held that nothing in the report
would cause this Court to recede from its past decisions upholding the facial
constitutionality of the death penalty, and that the defendant did not allege how any
of the conclusions in the report would render his individual death sentence
unconstitutional. Id., slip op. at 11.
For these same reasons, we affirm the circuit
court’s summary denial of Rolling’s claim.
- 10 -
CONCLUSION
For the reasons explained above, we affirm the circuit court’s order denying
Rolling’s successive motion for postconviction relief. No motion for rehearing
will be entertained.
It is so ordered.
LEWIS, C.J., and WELLS, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, QUINCE, CANTERO, and
BELL, JJ., concur.
NO MOTION FOR REHEARING WILL BE ALLOWED.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court in and for Alachua County,
Stan R. Morris, Judge - Case No. 91-3832-CFA
Baya Harrison, Monticello, Florida and Clyde M. Taylor, Jr., Tallahassee, Florida,
for Appellant
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General and Carolyn M. Snurkowski, Assistant
Deputy General Counsel, Tallahassee, Florida,
for Appellee
Notice of supplemental authority - Danny Rolling
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/noticesupplemental.htm
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-13-2006_NoticeSupplemental.pdf - in PDF
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
DANNY ROLLING,
Appellant,
v. CASE NO. SC06-1966
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
____________________/
NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL AUTHORITY
COMES NOW State of Florida, by and through undersigned
counsel, and hereby gives notice of its intent to rely upon the
following additional authority:
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-13-2006_NoticeSupplemental.pdf - in PDF
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
DANNY ROLLING,
Appellant,
v. CASE NO. SC06-1966
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
____________________/
NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL AUTHORITY
COMES NOW State of Florida, by and through undersigned
counsel, and hereby gives notice of its intent to rely upon the
following additional authority:
The State Answerbrief - Danny Rolling
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/answerbrief.htm
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-12-2006_StateAnswer.pdf in PDF
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
DANNY HAROLD ROLLING,
Appellant,
v. CASE NO. SC06-1966
EXECUTION SET
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER
25, 2006 at
6:00P.M.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
__________________________/
ON APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT
OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL CIRCUIT,
IN AND FOR ESCAMBIA COUNTY, FLORIDA
ANSWER BRIEF OF APPELLEE
CHARLES J. CRIST, JR.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
CAROLYN M. SNURKOWSKI
ASSISTANT DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
FLORIDA BAR NO. 158541
(850) 414 3300; FAX (850) 487-0997
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
THE CAPITOL
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32399-1050
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE
http://www.oranous.com/florida/DannyRolling/Filed_10-12-2006_StateAnswer.pdf in PDF
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
DANNY HAROLD ROLLING,
Appellant,
v. CASE NO. SC06-1966
EXECUTION SET
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER
25, 2006 at
6:00P.M.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
__________________________/
ON APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT
OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL CIRCUIT,
IN AND FOR ESCAMBIA COUNTY, FLORIDA
ANSWER BRIEF OF APPELLEE
CHARLES J. CRIST, JR.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
CAROLYN M. SNURKOWSKI
ASSISTANT DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
FLORIDA BAR NO. 158541
(850) 414 3300; FAX (850) 487-0997
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
THE CAPITOL
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32399-1050
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)