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Thread: James Terry Colley, Jr. - Florida Death Row

  1. #31
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Loved ones describe impact of murders in James Colley sentencing

    State seeking death for St. Johns County man who gunned down 2 women

    By Elizabeth Campbell and Francine Frazier
    WJXT News4JAX

    ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Broken, suffering, incomplete. That's how loved ones of Amanda Colley and Lindy Dobbins describe their lives since the women were brutally murdered by James Colley Jr.


    Colley's August 2015 shooting rampage in St. Johns County sent ripples of pain across the community of people who knew and loved his estranged wife and her best friend.


    Colley, 38, was found guilty Wednesday of two counts of first-dgree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two burglary counts and a count of aggravated stalking. A jury will decide this week whether to recomment Colley be put to death for the murders.


    Florida law says such a recommendation must be unanimous. If it's not, Colley will be sentenced to life without parole. If the jurors recommend death, Maltz will make the ultimate decision, likely at a later date.


    Loved ones of Dobbins, Amanda Colley and shooting rampage survivor Rachel Hendricks, who recounted the harrowing day during her testimony, said they are pleased Colley was convicted but they are anxious for the penalty phase to be over. Several have expressed their hope that Colley will be sentenced to death.


    Emotional statements

    Circuit Judge Howard Maltz told the jurors that the victim impact statements they heard Monday morning could not be considered “aggravating factors” in their decision on the death penalty.

    But the emotional words will be difficult to forget.


    Dobbins' husband, Chris Dobbins, recounted the day of the murders, pointedly looking in Colley's direction after saying his wife and her friend were “brutally and senselessly murdered by the defendant.” He said the first hint he got that something was wrong that day was a notification from his children's school that they were on lockdown. He learned later it was because deputies were searching for Colley, who had fled after the rampage.


    When Dobbins called his wife, she didn't answer. She didn't respond to texts. Someone at her work said she'd gone home early to help a friend – Amanda.


    Worried, Chris Dobbins headed home and found streets blocked in his neighborhood. He knew Lindy's car and phone were at Amanda's house. He walked up, and an officer called over a detective, who told him Lindy had been killed.


    Dobbins said even harder than hearing those terrible words was knowing he had to tell his children their mother was never coming home.


    He wept as he described what his family's life is like now and all that Lindy has missed. He said they leave an empty blue chair at Little League games and release balloons on Mother's Day and Lindy's birthday.


    Amanda Colley's sister, Tammy Malone, said tearfully that she's watched her mother struggle with the loss of a child.


    “My whole family's been broken by this one person and his horrible actions,” Malone said, adding that Amanda's children are suffering from the loss of both parents. “Her life mattered. It mattered to so many people in so many different ways. And he took that from all of us.”


    Lindy Dobbins' father said his family has “suffered like no one should ever have to” and that they will never be the same people they were before she was killed. He said they've lost any feeling of security.


    Amanda Colley's college friend, Beth Kennedy, said she reaches for the phone every day to call Amanda before she realizes they'll never speak again.


    Aggravating factors


    Prosecutors began the penalty phase explaining the aggravating factors that the jurors must weigh against the “mitigating circumstances” the defense will present.

    Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Dunton said four factors apply to the murders of both women:


    1. Colley was previously (or simultaneously) convicted of a capital felony or a felony involving use of violence.
    2. The murders were committed while Colley was in the commission of a burglary.
    3. The murders were especially heinous, atrocious and cruel.
    4. The murders were committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner.

    Another aggravating factor applies only to Amanda Colley's murder: the fact that she had an injunction out against her husband when he killed her.

    Ambien defense


    Colley's attorneys are hoping to convince at least some of the jurors that Colley was so heavily medicated that he might not have been responsible for his actions on the morning of the murders.

    A forensic psychiatrist who interviewed Colley for two days, two years after the murders, testified that Colley had difficulty remembering the events of that morning and that he might have been having a parasomniac episode brought on by Ambien.


    Dr. Mark Mills said such episodes are similar to sleepwalking in the sense that the person seems rational or OK but when you ask them later they have no memory of the incident.


    Mills said Colley told him he did cocaine and drank heavily the night before the murders and was out until 5 a.m., despite having a court hearing that morning on violating the injunction his wife had against him.


    Knowing he needed some sleep, Colley said he took two half pills of Ambien and slept for a few hours before his father woke him up, saying he needed to get ready for court.


    Mills said Colley was hurrying when he left and hit a mailbox, denting the car he was driving, and then continued driving to court. Mills testified that the episode was evidence of Colley's impairment that morning, but said the impairment was likely related only to the Ambien and other medications he might have been taking for pain and depression. He said the effects of the alcohol and cocaine would have worn off by that morning.


    He said Colley could only describe the murders in “flashes” of memory, including getting the guns out of the trunk of his sister's car and firing at the home.


    Prosecutors pointed out that the only evidence Mills had that Colley had taken the Ambien and was affected by it that morning was what Colley told him, and Mills acknowledged that.


    Late in the day, Colley appeared to wipe away tears when a friend of 20 years he met in middle school recounted their friendship. At another point, Colley laughed as his fiend was talking about thing they did together when they were young.


    Just before court recessed for the day, Colley told the judge under oath he was choosing not to testify in his own defense.


    The sentencing hearing will resume Tuesday morning. It was expected the defense will call four more witnesses, but one, a medical expert, isn't available until Wednesday. The jury could begin deliberating the sentence by late Wednesday afteroon.


    As Colley left the courtroom, he said, "I love you," to his family. They replied, "Love you," in unison.

    https://www.news4jax.com/news/florida/st-johns-county/loved-ones-share-emotional-statements-in-james-colley-sentencing
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

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    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #32
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Drugs and childhood trauma top James Colley's death penalty defense

    On Tuesday, jurors heard emotional testimony from Colley's sister, Crystal Colley-Wright. Crystal, who also testified during the guilt phase, said her brother loved and cared for his children. She described family events shown in several family photos.

    By Julia Jenae
    First Coast News

    Testimony continued Tuesday in the penalty phase for a St. Johns County man convicted of murdering his estranged wife and her best friend.

    Last Wednesday, jurors found James Colley, Jr. guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. State prosecutors said his wife Amanda Cloaninger Colley begged for her life as he shot her and her friend to death.

    The same panel of jurors is charged with deciding James Colley's punishment--life in prison without parole or lethal injection.

    Colley's defense team presented experts to jurors from the fields of psychiatry and neurology on Monday. The defense expert Dr. Mark Mills testified the combination of drugs in Colley's system caused the defendant to be in a "parasomniac" state, commonly referred to as sleepwalking, during the time of the murders.

    According to the experts' testimony, Colley had been prescribed Hydrocodone and Cymbalta in August of 2015. On the night before the murders, August 26, 2015, he told the experts he had been bar-hopping with friends and drinking alcohol. Later, the defense experts said he ingested a 'line of cocaine' and around 5 a.m. took sleep aid drug, Ambien.

    On Tuesday, jurors heard emotional testimony from Colley's sister, Crystal Colley-Wright. Crystal, who also testified during the guilt phase, said her brother loved and cared for his children. She described family events shown in several family photos.

    Crystal also recounted a childhood story involving their mother hitting their father with a bat after learning about an affair. She said Colley also witnessed their mother grabbing a knife when their father would not let her in the house. Colley was 9 years old at the time.

    State's Rebuttal

    Assistant state attorneys addressed the "Ambien defense" by calling their own psychiatric expert Tuesday who told jurors too much time had passed for Colley to still be suffering from an altered state of mind from the medication.

    The state's expert said Colley's ability to go to work and go to a court hearing after taking the early morning Ambien pill made it unlikely he was sleepwalking at 10:38 a.m. that day when he killed his wife and her friend Lindy Dobbins.

    Past claims of violence barred in James Colley trial penalty phase

    Evidence from state prosecutors about prior instances of violence were not permitted during the penalty phase.

    Irrelevant prior bad acts are typically not admissible as evidence at trial.

    Prosecutors told the trial judge, Howard Maltz, they had witness accounts of Colley using violence or threats of violence against others in the past.

    One of the witnesses referenced by prosecutors in court spoke to First Coast News about an alleged incident between the witness and Colley in 2002. The witness said Colley made threats with a firearm and attempted to barge into the witness' home to settle a dispute over a woman. No police report was filed, according to the witness who asked not to be identified.

    In Florida, jurors must vote unanimously on capital punishment for a death sentence to apply; otherwise, the defendant will receive life in prison without parole.

    https://www.firstcoastnews.com/artic...e/77-576950494
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  3. #33
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Jury recommends death penalty for James Colley Jr.

    St. Johns County man gunned down wife, her best friend in 2015 rampage

    By Francine Frazier and Elizabeth Campbell
    News4Jax

    ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - James Colley Jr. should be executed by the state for the 2015 shooting deaths of his estranged wife and her best friend.

    That was the unanimous recommendation of the jury that convicted Colley last week of the murders of Amanda Colley, 36, and Lindy Dobbins, 39.

    Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Dunton called the jury's recommendation "bittersweet."

    "It's not an easy process the jury has go through, but we're very happy they considered case the same way we did and it brings some measure of justice and closure for Amanda and Lindy."

    Circuit Judge Howard Maltz will consider the jury's recommendation, along with arguments presented by the prosecution and defense, and will hand down his sentence for Colley, 38, at a later date.

    Colley will have a Spencer hearing on Oct. 2, which gives him another chance to present evidence that could convince Maltz to set aside the jury's recommendation and sentence him to life. Maltz can still choose to do so, but that would be an unusual decision, considering the unanimous recommendation that is now required for any death penalty sentence in Florida.

    Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Johnson argued Wednesday that Colley had plenty of chances on Aug. 27, 2015, to decide not to murder his estranged wife, but instead he continued with the shooting rampage because “he was on a mission.” That rampage also claimed the life of Amanda Colley's best friend, Lindy Dobbins.

    Johnson said Colley planned the shooting because he was losing control of Amanda, who was in a relationship with someone new, and Colley couldn't let her go.

    "Remember that real people were involved. They were human beings, and now they're dead. They're dead because of one man -- the selfish choices he made," Johnson said, pointing at Colley in court.

    The jury decided the state successfully proved the murders were “cold, calculated and premeditated,” and also “heinous, atrocious and cruel” -- two of the aggravating factors that could warrant the death penalty.

    To prove his point about the heinous nature of the crimes, Johnson recounted the brutal details of the murders, including the nine gunshot wounds Amanda suffered, and again played the 911 calls that recorded the women's deaths and their pleas for Colley to stop.

    Johnson said Colley had “no conscience, no pity” as he repeatedly pulled the trigger.

    “Whatever he thought about Amanda Colley, he was not the judge, jury and executioner of her character. What she did, did not deserve a death sentence,” Johnson said.

    But what Colley did does, he argued.

    The jury unanimously agreed, despite the defense's plea that they show mercy and recommend Colley spend the rest of his life in prison.

    The three other aggravating factors the state argued were already proven when the jury convicted Colley last week of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two burglary counts and a count of aggravated stalking, Johnson said:

    1.Colley was previously (or simultaneously) convicted of a capital felony or felony involving use of violence.
    2.The murders were committed while Colley was in the commission of a burglary.
    3.The victim had an injunction against the killer at the time of the murder (applies only to Amanda Colley).

    The jury said the state proved all of the aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt and that although some mitigating circumstances existed, they did not outweigh the aggravating factors.

    https://www.news4jax.com/news/florid...ames-colley-jr

  4. #34
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    Can anyone make a post-Hurst jury recommendation list? It seems some counties are good at securing death sentences while others stuck. I think this is the 2nd for St. John's county.

  5. #35
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Lead detective prayed wife killer's jury would 'feel what we felt'

    James Colley convicted in fatal 2015 shooting of estranged wife, her friend

    By Francine Frazier
    WJXT News4JAX

    ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Cpl. Samantha English vividly remembers walking into Amanda Colley's upscale St. Johns County home three years ago and finding the 36-year-old mother's bullet-riddled body on her bathroom floor.

    Colley and her best friend, Lindy Dobbins, 39, were killed by Colley's estranged husband during a shooting rampage on Aug. 27, 2015.

    James Colley Jr. was convicted of their murders earlier this month, and the jury recommended last week that he should get the death penalty.

    English, who was the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office's lead detective on the case, said she never doubted James Colley would be found guilty.

    English testified during the trial and said she prayed the jurors would see what detectives saw and feel what they felt as they investigated the grisly shooting.

    “The scene was pretty bad, but it’s just part of the job, so you do it,” English said as she opened up to News4Jax about what the case was like. “They both had young children and family who I’ve gotten to know and love, and that’s particularly difficult.”

    English has been with the Sheriff's Office for 11 years but was just one year into her role with the Major Crimes Unit when she was tapped to be the lead on the Colley case.

    She said she's worked dozens of murder cases but the Colley case stands out because of the shocking violence, which was captured on 911 calls the victims made. In the calls, both women can be heard begging for their lives in their final moments.

    “The suffering of both Amanda and Lindy -- you can hear it in the 911 calls,” English said. “That was very difficult.”

    She said she'll never forget the lessons the Colley case taught her. After working homicides, suicides and officer-involved shootings, English said the most grueling aspect of her job is the aftermath.

    “Dealing with the survivors and the family left after somebody’s killed (is the toughest part),” English said.
    Despite the job's difficulties, English said she wouldn't change anything because it’s about getting justice -- which is what she feels the jury's guilty verdict gave Dobbins and Amanda Colley.

    James Colley is scheduled to be back in court Oct. 2 for a Spencer hearing, when his attorneys will have one final chance to convince the judge to sentence to Colley to life in prison instead of death.

    https://www.news4jax.com/news/florida/st-johns-county/lead-detective-prayed-james-colley-jury-would-feel-what-we-felt

  6. #36
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    St. Johns County man who murdered wife, friend calls it an 'horrible, terrible accident'

    actionnewsjax.com

    James Colley, the St. Johns County man who killed his wife Amanda and her best friend Lindy Dobbins in 2015, appeared before a judge ahead of his sentencing on Nov. 30.

    Colley spoke for the first time in court, weeks after he was convicted in the Aug. 27, 2015 double murders in the Murabella community near World Golf Village.

    “This was a horrible, terrible accident, and I wish it was different but it's not, Colley said. “I am sorry for all parties involved."

    Colley was choked up and cried when he spoke to the judge. He could be sentenced to death for the murders.

    Colley has been jailed in St. Johns County ever since the Aug. 27, 2015 murders. He was convicted in July after a trial in which he declined to testify in his own defense.

    https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/l...iend/844902484

  7. #37
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Colley sentenced to death in St. Johns County double murder

    He gunned down his estranged wife and her best friend in August 2015

    By Kristen Cosby
    News4JAX.com

    ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. - A man who gunned down his estranged wife and her friend in the couple's upscale St. Johns County home in 2015 was sentenced to death Friday for their murders.

    A jury unanimously recommended the death penalty for James Colley Jr. in July, and Circuit Judge Howard Maltz followed that recommendation Friday, saying Colley's conduct deserved the "harshest penalty" allowed by Florida law.

    In addition to two counts of first-degree murder, Colley was convicted of two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two burglary counts and a count of aggravated stalking. Maltz tacked on life in prison sentences for the attempted murder charges.

    At a Spenser hearing in October, Colley apologized and called the killings a "terrible accident."

    "I wish it would have been different, but it's not, and I'm sorry for all parties involved," Colley said.

    A Spencer hearing typically is the last chance for a defendant facing the death penalty to persuade the court to spare his life.

    Speaking in measured words Friday, Maltz scoffed at Colley's claim that the murders were an accident, saying Colley “executed” the two women “in the prime of their lives,” and “devastated” their families.

    Colley killed his estranged wife, Amanda, and her best friend, Lindy Dobbins, when he went on a shooting spree inside the couple's home on Aug. 27, 2015.

    A woman who survived the deadly rampage testified that Colley showed up uninvited at the home, looking for a man he believed was in a relationship with Amanda Colley, 36. Earlier that day, Colley had been ordered by a judge not to have contact with his wife, who had an injunction against him.

    Rachel Hendricks told jurors that she and Dobbins, 39, ran and hid in a walk-in closet after Colley appeared in the backyard of hte home carrying a gun and opened fire.

    Hendricks said Colley forced his way into the closet and held the gun to Dobbins' head as Hendricks ran for her life. She said she heard a shot as she fled.

    Prosecutors said Amanda Colley heard her best friend being shot in the closet before James Colley found her, wounded on the bathroom floor, and shot her multiple times as she begged for her life.

    Colley took off after the shooting spree and was arrested after a traffic stop in Virginia hours later. He has been in custody ever since.

    Colley did not speak in court Friday. His conviction and sentence will be automatically appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.

    https://www.news4jax.com/news/florid...-double-murder
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #38
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Colley entered Florida's death row on 12/3/18.

    http://www.dc.state.fl.us/OffenderSe...rowroster.aspx

  9. #39
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Conviction and death sentence affirmed on direct appeal by the Florida Supreme Court.

    https://law.justia.com/cases/florida...sc18-2014.html
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  10. #40
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    Distributed for conference September 27, 2021.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/20-8048.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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