Duval County starts death penalty cases again with brutal killings

By Eileen Kelley
The Florida Times-Union

At a little past 1 p.m. Wednesday, a 12-person jury of equal parts men and woman were ushered into a Duval County courtroom to do what no jury has done for quite some time here.

Sometime next week after all photos of the gruesome crime scene are revealed, the hammer that gnawed away at the skulls of the two young men are passed around and the horrific nature of Raymond Bright’s childhood is explored, this jury will decide if the 63-year-old Bright should be put to death for killing 16-year-old Randall Brown and 20-year-old Derrick King.

A jury eight years ago found Bright guilty of the 2008 murders. They voted 8 to 4 to sentence Bright to death. Today, that vote would not be enough to condemn a man to death.

The Florida House passed legislation in March that said Florida juries must unanimously decide if a defendant convicted of capital crimes should be put to death. The 112-3 vote paved the way for Gov. Rick Scott to once again begin signing death warrants. He has since signed two.

The measure also paved the way for Florida courts to once again try people for death penalty cases after a January 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case known as Hurst v. Florida put the skids on death penalty cases in the state.

Prior to that landmark decision, Bright’s death sentence was thrown out by a Florida Supreme Court after it sided with a lower court that found Bright’s trial lawyers did not investigate his mental-health history and childhood. His case was sent back for re-sentencing.

So, in Circuit Judge Russell Healy’s courtroom Wednesday, a death penalty case started again in Duval County. The jury can only decided if Bright should get life or death.

The 2016 Hurst decision and other similar higher court cases are sending hundreds of cases backs to Florida courtrooms for re-sentencing hearings.

Bright is being tried by veteran prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda and Pam Hazel, the same team that tried him in 2009.

King was asleep on the couch when Bright beat him on the head 38 times with a hammer. He was also hit another 20 times on his hands and arms. Brown died cradled in a Lazy Boy after being hit in the head 14 times. He was hit another 20 times on other parts of the body with the hammer.

“They were asleep when this defendant came upon them and beat them senseless. It was a heinous murder. It was shockingly evil and wicked,” de la Rionda told the jury in his opening statement.

The state is expected to wrap up its portion of the case Thursday, de la Rionda said. After that, the defense will begins its portion of the case.

Defense attorney Michael Williams told jurors Bright suffered from adverse trauma from his childhood and once they understood that, they may understand more about crimes he committed. Williams put seven people on his witness list.

“We believe the verdict should be life in prison without the possibility of parole,” Williams said.

Because of Hurricane Irma, the court will be in recess Friday, Monday and possibly Tuesday.

http://jacksonville.com/news/public-...rutal-killings