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    Raymond Curtis Bright - Florida Death Row




    Summary of Offense:

    Bright was convicted in August 2009 of murdering 16-year-old Randall Brown and 20-year-old Derrick King III. Jurors had recommended a death sentence. Circuit Judge Charles Arnold agreed, calling the murders brutal and merciless. Authorities said Bright used a hammer to bludgeon the victims to death in his home. One witness said Bright and King did drugs together earlier the night of the murders.

    Bright was sentenced to death in Duval County on November 19, 2009.

  2. #2
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    August 27, 2009

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Raymond Bright was convicted Wednesday of two counts of first-degree murder in last year's beating deaths of 20-year-old Derrick King and 16-year-old Randall Brown.

    Prosecutors believe the two victims were beaten to death with a hammer at Bright's home on Sibbald Road in northwest Jacksonville in February 2008.

    Police said they found Bright hiding in a closet of a former girlfriend's house nearby.

    Bright, 55, an ex-Marine, claimed he acted in self-defense. The prosecution said the evidence showed the victims were attacked while they slept.

    The penalty phase is set for next Tuesday and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    http://www.news4jax.com/news/20583901/detail.html

    Update:

    The grandmother of a Jacksonville man bludgeoned to death with a hammer last year is satisfied with the death sentence his murderer received Thursday 11/19/09.

    She just wishes the killer would explain why he did it.

    Raymond Curtis Bright, a 55-year-old former Marine, was sentenced to death for murdering Randall Brown, 16, and Derrick King III, 20, in his home. Under Florida law, an appeal is automatic.

    Circuit Judge Charles Arnold called the murders brutal and merciless and cited their extreme cruelty. Autopsies show King had 58 injuries all over his body and Brown had 14 to the head and neck.

    “The scales of life vs. death for the murders of Derrick King and Randall Brown tilt unquestionably to the side of death,” Arnold said.

    Bright was convicted in August and jurors recommended death by an 8-4 vote in each case.

    Eartha Jaudon, King’s grandmother, said Bright got what he deserved. She praised prosecutors, jurors and the judge.

    “I’m satisfied, and I am thankful for what they did,” she said. “I just wish he would tell why.”

    Brown’s family couldn’t be reached.

    As he did during his trial, Bright remained stoic throughout sentencing. His attorney, Richard Kuritz, said Bright was disappointed, but respectful of the system.

    Kuritz argued at trial that Bright acted in self-defense against the victims, both guests in his home.

    But prosecutors, with no motive, relied on physical evidence they said showed the victims were attacked in their sleep. There was evidence Bright did drugs with at least one of the victims the night of the murders.

    Kuritz said he was hopeful this would be one of the rare occasions a judge overrode a jury’s death recommendation because of Bright’s decorated 10-year military career and his constant search for treatment to overcome drug dependency.

    But Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda decried the brutality of the murders, and Arnold agreed. The judge said he might have been convinced of the appropriateness of a life sentence if the murders hadn’t been so heinous and cruel.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/c...hammer_murders

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    RAYMOND BRIGHT v THE STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's opinions, the Florida Supreme Court AFFIRMED Bright's conviction and sentence of death.

  4. #4
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On October 1, 2012, the US Supreme Court denied Bright's certiorari petition.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/12-5151.htm

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    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    He looks like Giancarlo Esposito (Gustavo „Gus“ Fring/Breaking Bad).
    No murder can be so cruel that there are not still useful imbeciles who do gloss over the murderer and apologize.

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    Jacksonville man convicted of hammer killings gets off Death Row over allegations of poor defense work

    Raymond Bright's case is likely headed to Florida Supreme Court


    By Larry Hannan
    The Florida Times-Union

    A Jacksonville man is getting off Death Row after a judge ruled the death-penalty phase in his original trial was marred by ineffective work by his trial lawyers.

    Senior Circuit Judge Charles Arnold ruled Raymond Curtis Bright, 60, should get a new penalty phase to determine if he belongs on Death Row. But the judge denied a motion from Bright’s lawyers to throw out his two first-degree murder convictions for bludgeoning Randall Brown, 16, and Derrick King III, 20, to death with a hammer.

    “We’re grateful that the death sentence was set aside,” said Rick Sichta, Bright’s attorney. “But we’re disappointed that the conviction wasn’t thrown out as well.”

    Sichta called the ruling bittersweet.

    Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda also expressed disappointment at the ruling and said he thought Bright’s original trial lawyers, Richard Kuritz and James Nolan, did a good job with what they had.

    “The evidence was overwhelming to the defendant’s guilt,” de la Rionda said. “He beat two people to death with a hammer and claimed self-defense.”

    Arnold’s ruling is likely to create a situation where both sides appeal his decision to the Florida Supreme Court. Prosecutors will likely appeal Arnold’s ruling setting aside the death penalty while lawyers for Bright will appeal his decision denying a new trial.

    Bright will remain in prison while the case goes to the Supreme Court.

    De la Rionda said if Arnold’s original ruling is upheld by the Supreme Court, they will seek to put him on Death Row again.

    That would involve having another jury hear the case and make a recommendation to Arnold on whether Bright should get life in prison without parole or death. Arnold would make the final decision, but judges in Florida almost never put someone on Death Row when a jury recommends life.

    If the Supreme Court throws out the verdict along with the death sentence, they will try him again for first-degree murder and will seek the death penalty again, de la Rionda said.

    Bright was arrested in 2008 after the bodies of Brown and King were found in Bright’s home. He said he was attacked by the two men in the early morning hours. He wrestled a gun away from Brown and then killed both men in self-defense, he said.

    Prosecutors said Bright killed the two men while they were sleeping on a couch and recliner.

    Defense attorneys said Brown and King had moved into Bright’s house and were selling drugs, and Bright, who was addicted to cocaine, wanted them out so he could attempt to get clean.

    A jury convicted Bright and recommended the death penalty by an 8-4 vote. Arnold sentenced him to death in November 2009, and the conviction and sentence was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.

    Sichta then went back to Circuit Court and asked for a new trial by arguing that Kuritz and Nolan did an insufficient job of representing Bright during his murder trial. Arnold said their performance was acceptable during the murder trial, but not during the penalty phase.

    During a hearing to determine whether Bright would get a new trial, Kuritz testified that he was responsible for handling the trial and Nolan was going to handle the penalty phase. But Kuritz said when the penalty phase began, he realized that Nolan was not as prepared as he’d said he was, and he tried to “take over” the penalty phase.

    Kuritz said he was surprised no family members of Bright had been interviewed and was also unhappy that a detailed psychological profile of Bright hadn’t been done. He was also unhappy that more investigation wasn’t done into Bright’s history of mental illness and substance abuse.

    Nolan died in 2012. De la Rionda said Nolan’s death made it more difficult to argue that Bright received a competent defense because most of the criticisms were focused on Nolan, and he couldn’t defend himself.

    Kuritz declined comment Friday.

    In his ruling Arnold said the failure to investigate and present mitigation to the jury was enough to grant Bright a new penalty phase because there’s reason to believe that Bright’s sentence might have been different if more evidence had been submitted.

    Sichta argued that similar mistakes during the trial justified throwing the verdict out, but Arnold dismissed those suggestions and said that Kuritz and Nolan made decisions during the actual trial that were based on trial strategy, and not a failure to perform their responsibilities.

    http://members.jacksonville.com/news...death-row-over

  7. #7
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    Death-penalty case for Jacksonville hammer killings goes to Florida Supreme Court

    By Larry Hannan
    The Florida Times-Union

    The Jacksonville death-penalty case of Raymond Bright will be going to the Florida Supreme Court in February with both sides asking justices to reverse a portion of the ruling of Senior Circuit Judge Charles Arnold.

    Arnold upheld Bright’s conviction for bludgeoning Randall Brown, 16, and Derrick King III, 20, with a hammer in 2008. But Arnold threw out Bright’s death sentence, finding that his trial lawyers were incompetent in defending him during the penalty phase.

    Prosecutors will argue that Arnold made a mistake throwing out the sentence while defense attorneys will argue he was wrong to uphold the conviction. Lawyers for both sides will also have to defend the portion of Arnold’s ruling that they like.

    Bright was arrested in 2008 after the bodies of Brown and King were found in Bright’s home. He said he was attacked by the two men in the early morning hours. He wrestled a gun away from Brown and then killed both men in self-defense, he said.

    Prosecutors said Bright killed the two men while they were sleeping on a couch and recliner. A jury convicted Bright and recommended the death penalty by an 8-4 vote. Arnold sentenced him to death in November 2009.

    But Arnold threw out the sentence last year, citing concerns about the performance of trial attorneys Richard Kuritz and James Nolan, particularly about not looking into Bright’s history of mental health and substance abuse.

    But in court filings, lawyers with the Florida Attorney General’s Office argued that Bright’s lawyers had a strategy that did not involve focusing on mental health or substance abuse. They also argue that no defense would have kept Bright off Death Row because of the brutality of the crime.

    Nolan, who supervised the penalty phase of the defense, died in 2012. Prosecutors say Arnold would have been less likely to throw Bright’s death sentence out if Nolan had been alive to explain his legal strategy, which involved “humanizing” his client and asking the jury to show mercy.

    In response Bright’s appellate attorney, Richard Sichta, says Nolan made serious mistakes including the mental health concerns.

    It is reasonable to believe the jury might have recommended life instead of death if they’d known more about Bright’s history of being abused, being addicted to drugs and his serious mental health issues, Sichta said.

    Kuritz has said when the penalty phase began, he realized that Nolan was not as prepared as he’d said he was, and he tried to “take over” the penalty phase.

    Kuritz said he was surprised no family members of Bright had been interviewed and was also unhappy that a detailed psychological profile hadn’t been done.

    Sichta also said Bright acted in self-defense and urged the Supreme Court to throw out the conviction along with upholding the decision to throw out the death sentence.

    Bright has repeatedly maintained that Brown and King were violent gang members who had taken over his home using it to sell drugs and had threatened to chop him into little pieces, Sichta said.

    The evidence at the scene also shows that Bright was acting in self-defense after Brown and King accused him of stealing drugs and were pointing guns at him when he fought both men, Sichta said.

    Prosecutors had argued that Bright attacked the two men while they were sleeping. In court filings Assistant Attorney General Patrick Delaney said Bright’s claims of self-defense were not found to be credible by Arnold or the jurors during his trial.

    The office of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi handles death-penalty appeals.

    State Attorney Angela Corey’s office has previously said it will seek to put Bright back on Death Row if the Supreme Court upholds Arnold’s ruling throwing out his death sentence. If justices throw out the conviction, it will retry him and seek the death penalty again.

    Bright technically remains on Death Row while Arnold’s ruling is appealed by both sides. Oral arguments in the case will be Feb. 2.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...lorida-supreme

  8. #8
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The World's End View Post
    Jacksonville man convicted of murdering 2 with hammer gets off Death Row
    The state appealed the postconviction court's order and lost the appeal. The case was remanded to the trial court for a new penalty phase proceeding. That is far from getting off death row. That article headline is misleading.

    STATE OF FLORIDA v RAYMOND BRIGHT
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  9. #9
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    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

  10. #10
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Sister paints ugly portrait of killer’s childhood

    By Eileen Kelley
    The Florida Times-Union

    They were raised around heaps of junk by a hoarder father with a nasty temper and a taste for booze. Willie Bright kept tally of the little of indiscretions of his children.

    Whippings happened about every other day. And then there were the twice monthly all-out beatings.

    Willie Bright would use an electrical chord or belt and beat his son for hours in between reading Bible verses out loud.

    Bright’s sister and a psychologist painted the dismal picture of Raymond Curtis Bright’s early life.

    From the first sign of sunlight, Raymond Curtis Bright and his sibling were made to go out into the junkyard and pull parts from cars to ready them for salvage.

    Raymond Curtis Bright and his siblings would work until nightfall even on the day he accidentally set himself on fire as a child doing adult labor. With no plumbing and after working in the father’s junkyard day in and day out, the Bright children were taunted after showing up to school in soiled clothes. That was the way of life for the Raymond Curtis Bright from about the age 5 on.

    “Dad would holler at him and grit his teeth,” said Janice Jones, Raymond Curtis Bright’s sister, who called her brother by his middle name. “I think Curtis suffered more. … It’s like my dad preyed on the weak. Curtis was weaker.”

    With the exception of depression, Jones turned out OK.

    Her brother, who stuttered and wet his bed as a young man, did not.

    Until a Florida Supreme Court decision last year, Bright has been on Florida’s Death Row for killing two young men who apparently moved into his Jacksonville home in 2008. His case has been sent back to the lower court for a re-sentencing hearing where jurors must unanimously decide if 63-year-old should go back to Death Row.

    His case is the first time a Duval jury has taken up a death penalty case since the U.S. Supreme Court said Florida’s death penalty scheme was unconstitutional in early 2016.

    For the family members of Randall Brown, 16, and Derrick King, 20, the past two days in the courtroom have been emotional.

    Nine years has done little blunt the pain of losing a brother or a son, King and Brown’s family members told the jury Thursday.

    Sundays were about God and family time for Brown’s family. His mother, a preacher, made sure of that. It’s just not the same anymore, said Shannon Brown, his older sister

    “I miss his smile. I miss his voice. I even miss our arguing,” she said. “Losing Randall has changed my life forever.”

    As a young man. Derrick King stood close to his mom in the kitchen and watched over her shoulder as she cooked. He became fascinated with the thought of one day being able to cook for a bride, his mother, Carolyn Jaudon, said.

    “Now, I don’t even celebrate Mother’s Day anymore,” Jaudon said. “Without Derrick, there is no joy to me. … Our family is broken.”

    In addition to family, the jury Thursday heard testimony from three psychologists, including one who specializes in trauma.

    Steven Gold testified he spent six hours with Bright and administered a test that can measure the likelihood of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and a proclivity for risky behavior. Bright, Gold said, scored a 10 of 10, something rarely seen. He testified that even one factor, such as suffering psychological neglect, could put a person at risk.

    “He had all 10,” Gold said.

    Bright’s defense attorney asked Gold if post-traumatic stress disorder played a role in Bright’s case.

    “Yes it did,” said Gold. “… Mr. Bright constantly felt in danger. … He was prone to be especially anxious and worried.”

    Because of Hurricane Irma, the jury is in recess until noon Wednesday. At least one more defense witness will testify. It was not clear Thursday if Bright intends to take the stand Wednesday.

    After closing statements , a jury will decide if Bright deserves to spend the remainder of his life behind bars, or be sent back to death row.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/public-...er-s-childhood
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