Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 34

Thread: Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. - Florida

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Fla. justices hearing death sentence appeal in murder of couple who had 9 special needs kids

    An attorney for a man sentenced to die for the 2009 double murder of a Panhandle couple told the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday that the man should get a new trial because prosecutors prejudiced jurors by putting an imaginary script about what happened on the night of the killings in their minds.

    Attorney Jose Rodriquez argued before the high court in Tallahassee that jurors convicted Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. in the deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings and recommended the death penalty because a prosecutor told jurors the couples' final thoughts must have about the safety of their nine young disabled children who were in the home.

    Gonzalez was accused of leading several men dressed like ninjas who robbed and killed the Billings in their Pensacola home as their children slept or cowered nearby in 2009. The children suffer from such ailments as Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome and autism.

    Circuit Judge Nickolas Geeker sentenced Gonzalez after a jury voted 10-2 to recommend the death penalty.

    Other defendants, including Gonzalez's father, received lesser penalties.

    The invaders took a safe but it contained nothing of value. A second safe that they missed contained $164,000, court records show. The children were not physically harmed.

    Gonzalez's attorney said prosecutors could not have known what the couple was thinking about before they were killed.

    "He inserted an imaginary script into the mind of Mrs. Billings about what might happen to the children," Rodriquez said.

    But Justice Charles Canady disagreed. Canady said it was logical to that Melanie Billings' last thoughts would have been fear for the safety of the young children, especially because she had just watched as her husband gunned down.

    Rodriquez also argued that prosecutors should not have said that the couple was "executed," but rather described their deaths for the jury.

    But Canady said Byrd Billings was clearly executed as the men sought information about his safe. Billings was shot twice in his legs and in his head.

    "The facts in this case cry out that it was an execution-style killing," Canady said.

    Attorney Meredith Charbula spoke for the prosecution and said that the Billings' children were real, not an imagined part of the crime. Carbula said surveillance cameras throughout the Billings' property showed that some of the nine children saw the masked men enter the home.

    "The children were part of the aggravating circumstances of this case," Charubula said.

    One of the children went to a nearby home for help after the masked men left.

    "You don't need to imagine anything to know that the children add to the heinous, atrocious and aggravating circumstances of this case," Justice Barbara Pariente said.

    The court will issue a written ruling on the case at a later date.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...a-Couple-Slain
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  2. #22
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    LEONARD PATRICK GONZALEZ JR. v. THE STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's opinions, the Florida Supreme Court AFFIRMED Gonzalez's convictions and sentences of death on direct appeal.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  3. #23
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Article

    Billings Murderer On Death Row

    The Florida Supreme Court has upheld both the convictions and sentences for one of the men who killed a Pensacola-area couple back in 2009.

    The justices unanimously found today that the convictions of 40 year old Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. were supported by competent, substantial evidence, and rejected his appeal.

    Gonzalez was part of a group of people who broke into the Escambia County home of Byrd and Melanie Billings on July 9, 2009.

    They believed the couple had a large amount of cash in the house and planned to rob them.

    But during the robbery they shot and killed the Billings.

    In 2011, a jury found Gonzalez guilty of two counts of first degree murder and one count of armed home invasion robbery.

    The judge followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Gonzalez to death row for both murders.

    http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/B...254892691.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  4. #24
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    In today's orders, the US Supreme Court has DENIED Gonzalez's certiorari petition.

    Docketed: July 7, 2014
    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Florida
    Case Nos.: (SC11-475)
    Decision Date: April 10, 2014

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es\14-5071.htm

  5. #25
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Related

    Billings Murder Getaway Driver Gonzalez, Sr. Denied Early Release

    Early release from prison has been denied Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Sr., who was convicted in the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings and then sentenced to 17½ years. He will be required to serve the remainder of his sentence.

    According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Gonzalez, Sr. has a terminal illness and has less than one year to live. He is now in a wheelchair and needs assistance to complete ordinary daily activities.

    The State Attorney’s Office opposed the request.

    In total, eight people were convicted for planning and participating in the Beulah murders, including Gonzalez, Sr.’s son Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. An Escambia County Jury convicted Gonzalez, Jr. to two counts of first degree murder and one count of home invasion robbery with a firearm. Gonzalez, Jr. received two death penalties and a life sentence and remains on Florida’s death row.

    The special needs children that were at home during the July 9, 2009, murder of their adoptive parents have been adopted by the Billings’ older daughter Ashley Markham.

    http://www.northescambia.com/2015/03...-early-release
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  6. #26
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. could be re-sentenced for Billings' murders under new law

    By Emma Kennedy
    The Pensacola News-Journal

    The mastermind behind the 2009 brutal killing of a couple in their Beulah home could be re-sentenced under the state's new death penalty laws.

    Attorneys for Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. are pushing for re-sentencing in light of a recent Florida law that mandates a jury unanimously impose the death sentence. A jury in 2010 sentenced Gonzalez to death in a 10-2 vote.

    If a judge approves the defense's request, a new jury would decide if Gonzalez should remain on death row or if he should serve a life sentence. Either way, his guilty conviction would remain.

    Gonzalez was convicted in 2010 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of home invasion robbery with a firearm. Gonzalez led a group of men who organized a 2009 home invasion on a Beulah property they believed held a safe containing millions of dollars.

    During the attack, Byrd and Melanie Billings were fatally shot multiple times in their master bedroom. The home was under video surveillance to keep an eye on the couple's nine children, who were at home at the time of the murders.

    The master bedroom was the only room in the home that wasn't recorded, according to court records. The Billings had 17 children, 13 of them adopted and with various disabilities.

    One of the children alerted a caregiver — who lived in a trailer on the property — when they found their parents dead. Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded and during the investigation traced weapons, shell casings and DNA back to the group of men who were ultimately convicted of the crime.

    After the jury voted to impose the death penalty, Circuit Judge Nicholas Geeker in 2011 sentenced Gonzalez to death.

    Court records show Gonzalez almost immediately began appeal proceedings, urging the courts to reconsider his conviction and death sentence.

    In April 2014, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld his death sentence, finding that despite Gonzalez's claim of errors in his trial, evidence supported the conviction.

    During the hearing Wednesday, Gonzalez's defense attorney and state presented arguments about whether his death sentence should be upheld in light of recent law changes.

    In the local case Hurst v. Florida, the defense claimed it was unconstitutional for a judge, rather than a jury, to sentence a defendant to death.

    In January 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed and found that Florida's death penalty laws violated the Sixth Amendment. For roughly a year, legislators decided to allow a 10-2 majority of jurors to impose a death sentence. In March, lawmakers decided juries must unanimously agree on a death sentence.

    Pensacola convicted killer Willie James Hodges has already been granted a re-sentencing hearing under the new guidelines. Florida Supreme Court justices agreed the Hurst ruling should be retroactively applied to his jury decision. In his first-degree murder case, the jury sentenced him to death on a vote of 10-2, the same number as in Gonzalez's case.

    Gonzalez is now attempting to apply the same ruling to his own case.

    In court Wednesday, Assistant State Attorney John Molchan and Gonzalez's attorney Eric Pinkard agreed that the new law would likely apply to Gonzalez's case, which would pave the way for re-sentencing.

    Assistant Attorney General Berdene Beckles claimed that based on the evidence presented at trial a jury would have found enough aggravating factors to send Gonzalez to death.

    In a death penalty case, a jury must weigh aggravating factors presented by the state against mitigating factors presented by the defense. An aggravating factor could be something like a prior felony — Gonzalez was convicted of robbery before the Billings murders — and a mitigating factor could be hardships in the defendant's history, such as Gonzalez's behavioral issues that were presented during trial. Both factors were brought up during Gonzalez's trial.

    Because Geeker presided over that trial, the retired judge will decide on Gonzalez's re-sentencing.

    Geeker said he would take the state's and defense's arguments under advisement and would issue a ruling as soon as possible.

    http://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/...ers/100905208/

  7. #27
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Death Penalty Overturned In Billings Murder Case

    PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) – A Florida Circuit Court Judge has vacated the death sentence imposed on Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. for the 2009 robbery and murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings.

    Escambia County Circuit Court Judge Nikolas Geeker ordered a new penalty phase on the two counts of murder. In 2010, a jury voted 10-2 for the death penalty and in early 2011 the court sentenced Gonzalez to death on the murder charges and life in prison for the home invasion robbery.

    Judge Geeker cited the Florida Supreme Court decision in Hurst v. Florida as grounds to set aside the sentences imposed. No hearing date has been set yet.

    Gonzalez and four other men – Frederick Thorton, Rakeem Florence, Donnie Stallworth and Wayne Coldiron – invaded the Billings home from three different entry points on the night of July 9, 2009. The men intended to steal a safe that they believed contained $13-Million.

    The Billings home was equipped with an extensive surveillance system and the crime was captured on video, with the exception of the actual murders, which occurred in the master bedroom where there were no cameras.

    http://wkrg.com/2017/05/26/death-pen...s-murder-case/

  8. #28
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Billings murders: Gonzalez's death penalty resentencing could be year away

    By Emma Kennedy
    The Pensacola News-Journal

    A resentencing for the death row inmate who was found guilty of killing local couple Byrd and Melanie Billings could be more than a year away as the court waits on appeal proceedings.

    Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., 43, was sentenced to death for the 2009 murders, but was recently granted a resentencing under Florida's revised death penalty laws.

    Gonzalez was convicted in 2010 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of home invasion robbery with a firearm.

    He led a group of men who forced their way into the Billings' home in Beulah in July 2009 and gunned down the couple during an attempted robbery. The couple had 17 children, 13 of them adopted. Nine of the children were home at the time of the murders.

    The jury in Gonzalez's case imposed the death penalty in a 10-2 vote, a move that has been deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Lawmakers changed the state's death penalty laws at this year's legislative session to mandate a unanimous jury recommendation in death penalty cases.

    Gonzalez didn't appear in Escambia County court Wednesday for a status conference in his case, but his attorney, Eric Pinkard, spoke in court via telephone. Retired Judge Nicholas Geeker, who presided over the original trial, is handling the case.

    Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said there likely won't be any more developments in the resentencing case until the appeals process is complete.

    Gonzalez is appealing on a number of allegations, including that his lawyer at trial was ineffective, and that Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan inappropriately engaged with the jury during the trial.

    Gonzalez also claims that due to the high-profile nature of his case, his trial should have been held elsewhere as the local area was "saturated" with media reports. Marcille said the judge denied the post-conviction relief motion without a hearing, so an appeal now goes to the Florida Supreme Court. Marcille said if the Supreme Court rules in Gonzalez's favor, he could be entitled to another hearing, which may get him a new sentencing or an entirely new trial.

    If that appeal is denied and concluded, the resentencing phase can continue at the circuit court level. In that instance, Gonzalez's guilty conviction would remain, but a new jury would re-hear the case's evidence and decide whether he should be again sentenced to death or whether he should serve a life sentence.

    "The only issue before the jury would be whether or not the sentence of death or life is appropriate, but we would need to present the facts again," Marcille said.

    Pinkard was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

    http://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/...way/491990001/

  9. #29
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    LEONARD P. GONZALEZ, JR., v STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's Florida Supreme Court opinions, Gonzalez's petition for post-conviction relief was denied.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  10. #30
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    FRANCE
    Posts
    3,073
    Mastermind behind Billings murder case loses appeal but could still avoid execution

    By Kevin Robinson
    The Pensacola News-Journal

    Leonard Gonzalez Jr., the mastermind behind the 2009 murders of Beulah philanthropists Byrd and Melanie Billings, had an appeal denied by the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday.

    The finding means that Gonzalez is out of chances to appeal his convictions in the two murders. However, the case is not quite closed as jurors still have to determine whether Gonzalez's current death sentence will stand.

    In July 2009, Gonzalez led a group of men who forced their way into the Billings' home in black "ninja garb" and gunned the couple down during an attempted robbery. The couple had 17 children — 13 of them adopted and many of them with special needs — and nine of kids were home at the time of the murders.

    Gonzalez was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to death in a 10-2 jury vote. In April 2014, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld his death sentence, finding that despite Gonzalez's claim of errors in his trial, evidence supported the conviction.

    Still, Gonzalez and many other Florida inmates got an unexpected second chance from the Supreme Court of the U.S. in 2016. That year, Supreme Court justices struck down Florida's capital sentencing process as unconstitutional. The ruling — based on the Pensacola case Hurst v. Florida — found that juries must be unanimous when issuing a death sentence.

    In the wake of the SCOTUS ruling, Gonzalez was one of the many Florida death row inmates who petitioned the courts for "Hurst relief," a repeat penalty phase where a new group of jurors would decide the question of life or death.

    Gonzalez's Hurst appeal was unique in that he also re-raised two of his previously rejected claims: that his counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to seek a new venue for his trial in the midst of "inflammatory media coverage," and that Sheriff David Morgan "interfered" with the case through his then-customary practice of greeting prospective jurors outside the courthouse.

    Appellate judges found both of Gonzalez's claims legally insufficient, and the Florida Supreme Court's opinion Thursday upheld that finding.

    State Attorney Bill Eddins said that Gonzalez still has a window to fight this decision before it becomes final, but that "once it becomes final, we will be ready for trial court to schedule a re-trial on the penalty portion of the case to determine what penalty — life or death — is appropriate."

    The penalty phase will consist of prosecutors presenting the majority of that was originally shown to jurors in the 2010 trial. Jurors will not be tasked with deciding Gonzalez's guilt or innocence, only whether he should be sentenced to life or death based on the aggravating and mitigating factors of the crime.

    Eddins said the new penalty phase will grant Gonzalez a renewed set of appeals related strictly to that specific hearing. But even then, the best possible outcome available to Gonzalez would be life imprisonment.

    https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2018/...th/1289557002/
    Last edited by CharlesMartel; 09-14-2018 at 10:35 PM. Reason: spacing
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •