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Thread: James Armando Card, Sr. - Florida

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    James Armando Card, Sr. - Florida




    Summary of Offense:

    James Card was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Janis Franklin on June 3, 1981. Janis Franklin, a clerk at Western Union in Panama City, was abducted from her office during a robbery on the afternoon of June 3, 1981. Franklin’s body, which was missing for over a day, was found about eight miles from the abduction site, off a dirt road in a secluded area. Her throat had been cut and her fingers were severed almost completely through. James Card called his friend, Vicky Elrod, in the early morning of June 3, 1981 and made plans to meet her with the intention of repaying the $50.00 he owed her. Elrod met Card at 9:30 that night and he repaid her the $50.00 from a stack of large bills.

    Card was first sentenced to death in Bay County on January 28, 1982 and was eventually re-sentenced to death on June 21, 1999.

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Factors Contributing to the Delay in the Imposition of the Sentence:

    After spending over 10 years on death row and filing numerous motions/appeals, Card filed a Motion to Vacate Judgment and Sentence (3.850) in the State Circuit Court to examine the sentencing procedure used during the penalty phase of his trial. The State Circuit Court granted the motion on remand from the Florida Supreme Court, which resulted in a new sentencing proceeding. Card’s sentence was vacated in 1997, and he was resentenced to death on 06/21/99, two years later. Card’s 3.851 Motion was pending from 06/30/03 – 06/09/06.

    Case Information:

    Card filed a Direct Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court on 02/15/82. In that appeal, Card argued that the trial court erred in failing to admit proffered testimony, which he claimed was exculpatory, and could have offered an alternative explanation for the crime. Card also contended that the court erred in its application of several aggravating factors. Upon consideration of issues raised, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentence of death on 06/07/84.

    On 09/19/84, Card filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on 11/05/84.

    On 05/07/86, Governor Bob Graham signed a death warrant, and the execution was set for 06/04/86.

    Card filed a Motion to Vacate Judgment and Sentence (3.850) in the State Circuit Court on 06/03/86, which was denied on the same day.

    Card filed a 3.850 Appeal and a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Florida Supreme Court after the denial of his 3.850 Motion in the Circuit Court. The Florida Supreme Court issued an emergency stay of execution on 06/03/86, in order to take sufficient time to review Card’s new filings. The Supreme Court denied all relief on 10/09/86, by affirming the denial of the 3.850 Appeal and denying the Habeas Petition.

    On 03/23/87 Card filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on 05/18/87.

    Governor Bob Martinez signed a second death warrant on 08/18/87.

    Card filed a Federal Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the United States District Court, Northern District, on 09/16/87. The District Court granted a stay of execution on 09/16/87 in order to examine Card’s petition. On 07/01/88, the District Court denied Card’s Habeas Petition and vacated the stay of execution.

    Card filed an appeal of the District Court’s decision in the United States Court of Appeal for the 11th Circuit on 09/01/88. On 09/04/90, upon examination of Card’s case, the Court of Appeals affirmed in part, but remanded for an evidentiary hearing regarding the examination of Card’s trial competency.

    The District Court again denied relief on 10/22/93 after holding an evidentiary hearing on the aforementioned matter and the Court of Appeals affirmed that decision on appeal.

    On 10/04/93, the United States Supreme Court denied Card’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari.

    On 03/11/92, Card filed a second 3.850 Motion, which was denied on 04/20/93. On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court remanded for an evidentiary hearing to examine the sentencing practices in the penalty phase of Card’s trial. In examining this issue, the Circuit Court found improper sentencing procedure, vacated Card’s death sentence and remanded for resentencing.

    The United States Supreme Court denied Certiorari on 10/07/96.

    Card was resentenced to death on 06/21/99. He again filed a Direct Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court claiming that the resentencing judge erred in not recusing herself, and the court erred in its application of aggravating factors and negation of mitigating evidence. Card also contended that the State’s closing statement was unfair and prejudiced the advisory sentencing of the jury. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence on 10/11/01.

    Card then filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on 06/28/02.

    Card filed a 3.851 Motion in the State Circuit Court on 06/30/03, which was amended on 04/02/04. On 06/09/06, the motion was denied.

    Card filed a 3.853 Motion in the State Circuit Court on 01/05/05, which was denied on 11/17/05.

    Card filed a 3.851 Motion Appeal and a 3.853 Motion Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court on 07/12/06, both of which were denied on 07/10/08.

    Card filed a 3.850 Motion Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court on 12/31/07 that was dismissed on 05/01/08.

    Card filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the United States District Court, Northern District, on 10/14/08. This petition was denied on 11/23/10.

    Card filed a Habeas Corpus Appeal in the United States Court of appeals for the 11th district on 12/22/10. That appeal is pending.

  3. #3
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    No. 11-7920 *** CAPITAL CASE ***
    Title:
    James Armando Card, Petitioner
    v.
    Kenneth S. Tucker, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections
    Docketed: December 20, 2011
    Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
    Case Nos.: (11-10123-P)
    Decision Date: July 21, 2011

    ~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Oct 14 2011 Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due January 19, 2012)
    Jan 18 2012 Brief of respondent Kenneth S. Tucker, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections in opposition filed.
    Feb 2 2012 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of February 17, 2012.
    Feb 21 2012 Petition DENIED.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/11-7920.htm

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    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Death sentence vacated by the Florida Supreme Court due to Hurst today.

    http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/d...7/sc17-453.pdf
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    Death sentence overturned in James Card case

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - James Armando Card will be coming back to Bay County for a new sentencing hearing in the coming months after the Supreme Court of Florida overturned his death sentence.

    In a 4-3 ruling issued May 4, Justices ruled James Armando Card, 70, should get a new sentencing hearing because his death sentence handed down in June of 1999 was 11-1, and not 12-0.

    Card was convicted of the June 3, 1981, kidnapping and murder of Janice Franklin. Card robbed the Western Union office where Franklin worked and kidnapped her. According to testimony during his trials, Card was armed with a knife when he robbed the Western Union office.

    During a struggle, Franklin's fingers were severely cut on both hands, almost severing several fingers on her right hand. Card forced Franklin in a car and drove eight miles to a wooded area where he promised he wouldn't hurt her.

    When they got to the wooded area, Card instead came up from behind her, grabbed her hair, pulled her hair back and slit her throat. The cut to her throat was two-and-a-half inches deep according to court testimony. It severed her windpipe and her esophagus and cut into the bone itself.

    Card stood over her and watched her bleed. Card and Franklin knew each other and according to the court it was particularly "wicked and vile" because "Franklin knew her attacker, had to suffer during the long drive from the wounds to her hand and must have been traumatized and terrorized during the whole process.... The defendant (Card) told Vicki Elrod that he even enjoyed it."

    Up next for Card is DNA testing ordered by the state which is being done by Florida Department of Law Enforcement on evidence from trial. Those results should be back within 8 weeks. A hearing on setting a date for a new penalty phase is set for mid-July.

    Card is one of Bay County's longest-tenured members of death row, having been there since 1982. Only Charles Kinney Foster whose been on Death Row since October of 1975 has been there longer.

    Card has already dodged two death warrants. Just a day before he was scheduled to die in 1986, the Supreme Court of Florida issued an emergency stay of execution, saying it need to take sufficient time to review new appeals from Card.

    On August 18,1987, then-Governor Bob Martinez signed another death warrant, but a district court granted Card another stay of execution on September 16, 1987.

    Since that time, another death warrant hasn't been signed for Card.

    http://www.wjhg.com/content/news/Dea...422031493.html

  6. #6
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Prosecutors: DNA tests backfire in 1981 murder

    By Zach McDonald
    The News Herald

    PANAMA CITY — Recent DNA testing did not clear a man condemned to death for a 1981 murder, but he still could see a new sentencing under Florida’s revised death penalty laws.

    Defense attorneys had hoped a DNA test might open the possibility of a new jury trial for James Armando Card, 70, who was convicted in 1982 of the robbery, kidnapping and first-degree murder of Janice Franklin. However, during a status conference Thursday regarding Card’s conviction and death sentence, prosecutors said the DNA tests appear to have backfired.

    “All of the DNA requested has been worked, and there are no big surprises there,” State Attorney’s Office Chief Deputy Larry Basford told the court Thursday. “The results were not only not exculpatory, but they could further incriminate him.”

    Card, who has been on death row for 35 years, was not present for Thursday’s status conference. Recent shakeups in Florida’s death penalty procedure opened up the chance for Card to argue against the death penalty, as the jury in his case sentenced him to death by an 11-1 margin, not the newly required unanimous vote after a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

    The Florida Supreme Court ruled May 4 that Card was deserving of a second penalty hearing. The court then sent the case back to the 14th Judicial Circuit, where it once again will be argued.

    A date has yet to be scheduled for the resentencing hearing. Card’s defense also has yet to announce whether they will further pursue a new trial.

    On June 3, 1981, Card had armed himself with a knife before robbing the Western Union office where Franklin worked, investigators said. During a struggle, Franklin’s fingers were severely cut on both hands, almost severing several fingers on her right hand.

    Card then forced Franklin in a car and drove 8 miles to a wooded area, where he promised he wouldn’t hurt her, according to investigators.

    When Card and Franklin arrived at the wooded area, Card instead came up from behind her, grabbed her hair, pulled her head back and slit her throat several inches deep. Investigators said Card then stood over Franklin, a woman he knew, and watched her bleed to death, later telling a friend he even enjoyed it.

    Card’s case is one of the oldest on death row from Bay County, second only to that of Charles Kenny Foster. So far, four cases in the circuit have been granted a new penalty phase while seven other people on death row are awaiting review, including Foster.

    http://www.newsherald.com/news/20170...in-1981-murder
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  7. #7
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    Death penalty changes cause families, jurors to relive cases

    “I thought justice had been served,” one juror said of her role in an 11-1 death penalty decision. But the convicted murderer now has a second chance at life. “I had nightmares during that time,” another said.

    By Zach McDonald
    Port St. Joe Star

    PANAMA CITY — As each of the 12 jurors rose to announce their decision, all but one looked James Armando Card in the eye and affirmed his condemnation to death.

    Several children were present in the courtroom that day as Pamela Pursley scanned the audience from the jury box. She recalled that during the trial, Card would glare at members of the jury and jot notes on a legal pad, seemingly sending a message of intimidation.

    “I had nightmares during that time,” Pursley said in an interview with The News Herald. “I’d just moved into an apartment on my own, and I had to go back home and stay with my parents.”

    It was the first and only time Pursley has been called to jury duty. She had registered to vote mere months before receiving the summons, which would lead to her participation in one of Bay County’s oldest and most brutal murder cases.

    On June 3, 1981, then-35-year-old Card had armed himself with a knife before robbing the Western Union office in Panama City where Janis Franklin worked. During a struggle, Franklin’s fingers were severely cut on both hands, with several fingers on her right hand almost severed. Card then forced Franklin into a car and drove 8 miles to a wooded area, where he — falsely — promised he wouldn’t hurt her.

    As Card’s kidnapping, armed robbery and first-degree murder trial unfolded, jurors learned that when they arrived at the wooded area, Card instead came up from behind Franklin, grabbed her hair, pulled her head back and slit her throat several inches deep.

    Card then stood over Franklin, a woman he knew, and watched her bleed to death, later telling a friend he even enjoyed it.

    Franklin’s body would remain undiscovered for almost a day, and Card remained at large for five days before being arrested.

    By the trial’s end, Pursley felt confident enough in the prosecution’s case to face Card and announce in open court that she was one of the 11 jurors who wanted him to be executed.

    “I thought justice had been served,” she said. “Based on the evidence, I felt he was very guilty. ... It was a senseless act, and I felt like it was my duty to society to get this guy off the streets. There was also a little bit of me wanting justice for (Franklin’s) two girls.”

    In the years that followed Card’s death sentence, Pursley regularly checked records to make sure he remained on death row.

    However, recent changes to the state’s death penalty procedures have reversed Pursley’s vote, and Card now is looking at a second chance at life.

    Card’s case is among 11 first-degree murder death sentences in the 14th Judicial Circuit, which includes Bay County, currently being considered for a new penalty phase or proceeding toward one. The cases were opened for reconsideration as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January 2016 that found Florida’s death penalty process unconstitutional. By the end of about a year-long debate in the Florida Legislature, lawmakers reached the agreement that capital punishment had to be levied unanimously by a jury, and a judge could not diverge from the jury’s verdict.

    The decision not only will apply to future Bay County murder cases, but also to those that have been pending for the 45-year modern era of the death penalty in Florida. It already has had significant effects on the lives of the victims’ families, as they now are being made to relive the brutal demises of their loved ones.

    However, family members on the other side — those related to inmates executed by the state — likewise suffer the emotional fallout from the system of the past.

    Card’s case is the second in Bay County’s history since the reinstatement of the death penalty. It is preceded only by that of Charles “Kenny” Foster, now 70, who was condemned to death in 1975 after he confessed to killing 65-year-old Julian Franklin Lanier and laughed about it on the witness stand.

    Although the jury returned a unanimous recommendation that Foster be executed for the crime, he has sat on death row appealing the outcome ever since. He now also is seeking a new sentencing phase despite the jury’s unanimous verdict.

    “While I can understand that the state doesn’t want to execute an innocent person, in this case that is not the question,” said Beatrice Long, Lanier’s niece. “This was a man who at his age was not new to the life of crime. ... I know what kind of person he was in some respects. I never knew he would ever meet my family and surely not my uncle.”

    Long said she is one of only three living relatives who witnessed Foster’s trial and are awaiting justice. She remembered the day before Lanier’s July 15, 1975, death when their family gathered supplies and prepared for a fishing trip in the morning.

    “My uncle wanted to make sure I would make the potato salad and cole slaw, of course,” Long said. ”... When he left my house, I never dreamed that he would be the victim a brutal attack and murder.”

    Lanier met then-29-year-old Foster at a bar in downtown Panama City that night. The two men had picked up two young women, who agreed to go elsewhere to drink and have sex for money.

    The four left for a wooded area east of Callaway to party in Lanier’s Winnebago. But, as Lanier began to undress with one girl, Foster struck him over the head, put a knife to his neck and slit his throat. Foster then dragged Lanier’s body into the bushes to cover it with pine branches and leaves before he noticed Lanier was still breathing. So Foster took the knife, cut Lanier’s spine at the base of his neck and stole his camper.

    Long said many of those closest to her uncle have died awaiting justice. Lanier’s daughter suffered from alcoholism after the trial and his son committed suicide, which Long directly attributed to the murder.

    Long said before Lanier’s murder, she didn’t think much about the death penalty. She is now a staunch supporter — in Foster’s case at least. Long said she hoped to witness it for before she passes away.

    “I’d like to see him die — look him in the eyes,” she said. “My Uncle Julian was the kindest, most generous person who ever walked this Earth ... If you needed anything, all you had to do was ask or let him find out and he would come to your aid, be it in person or anonymously. That’s the person that Kenny Foster brutally beat, slashed, buried alive and then went back, nearly decapitating him.”

    Since 1972, when Florida reinstated the death penalty, only 93 people have been executed by the state. In the Bay County area, of the 11 death row inmates, that number is zero.

    Nonetheless, its effects have been felt by local residents.

    In September 2002, guards strapped 40-year-old Michael Passaro to the crucifix-shaped gurney inside a South Carolina execution chamber. Moments after the lethal serum was administered, Passaro’s eyes glazed over and closed for the last time, and in about a minute, a subtle smile appeared upon his face. Gina Farthing, Passaro’s older sister and now a resident of Panama City, watched from the box alongside their mother. She said she considered it more similar to euthanasia than an execution.

    “It was more like relief,” Farthing said. “I started to cry, but I had to stop myself. I wanted him to see me smile. I wanted to wish him well on his journey.”

    Farthing said her brother led a troubled life with a history of mental illness before being convicted of killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Maggie, and sentenced to death.

    Passaro had attempted to commit suicide the Monday before Thanksgiving 1998 by setting fire to a vehicle with himself and his daughter inside, but Maggie was the only one to die in the blaze. In the course of the next four years of legal proceedings, prosecutors offered Passaro life in prison for what was considered a premeditated crime, which he declined in favor of being tried and executed by the state. Passaro also waived his automatic appeal with the state supreme court — an unprecedented decision in South Carolina.

    Ultimately, his death provided needed closure, both for Passaro and his family. Farthing said she was always close to and protective of her brother, so she understood his decision. But her parents, particularly her father, felt differently.

    “I had a different reaction. I was glad to see my brother go,” Farthing said. “My father didn’t. That was his son, and he did not want him to die.”

    The stances and circumstances of the case further sowed schisms within her family, Farthing said. The most surprising result of the entire case was the reaction from people they considered their neighbors, who treated the family as pariahs for supporting Passaro despite his actions.

    “There’s not just one side of a story,” Farthing said. “People will never know all the victims because some stay on the sidelines out of fear of ridicule. Even when people try to get the whole picture, they can only guess at best.”

    So far, five of the 11 pending death penalty cases in the 14th Judicial Circuit have been reversed and granted a new penalty phase. The State Attorney’s Office has announced its intention to again pursue the death penalty in two — that of a cop killer and the rapist and killer of a 13-year-old girl. Prosecutors also are pursuing the death penalty in three other cases that have yet to go to trial.

    For those personally affected by death penalty decisions, opinions vary.

    Farthing, who at one point was a corrections officer, said she always supported the death penalty. In the case of her brother, he was able to find the peace he sought through capital punishment. In other cases, she said, the decisions are sometimes clear cut.

    “I’ve always been grateful that our country has a death penalty. For me, it was a gift,” she said. “But murder is murder, whether by state or individual. I just wish it was not necessary and people treated each other as they would be treated.”

    For family members of victims, however, the possibility of a death sentence acts as a deterrent so others don’t suffer as they have. And many of them think those who already have been sentenced to death should receive swift punishment.

    “It upsets me that when laws are made that they are not abided by,” Long said. “This is why people never learn to respect the laws. There are very slim chances that a criminal will ever face the consequences for their actions that were put forth by the law.”

    Pursley added the reversals of the death penalties seemed to undermine the justice she thought she was attaining for the family and society.

    “I felt like what I thought was being kicked to the curb,” she said. “That was a heartbreaking trial. I hope (the death penalty) is upheld. It’s not fair to the family or the taxpayers.”

    http://www.starfl.com/news/20170924/...o-relive-cases
    "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."
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    "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.”
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  8. #8
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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