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  1. #1
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    Pinkney Wynton "Chip" Carter - Florida Death Row


    Elizabeth “Liz” Reed Smith
    Glenn Pafford
    Courtney Nicole Smith





    Summary of Offense:

    Pinkney Carter was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Elizabeth Reed Smith, Courtney Nicole Smith, and Glenn Pafford. Pinkney “Chip” Carter and Elizabeth “Liz” Reed Smith met in July 1998 at a Publix Supermarket in Jacksonville where they worked. Reed was married with four children, but she had separated from her husband earlier that year. Carter and Reed began dating, and, in the fall of that year, they began living together along with Reed’s four children. In 1999, Reed, with a significant amount of financial help from Carter, bought a house in Jacksonville. They lived there for more than two years, during which time her divorce was finalized, and Carter continued to help with the house payments. Carter, Reed, and Reed’s children did things together, such as going on trips to Universal studios, Disney World, Busch Gardens, and Six Flags over Georgia. Carter went hunting in Georgia with Richard, Reed’s oldest son, and went to his baseball games. Carter, Reed, and Reed’s children spent Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter together. Carter and Liz had arguments from time to time. They would break up and then get back together. During these separations the two remained friends. The couple never had a definitive final separation; instead, they remained close and talked about getting back together. They saw each other often. Cynthia Starling, Carter’s sister, testified Carter wanted to make the relationship work.

    During this time, Reed had serious financial problems. In the fall of 2001, she fell three months behind in the mortgage payments on her home. By January 2002, she and Carter had reconciled, and he moved back into the house and immediately paid the delinquent mortgage amounts, as well as the current month’s bill. In total, he gave the bank $2800. He then asked Reed to marry him and gave her a one-carat diamond ring, which she accepted. In April and May, they went on a cruise together. In May, however, Carter moved out again. Liz called off the engagement and returned the ring. Carter considered this move only a trial separation. He testified, “I still loved her…wanted to be with her, but you know, we had a difference of opinion.” Reed had not cleanly broken off with Carter, and he would come to his house on their days off and have sex with him. According to Carter, “That was our normal thing whenever she came over.”

    Reed, however, was dating other men, and Carter learned by June or July 2002 that she was seeing Glenn Pafford, who managed the Publix where she worked. By July 2002, she had been dating him for a couple of months. Carter sometimes watched the house and saw Pafford’s truck parked there. Reed visited with Carter on Sunday July 20, and they had sex as usual. She was happy and in a good mood, according to Carter. Before leaving, she agreed to meet him at a restaurant on Tuesday, July 22. She also gave him some prescription strength antidepressant pills. On Tuesday, she never showed up for the date. On July 23, Carter drove by Reed’s house and saw Reed’s car and Pafford’s truck parked in front of the house. He left and went home.

    Carter took the pills Reed had given him and drank four or five glasses of whiskey. He had been up since the previous night, well over 30 hours, but could not get to sleep. Carter testified that he “just wanted to know why” Reed was seeing Pafford while still having intimate relations with him. At approximately 11:30 p.m. on July 23, 2002, Carter called Reed. Reed’s 14-year-old son, Richard, answered the phone and told him his mother was not there. Having just driven by, Carter knew that was a lie. Carter drove to Reed’s house. As he got out of his truck at her house, he took with him a .22-caliber rifle he kept in the back seat of his truck. He testified that he did so because he wanted to use the gun as a way to get answers and that he had no intention to shoot anyone. Carter had bought the rifle in December 1977 while stationed with the Air Force in Oklahoma. It was a loaded 16-shot semi-automatic rifle that already had one round in the chamber.

    As he approached the home, Pafford and Reed came outside. “… as I was approaching the door, it was real dark, and the door came open, and Mr. Pafford walked out, and Liz Reed was standing in the door at that time. . . . And then I asked Liz Reed, I said, ‘Liz, why are you still coming to see me if you’re seeing Mr. Pafford too?’ And then Mr. Pafford said, “Are you still seeing him?” And Liz Reed said, ‘No,’ and she did like I was crazy, a motion like I was crazy. And then Mr. Pafford said, ‘Do you want me to stay?’ And Liz Reed said, ‘No, I just want both of you to leave.’ I told her I’m not leaving until I get some answers. She already had opened it, but she opened it more for me to come in, and I’m not sure if she opened it for Mr. Pafford too, but I know he came in.” Because of the darkness, neither Pafford nor Reed saw the rifle, which the defendant was holding by his side to hide as much as possible.

    Once inside, Reed saw the gun and grabbed it with both hands and tried to pull it from Carter. They struggled as Courtney, Reed’s 16-year-old daughter, came into the living room. Richard, who was in his room, heard a single shot then a female saying, “Call 911. Oh my God, call 911.” He thought it sounded like his sister, but said it could have been his mother who called for help, and he later testified he was uncertain who it was. Richard then heard more shots. Richard testified he ran into the room with his BB gun. He saw his sister Courtney on the floor. He tried to talk to her but she only made gurgling sounds. His mother was lying against the wall. He stepped over his sister and went to his mother. His mother wasn’t moving and wasn’t making any noise. Mr. Pafford was behind the couch. He could tell that Mr. Pafford was also dead. Richard called 911.

    A rescue unit responded and took Courtney to a hospital where she died two days later. Reed and Pafford died instantly. The chief medical examiner, Dr. Margarita Arruza, testified that Pafford died from three gunshot wounds to the head. Pafford’s body exhibited no defensive wounds. Reed died from two gunshot wounds, both to her left ear. Dr. Areford performed the autopsy on Smith’s body, and testified that Smith died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Carter returned home and then fled to the Mexican border in Texas. By August 5th, he was at the Rio Grande River in Texas. He left his truck on the American side, threw the murder weapon in the river, and tried to cross into Mexico, but the Mexican military stopped and arrested him.

    He was released some days later and went to the Central American countries of Belize and Guatemala. Detective Charles Ford of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department testified he went to Texas to recover the defendant’s truck, and he supervised a dive team that recovered the defendant’s rifle from the Rio Grande. FDLE forensic technicians determined that the cartridges found at the crime scene came from the recovered rifle.

    Carter returned to the United States. He worked in Kentucky as a roofer, under an assumed name. Eventually Carter was arrested by the Kentucky State Police. He claimed that the shooting of Courtney Smith was an accident and that the murders of Glenn Pafford and Elizabeth Reed were not premeditated.

    Carter was sentenced to death in Duval County on December 22, 2005.

  2. #2
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    Case Information:

    On 01/25/06, the defendant raised the following issues in a direct appeal: unconstitutionality of abolishing the voluntary intoxication defense; lack of premeditation; improper jury instruction; disproportionate weight of aggravating factors; sentencing order’s lack of clarity; violation of the state’s agreement with Mexico; unconstitutionality of death penalty. The appeal was denied on 02/14/08.

    On 07/02/08, Carter filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the United States Supreme Court that was denied on 10/14/08.

    On 10/13/09, Carter filed a 3.850 and a 3.851 motion in the circuit court that is pending.

  3. #3
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    High Court justices frown at death penalty appeal

    A Jacksonville man who killed his ex-girlfriend, her daughter and her new boyfriend has made another appeal, with his attorney arguing Thursday that the Florida Supreme Court should throw out his death penalty.

    Pinkney “Chip” Carter was convicted of three counts of murder in 2005. The jury found he drove to his ex-girlfriend’s Arlington home and shot and killed the victims.

    Liz Reed, his ex-girlfriend, was 35.

    Her boyfriend, Glenn Pafford, was 49.

    Her daughter, Courtney Smith, was 16.

    Carter appealed his convictions, but the Florida Supreme Court upheld them in 2008.

    This time, Carter’s attorney, Frank Tassone, argued his trial attorneys didn’t do a good enough job when arguing against the death penalty.

    The attorneys should’ve brought in mental health experts to testify that Carter was experiencing a mental or emotional disturbance.

    “Essentially what they [the attorneys] did was put on what I call a ‘good guy’ defense,” Tassone said. “He took the stand. He admitted what happened. But let me tell you what a good guy he is.”

    A good guy defense, Tassone argued, is ineffective and was the reason Carter was sentenced to death.

    The Florida Supreme Court justices weren’t buying it.

    “It appears to me that it may not be the choice you would have made,” said Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente, “but it was a reasonable strategic decision.”

    Besides, Justice Charles Canady said, if the mental health experts testified, it would’ve come out that Carter had previously taken a knife to an ex-wife’s throat, and that he was declared a sexual deviant.

    “They could have explained why these situations, why he exploded the way he did, not only with regard to the instant offenses, but with regard to those past offenses as well,” Tassone said.

    “He was just blinded by jealousy,” Pariente said.

    After the argument, Tassone said the Supreme Court obviously doesn’t agree with him. The court has not ruled, but he said if the justices affirm the death penalty, he will file a petition in federal court.

    http://members.jacksonville.com/news...penalty-appeal

  4. #4
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    PINKNEY CARTER vs. STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's opinions, the Florida Supreme Court AFFIRMED the circuit court's DENIAL of Carter's petition for post-conviction relief.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  5. #5
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    July 2, 2015

    Florida Supreme Court rejects appeal by Jacksonville Death Row inmate Pinkney 'Chip' Carter

    By Larry Hannan
    The Florida Times-Union

    The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a Jacksonville man who killed his ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend and her daughter.

    Pinkney “Chip” Carter, now 60, was convicted of three counts of murder in 2005. The jury found he drove to his ex-girlfriend’s Arlington home and shot and killed the victims. Liz Reed, his ex-girlfriend, was 35; her boyfriend, Glenn Pafford, was 49; and her daughter, Courtney Smith, was 16.

    The murders occurred in 2002. All were shot with a .22-caliber rifle Carter said he took to the home to get answers from Reed about their break-up. Reed and Pafford died instantly, and Smith died later in a hospital.

    The jury voted 9-3 for death for killing Pafford and 8-4 for death for killing Reed. Circuit Judge Lance Day sentenced Carter to two death sentences for those murders and gave him a life sentence for killing Smith.

    Attorney Frank Tassone argued that Carter’s trial attorneys didn’t do a good enough job defending him, saying attorneys should’ve brought in mental-health experts to testify that Carter was experiencing a mental or emotional disturbance.

    Carter was defended at trial by Bill White, who was then the elected public defender in Jacksonville, and former Assistant Public Defender Alan Chipperfield.

    But the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the death sentence, finding that Carter’s trial counsel did investigate his mental health, retain experts and had full psychological evaluations done.

    The defense team had previously said it did not call these mental-health experts during Carter’s penalty phase because the conclusion reached by them would not have helped. Attorneys instead attempted to argue that Carter was a good guy who deserved life in prison over death.

    Introducing the experts also would have allowed prosecutors to produce more evidence of Carter’s violent past. For example, Carter once held a knife to an ex-wife’s throat and was declared a sexual deviant.

    After the murders, Carter fled Jacksonville, traveling through several states before ditching the murder weapon in the Rio Grande and swimming to Mexico, where he was arrested for entering the country illegally. He was released by Mexican authorities after paying a fine and then disappeared.

    Carter was finally arrested Jan. 6, 2004, near Paducah, Ky., where he was working as a roofer under the alias of Rodney Vonthun. He had been picked up earlier for being drunk in public and was released the next day. But an alert Kentucky state trooper later recognized his photo on an FBI wanted poster in another police station.

    This was Carter’s second appeal, the Florida Supreme Court rejected a previous appeal in 2008.

    Lawyers for Carter will likely begin appealing the decision in federal court.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...ath-row-inmate

  6. #6
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On October 7, 2015, Carter filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/fl...cv01198/315943

  7. #7
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    Related:

    Carlie Brucia killer gets new sentencing hearing

    The Sarasota Herald-Tribune

    The Florida Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new sentencing hearing for a man who killed 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Sarasota County in a case that drew national attention.

    Justices issued a unanimous, one-paragraph order directing a new hearing for Joseph Smith, now 55, who was convicted in the 2004 murder. The order came more than two months after Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office acknowledged in a court filing that Smith should be resentenced because of rulings last year by the Supreme Court in other cases.

    Those rulings came after a series of complicated death penalty developments that began in early 2016 when the U.S. Supreme Court found Florida’s death penalty system unconstitutional because it gave too much authority to judges, instead of juries, in imposing death sentences.

    The attorney general’s office in March also acknowledged the need for new sentencing hearings for several other convicted murderers. Along with Smith, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered new hearings for David Sylvester Frances, Pinkney W. Carter, Gerald Delane Murray and Brandon Lee Bradley.

    https://heraldtribune.com/story/news...ng/5099263001/

  8. #8
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Carter was resentenced to death according to the Florida Department of Corrections official death row list.

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