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Thread: Reynaldo Figueroa Sanabria - Florida

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    Reynaldo Figueroa Sanabria - Florida







    Trial to begin in St. Pete double murder on houseboat

    After more than six years, the handyman accused of killing John Travlos, 75, and Germana Morin, 74, will go to court. If convicted, Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria could face the death penalty

    By Kathryn Varn
    Tampa Bay Times

    The boat was called the Relax-Inn.

    Its occupants, John Travlos and his longtime friend Germana Morin, were doing just that, living out Travlos’ dream of retiring on a houseboat, spending time with his grandchildren. He built a slide onto the back of the 72-foot vessel, docked at a St. Petersburg marina, so his kid grandson could swish down into the water.

    “They loved it. It was second home to them,” said Michelle Robinson, Travlos’ stepdaughter and the mother of two of his grandchildren.

    Their idyllic weekends on the Relax-Inn ended abruptly on the morning of April 12, 2013. A home healthcare worker boarded the boat to find Travlos, 75, and Morin, 74, stabbed to death inside the master bedroom. Police quickly identified a handyman and friend to the couple, Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria, as the likely culprit and arrested him on two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

    After 6½ years, his case will go to trial Tuesday.

    A lot can happen in that time. Lawsuits can be lobbed back and forth, then settled. A court file can pile up with transcripts and delays and attorney turnovers. A grandson can grow up, his 18th birthday falling the day before the trial start date.

    “We feel that people have forgotten about it, what it’s all about — that they were people,” said Robinson, 52.

    Travlos and his wife, Judith, moved in 1989 to St. Petersburg from Long Island, Robinson said. He started Island Automated Medical Services, a medical support business that Robinson and her siblings went on to work for over the years.

    Travlos raised Robinson and her brothers as his own from when she was 11. He was a loving father and always someone she could go to for advice, she said. The family was close, working together and spending quality time on holidays and weekends.

    A string of tragedies for the family began in 2006. Robinson’s husband died from a heart condition. Then, in 2010, her mother — Travlos’ wife —died of lung cancer.

    “A lot of death has hit our family. We’ve managed to get through it and accept it, except for Poppy," Robinson said, referring to the name her son called his grandfather.

    Robinson’s children, especially her son, grew close to their grandfather. They also got to know the handyman, Figueroa-Sanabria. He would join them on the boat for dinner sometimes, Robinson said. Neighbors often saw him riding Travlos’ golf cart back and forth to his apartment from the Loggerhead Marina at 5821 32nd Way S.

    So it was not only grief but a feeling of betrayal that rocked the family as details of the apparent murders began to spill out. St. Petersburg police said at the time it was a crime motivated by robbery.

    According to court records, Figueroa-Sanabria’s girlfriend told investigators that, on the day the couple was found, she had picked him up early that morning near the marina and driven him to several places, including a 7-Eleven, a jewelry store and a car rental business.

    Detectives found two shirts and a pair of jeans in the convenience store trash bin. Testing showed blood on the clothes matched Travlos and Morin. DNA matching Travlos was also found on the floor of the car in which Figueroa-
    Sanabria’s girlfriend picked him up, and duct tape from the scene of the crime was tied to Figueroa-Sanabria.

    At the jewelry store, the handyman sold a necklace and bracelet belonging to Travlos. He mailed more jewelry to his brother in Utica, N.Y.

    At the car rental shop, Figueroa-Sanabria rented a 2004 Ford Taurus and took off, police said. He was stopped about 1 a.m. April 14, 2013, on Interstate 95 in North Carolina. He told officers he was headed to family in New York.

    The case has gone through starts and stops ever since. Death penalty cases were put on hold in 2016 because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida’s capital punishment procedure unconstitutional. The first two assigned prosecutors went on to become judges. And more delays: DNA testing, wrangling uncooperative witnesses, Figueroa-Sanabria wanting to represent himself.

    After all this time, Robinson and her family are ready. She said she hopes Figueroa-Sanabria, now 47, gets the death penalty.

    “I just pray," she said, “that he gets what he’s got coming to him."

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/...-on-houseboat/
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "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.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    St. Pete houseboat murder prosecution begins with focus on timeline

    Opening statements key on the accused killer’s movements, from an early morning phone call to an arrest in North Carolina

    By Josh Solomon
    Tampa Bay Times

    LARGO — The lawyer started with the crime scene, taking jurors through the houseboat as if they were accompanying the woman searching.

    The woman — who had an appointment aboard the boat that morning, April 12, 2013, with vessel owner John Travlos and his longtime friend Germana Morin — called out.

    “No response,” Assistant State Attorney Rene Bauer said during her opening statement.

    So the woman disembarked from the Relax-Inn at slip 89 in the Loggerhead Marina near Maximo Park in St. Petersburg and got a man who was also there with her. They re-entered the boat together and again called out for Travlos and Morin.

    “No response,” Bauer said to the jury from the podium inside courtroom 6 at the Pinellas County Justice Center.

    The pair made their way to the master bedroom, at the stern of the boat. It was pitch dark from blackout curtains. The woman felt her way to the windows and pulled back the drapes to let in some light.

    “There they saw (Morin) laying dead, laying there at the end of the bed, with her ankles bound by duct tape,” Bauer said.

    Morin, 74, had been cut “ear to ear,” Bauer told jurors. Investigators later found Travlos, 75, also bound by duct tape. He had been stabbed 11 times.

    Now, marina handyman Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria, accused in the pair’s murder, is standing trial, charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Testimony in his case began Tuesday after four days of jury selection. If convicted, Figueroa-Sanabria could receive the death penalty.

    Figueroa-Sanabria, now 47, has spent six years in the Pinellas County jail awaiting his day in court through lawyer turnover and other delays. He wore a purple shirt and his hair in a bun as the prosecutor laid out every detail for jurors. He sat at the end of an extended defense table, lengthened to accommodate his three lawyers.

    Bauer then started the timeline over, this time from the perspective of Figueroa-Sanabria and his girlfriend.

    The day before Travlos and Morin were found dead, the handyman had been painting the roof of Travlos’ boat, Bauer said. He left about 7 p.m. and walked to his nearby apartment where he had dinner and watched television with his girlfriend. When she fell asleep at 1 or 2 a.m. that night, Bauer told jurors, Figueroa-Sanabria was next to her in bed.

    She woke up to a call from Figueroa-Sanabria at 4:15 a.m., Bauer said. He was panicked, and asked her to pick him up on a street near the marina. She arrived in a white Astrovan. He was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a black hoodie and what appeared to be a backpack underneath his sweatshirt, Bauer said.

    Then Bauer listed the cell phone pings, revealing a frantic narrative.

    At 4:44 a.m., Figueroa-Sanabria called his brother who lived in Utica, N.Y.

    From 5:07 a.m. to 5:20 a.m., Figueroa-Sanabria and his girlfriend drove near St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. They stopped at a 7-11 convenience store on Roosevelt Boulevard and he threw something in a dumpster. Then they returned to their apartment near the marina.

    He called his brother more, called 411 for information on bus stations and rental care companies, and called David Reynolds Jewelry and Coin. At 9 a.m. the couple was at an Enterprise rent-a-car on 34th Street S in St. Petersburg before going to the jeweler on Central Avenue near 40th Street. That’s where he sold a 14-carat necklace and bracelet that had belonged to Travlos for $2,569. Then they went to a Bank of America branch and deposited $800 into his checking account, Bauer said. The day before, his balance was only $10 and he had written a $775 rent check from that account, according to the prosecutor.

    Next, Figueroa-Sanabria, rented a Ford Taurus, and, now alone, went to Walmart to buy a GPS unit. He texted his brother, Bauer said, asking for his address in Utica. Then he started driving.

    His phone pinged in Tampa, in Orlando, in Palm Coast. At one point he pulled off the interstate to mail a 13-pound package to his brother.

    He was finally pulled over in North Carolina at 1 a.m. the next morning. He told the officers who took him in that he was headed to New York.

    Having covered the steps to Figueroa-Sanabria’s arrest, Bauer told jurors that the evidence against him is profound: his DNA on the duct tape used to bind Travlos and Morin, Travlos’ blood on the carpet of the Astrovan, the victims’ blood on his clothes.

    “At the conclusion of the state’s presentation, when you consider all the facts and evidence that we present," Bauer said before wrapping her opening statement, “the state believes that you will find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant murdered John Travlos and Germana Morin.”

    Figueroa-Sanabria’s attorney, Keith Hammond, then gave a brief opening statement. He said Figueroa-Sanabria is not guilty and called all the evidence against Figueroa-Sanabria “circumstantial.”

    Hammond said Figueroa-Sanabria doesn’t deny that his DNA is on the duct tape or anywhere else on the boat, as he worked extensively on the vessel.

    “His DNA would be all over the boat," he said. “It’s perfectly logical that his DNA would be there.”

    And, Hammond said, Figueroa-Sanabria doesn’t deny what the cell phone records show: that he drove all over town and then headed to New York, Hammond said. What Figueroa-Sanabria does deny is that he committed any murders.

    “It looks like they’ve got all this overwhelming evidence, but just like any murder mystery novel, things can turn out differently at the end of the case," Hammond said.

    The trial is expected to take several weeks.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/...s-on-timeline/
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "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.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Girlfriend of man accused of houseboat murders testifies against him

    Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria faces the death penalty in the slayings of John Travlos and Germana “Geri” Morin

    By Josh Solomon

    Tampa Bay Times

    LARGO — John Travlos and Germana “Geri” Morin seemed to trust their handyman.

    Travlos let Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria borrow his car, once to drive across the state to pick up off-and-on girlfriend, Tessa Cooper. She lived in Vero Beach and was moving back to St. Petersburg, and later moved in with Figueroa-Sanabria.

    In fact, it was Travlos and Morin who convinced Cooper to give Figueroa-Sanabria another chance, Cooper said in court Wednesday. They spoke highly of his work since he returned to the Loggerhead Marina near Maximo Park after a two-year prison stint in Puerto Rico.

    Figueroa-Sanabria had a key to Travlos’ house boat, Relax-Inn, which was moored at the marina. The couple had him over for dinner frequently, and Travlos mentored him as he tried to launch his own boat detailing business. Once, when the couple went on a cruise, they left the boat in Figueroa-Sanabria’s care.

    About one month after the cruise, prosecutors say, Figueroa-Sanabria betrayed that trust, stabbing and slicing the couple to death in the houseboat’s bedroom early April 12, 2013 over some jewelry. Cooper, who overcame a pain pill addiction and is now in school, testified against her former boyfriend in his murder trial on Wednesday, recounting for jurors the relationship Figueroa-Sanabria shared with the couple, and the hours surrounding the discovery of their bodies.

    Figueroa-Sanabria, now 47, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He could be sentenced to death.

    During about four hours of testimony, Cooper recounted for the jury of 12 plus two alternates how her life crossed paths with Figueroa-Sanabria’s, then what happened the day of the murders.

    The pair met in 2010 when she was living in Cocoa Beach. He managed an apartment complex where her friend lived. They began a relationship and moved in together before relocating to St. Petersburg.

    In 2011, shortly after they arrived in the Sunshine City, Figueroa-Sanabria returned to Puerto Rico for about two years, Cooper said. According to a 2014 St. Petersburg Times article, he was extradited to Puerto Rico and served time on a 2008 domestic violence charge.

    During his incarceration, Cooper returned to the Atlantic Coast, this time in Vero Beach. He called her after he got out, and she drove to St. Petersburg in January 2013 to return some of his stuff she had kept. That’s when she met Travlos and Morin, who doted over Figueroa-Sanabria.

    “They were singing praises about Rey,” Cooper said.

    Later, Cooper chose to return to St. Petersburg, and Figueroa-Sanabria picked her up in Travlos’ silver Chrysler 300 sedan. The vehicle had a vanity license plate that said “JOHN.”

    She and Figueroa-Sanabria lived together in apartment 204 at the Whitehall Gardens apartments, across 58th Avenue S from the Loggerhead Marina. He worked on the boat and stayed over for dinner. She was suffering from addiction and was carrying on an affair with at least one other man, deleting her texts and calls and hiding her phone.

    A couple of weeks before the killings, a dispute broke out between Figueroa-Sanabria and Travlos over payments, and the handyman felt disrespected. After about a week off, he resumed working on the vessel, but no longer stayed for dinner.

    On the night before the bodies were found, Cooper said she went to sleep in a nightgown about 1 a.m., her phone tucked safely into her bra and Figueroa-Sanabria at her side in bed. She awoke at about 4:30 a.m. to a phone call from Figueroa-Sanabria.

    “He was frantic, sounded just like he was in a panic," she said. She recalled he asked her to pick him up right away, and that he was stressed.

    “I thought he was having a heart attack,” she said.

    She picked him up around the corner from the apartment complex in her parents’ white Chevrolet Astro van, which they let her borrow after returning from a week-long detox program. He wore a black hoodie with what appeared to be a backpack underneath.

    He said he needed to get to New York State to see his brother, whom he claimed was sick.

    So after he took a shower and changed his clothes at the apartment, she drove him toward St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport before he changed his mind about flying. They did stop at a 7-11 convenience store near the airport to vacuum out the van. He threw something away in the dumpster, though she told jurors she didn’t know what.

    From there, Cooper walked the jury through the strange and meandering drive she and Figueroa-Sanabria made in the van that morning through southern Pinellas County, stopping in Madeira Beach, at rental car places, a jewelry store in St. Petersburg where he sold gold jewelry, and a bank near their apartment, where prosecutors said he made a deposit.

    They split up that morning after he rented a gold Ford Taurus. He had instructed her not to tell anyone about their tour that morning, only that he rented a car to see his brother. He headed north toward New York on Interstate 95. She went home and was soon cooperating with police.

    Figueroa-Sanabria was later apprehended in North Carolina.

    Before Cooper testified, a St. Petersburg police detective was on the stand. He walked the jury through photographs of the houseboat’s ransacked bedroom, with Morin lying naked on the floor and blood all over the white bedding. Travlos was lying face down on the floor in his underwear.

    Travlos’ stepson, Robert Doherty, 55, watched from the gallery. When the picture of his stepfather came up, he lowered his head, then stared in Figueroa-Sanabria’s direction. The defendant, sitting beside his three attorneys, sat resolute, with his glasses near the tip of his nose.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/...s-against-him/
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "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.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Man accused in St. Pete double murder testifies in his own defense

    Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria, accused of killing two aboard a houseboat in 2013, told a different version of the same story his girlfriend told. If convicted, he could face the death penalty

    By Josh Solomon
    Tampa Bay Times

    LARGO — The story the man accused of murder told jurors on Tuesday was familiar to them, in a sense.

    The morning of April 12, 2013 began about 4 a.m., recalled Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria, who is charged with killing two people on a houseboat. Then, he and his girlfriend drove all over south Pinellas County as they went to a 7-11 on Roosevelt Boulevard, to Madeira Beach and onward to a jewelry store and several car rental places.

    Last week, Figueroa-Sanabria’s ex-girlfriend, Tessa Cooper, told jurors a similar story, but flipped. In her version, she was tagging along with him. In his version, everything was the opposite.

    It will be up to a jury of 12 and two alternates to suss out who is being truthful about that day, the same day the bodies of John Travlos and Germana “Geri” Morin were discovered on Travlos’ houseboat, Relax-Inn, at the Loggerhead Marina near the southern tip of St. Petersburg. Both had been sliced to death with a knife. If they find Figueroa-Sanabria guilty of their murders, jurors will then weigh whether he deserves the death penalty.

    Figueroa-Sanabria took the witness stand Tuesday in a dark shirt and his hair in his usual bun. His testimony started with the usual questions and answers. He’s 47 and originally from Puerto Rico, he told the jury in thickly accented English. His attorney, Keith Hammond, then asked how he met Cooper. He was managing a property in Vero Beach in 2010 where Cooper’s friend lived. The pair began a relationship and eventually moved to St. Petersburg, first in with Cooper’s parents and then to a place of their own in the Whitehall Gardens apartments, across 58th Avenue S from the Loggerhead Marina, where Figueroa-Sanabria had found a job.

    All that closely matched what Cooper told jurors last week. Then their narratives began to diverge.

    For the first time, the jury heard about his two-year prison stint in Puerto Rico from 2011 to 2013. He said he tried to contact his daughter, which violated a protective order. He was arrested at the apartment.

    When he returned, he told jurors, he got his job back at the marina and Cooper, who by then had returned to the Atlantic coast, came to deliver his clothes — though his furniture and Jeep were missing. He said she introduced him to Travlos and Morin, whose houseboat was moored in the marina. Last week, Cooper said he introduced her to them.

    Figueroa-Sanabria said he worked for Travlos buffing and waxing the boat. He downplayed a disagreement between the two of them over money. Cooper had said the handyman felt disrespected by Travlos.

    The meat of his testimony focused on the night of April 11 and the morning of April 12, 2013. By then he had been back from Puerto Rico about two months and he was growing his boat detailing business. He took his blood pressure medication and insulin, and got ready for bed at about 9 p.m. Cooper was out doing laundry, he said.

    He awoke at about 4 a.m. the next morning — he said he awoke often to use the bathroom due to his blood pressure medication — and noticed his wallet was open and the debit card was missing. Cooper was gone, he told the jury. He called her. She had gone to buy cigarettes, she said.

    He told jurors that Cooper, a self-described recovering drug addict, wanted to return to detox, where she had been about a week earlier. He agreed to drive her to Operation PAR, near Roosevelt Boulevard and U.S. 19. He said she wanted to stop at a nearby 7-11 on Roosevelt to get quarters and suggested they vacuum out the Chevrolet Astro van they were driving, so it would be clean when she returned it to her parents. He said she had him throw away a Publix shopping bag in the garbage. He said she then wanted to go to her parents’ house on Treasure Island. He said she then wanted to sell some jewelry she had — he said he didn’t know where it came from. He said he did all that before renting a car to drive up to Utica, N.Y. for a few days to visit his brother, who had his own addiction problems.

    Last week, Cooper said she was in bed that morning when her phone rang about 4 a.m. It was Figueroa-Sanabria, who was not in the apartment, frantically asking her to pick him up nearby. She said he needed to get to New York to see his brother and directed her to drive toward St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. He changed his mind about flying, and they stopped at a 7-11, where he threw away a Publix shopping bag — she said she didn’t know what was in it — and he vacuumed out the van. She said he drove to Madeira Beach, where he left her near a beach access area for about thirty minutes, and then they went to a jewelry store where he sold jewelry — she didn’t know where he had gotten it.

    Hammond’s last question to Figueroa-Sanabria on Tuesday was direct: “Did you kill John and Geri?”

    “No.”

    “No further questions," Hammond said.

    On cross examination, Assistant State Attorney Richard Ripplinger attacked Figueroa-Sanabria’s version of events. He asked how his DNA could be on the outside of a roll of duct tape that had 22 feet removed to bind Travlos and Morin. He asked how Travlos’ DNA could be on his shirt, which detectives found in the garbage at the 7-11 on Roosevelt.

    Figueroa-Sanabria said he wasn’t there when the 22 feet of duct tape was unwound, and the shirt found in the garbage didn’t belong to him.

    “That’s what you say," Ripplinger said, emphasizing the “you.”

    One juror, in a short sleeve button-down shirt sitting on the top row of the jury box, smiled.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/...s-own-defense/
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "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.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Edited:

    Man guilty of two murders in 2013 St. Petersburg houseboat slayings

    It took the jury about four hours to find Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria guilty. Next they must decide whether to send him to Florida’s death row

    By Josh Solomon
    Tampa Bay Times

    LARGO — A jury found Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria guilty of two counts of first-degree murder on Wednesday night in the 2013 stabbing of two people killed aboard a houseboat in St. Petersburg.

    The case now moves to the sentencing phase. The state is seeking the death penalty for the 47-year-old defendant.

    Figueroa-Sanabria, in a gray checkered shirt with his hair in his usual bun hanging low behind his head, stood at the verdict was read aloud by the court clerk, his right middle finger resting vertically on the defense table.

    In the gallery, the stepson of houseboat owner and victim John Travlos sat unmoving, a victim’s advocate behind him resting her hands on his back in support.

    The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for about four hours before unanimously agreeing with prosecutors, who say Figueroa-Sanabria killed Travlos and longtime friend Germana Morin on April 12, 2013 aboard Travlos’ houseboat, Relax-Inn.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/...boat-slayings/
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "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.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #6
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    Jury recommends death for 2013 St. Petersburg houseboat killer

    By Josh Salomon
    Tampa Bay Times

    LARGO — Once jurors found Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria guilty last week of two murders, there were only two possible sentences:

    Life or death.

    On Tuesday, after only about two hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously decided Figueroa-Sanabria should die. It was the first recommendation for death in the Pinellas-Pasco circuit since Florida changed its death penalty law in 2017 to require unanimous jury decisions.

    The relatively quick decision from the jury followed what amounted to self-sabotage on the part of Figueroa-Sanabria — he had fired his lawyers, preventing them from making any arguments to try to save his life.

    Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa set a hearing for January when he will consider the jury’s recommendation and sentence Figueroa-Sanabria.

    The 47-year-old stood alongside his lawyers in a checkered blue shirt and buzzed hair, having abandoned the bun he wore throughout the trial. His expression did not waver as the court clerk read the jury’s findings. Last week, the same jury decided Figueroa-Sanabria was guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the April 12, 2013 slayings of John Travlos and Germana “Geri” Morin aboard Travlos’ houseboat, which was moored at the Loggerhead Marina near Pinellas Point in St. Petersburg.

    Figueroa-Sanabria had worked for Travlos as a handyman aboard the vessel, named Relax-Inn, and had befriended the couple. Prosecutors argued he killed the pair over their jewelry.

    The five relatives and friends of Travlos who sat in the front row behind prosecutors hung their heads, and one was rocking or sobbing as the clerk read the jury’s decision. A victim advocate rested her hand on the shoulder of Travlos’ granddaughter.

    In the hallway after the sentence was read aloud, Travlos’ stepson Robert Doherty said the jury’s decision didn’t bring him any satisfaction. He recalled the pictures he endured during the trial of his stepfather lying dead on the floor of the boat.

    “Nothing brings satisfaction for that,” Doherty said. “It’s not going to bring him back.”

    The decision came after a roller coaster of events for the legal teams in the case.

    Jurors convicted Figueroa-Sanabria last week, setting off a four-day period for the lawyers to prep for the penalty phase of the trial. After a guilty verdict in cases in which prosecutors seek the death penalty, lawyers must present evidence called aggravating and mitigating factors to help sway the jury to choose life or death.

    Before the penalty phase began Monday morning, Figueroa-Sanabria fired his lawyers, court-appointed private attorneys Danny Hernandez and Keith Hammond, choosing to represent himself. The two attorneys remained at his side on standby.

    Prosecutors called a doctor and presented evidence to prove six aggravating factors, including that the murders were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel" and that he killed the pair for financial gain and to avoid arrest. Two family members also read to the jury victim-impact statements.

    Figueroa-Sanabria did not ask the doctor any questions on cross examination.

    When it was Figueroa-Sanabria’s turn to present mitigating factors, he declined to make a case. Hernandez and Hammond had brought in doctors from Miami and California, and had other witnesses ready on Skype and in the courthouse. In total, they planned to present two mitigating factors — that Figueroa-Sanabria experienced severe mental stress and that he was unable to appreciate the criminality of his actions because of brain damage — over two days of testimony. All the preparation was rendered moot.

    “Intensive work for four days all culminating yesterday in the downward spiral,” Hammond said.

    Ripplinger said Figueroa-Sanabria told Siracusa that he was innocent, and therefore didn’t want to unnecessarily drag his family’s history into the courtroom. And he didn’t want the mental health experts to testify.

    "He said he didn’t want to beg the jury,” Ripplinger said.

    Jurors began deliberating Monday afternoon before they were let go for the evening after only about 75 minutes. They returned Tuesday morning and continued deliberating for less than an hour before reaching their decision. Jurors found that five of the six aggravating factors applied. They had no mitigating factors to consider.

    After Siracusa thanked the jury profusely for their month-long service and released them, the judge asked Figueroa-Sanabria if he had anything to say.

    “I didn’t kill those people,” he said, reasserting his innocence.

    The unanimous threshold has made it harder for prosecutors to earn death penalty recommendations from juries. Adam Matos, who was convicted in 2017 of murdering his ex-girlfriend, her parents and her new boyfriend years earlier in Pasco County, was sentenced to life in prison. Eleven jurors wished to sentence him to death, but one juror held out.

    And in the case against Marco Antonio Parilla Jr., who pleaded guilty to shooting dead Tarpon Springs police officer Charles Kondek in 2014, two jurors declined to send Parilla to death row.

    A number of factors contributed to the Figueroa-Sanabria case taking more than six years to reach trial, including attorney changeover after two previous prosecutors on the case before Ripplinger became judges, and Figueroa-Sanabria wanting to represent himself. Hammond said delaying the case was also strategic, to ensure it was tried under the new unanimous death penalty rules.

    “Which I achieved,” Hammond said. “Now that’s all down the drain.”

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/...seboat-killer/

  7. #7
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Sanabria entered Florida's death row on 7/21/21.

    http://www.dc.state.fl.us/OffenderSe...rowroster.aspx
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

  8. #8
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Wow I didn’t even know he was even sentenced to death yet
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  9. #9
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Jury handed down a death sentence on Tuesday October 22, 2019.
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

  10. #10
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Oral arguments in Sanabria’s direct appeal were held November 3, 2022.

    http://onlinedocketssc.flcourts.org/...aseNumber=1070
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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