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Thread: Anthony Wayne Welch - Florida

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    Anthony Wayne Welch - Florida




    Summary of Offense:

    Convicted and sentenced to death in the December 2000 murders of Rufus and Kyoko Johnson inside their Pineda Crossings home. Welch tied up, beat, strangled, stabbed and slashed the Johnsons -- his former next-door neighbors. Rufus Johnson, 69, and Kyoko Johnson, 66, were beaten and cut and she was strangled. Their children found their bound bodies four days after the murders.

    Welch was sentenced to death in Brevard County in 2005.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Pair of Brevard death-penalty resentencings face more delays

    In 2006, Brevard County judges sentenced both Anthony Welch and Willie Nowell to death.

    In 2008, Florida Supreme County justices decided they each deserved another chance: a new sentencing for now-33-year-old Welch and a new trial for Nowell, 35.

    About a year ago, FLORIDA TODAY reported those proceedings were likely to start by the end of 2010.

    Now, they might not start until late this year or next.

    "We want to be cautious and careful," said Assistant State Attorney Rob Parker, prosecutor in both cases.

    DNA testing of a piece of evidence delayed proceedings last year for Welch, who was given a new sentencing because the state's high court said a potential female juror was improperly dismissed during jury selection.

    Welch was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder in the 2000 slaying of his former neighbors, Rufus and Kyoko Johnson, at their Pineda Crossings residence after demanding $5,000. The Melbourne man beat them with a blunt object and attacked them with swords hanging on their wall.

    Parker said the sentencing phase of the Welch case is likely sometime before the end of this year, although no date has been set.

    In the Nowell case, the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial because a Hispanic man in the jury pool was improperly dismissed and a prosecutor made an unacceptable emotional appeal to the jurors during the penalty phase of the trial.

    Nowell's trial is not expected before next year at the earliest because he had disagreements with his previous attorney and asked for new representation.

    The Palm Bay man is accused in the killing of Michelle Gill, 27, also of Palm Bay, who was pregnant. Investigators said Nowell and an accomplice broke into Gill's home and shot her and her boyfriend, who survived the attack and is in prison after conviction on felony gun and drug charges.

    "We are essentially starting from scratch," said Nowell's new attorney, Kevin Mawn of Titusville. "We might have some hearings later this year, but we do not expect to go to trial before 2012 or later."

    http://www.floridatoday.com/article/...ce-more-delays

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Convicted killer will have new sentencing hearing in Brevard murder case

    A man who hacked to death a couple in their 60s and then went on a date was back in Brevard County court on Monday trying to escape the death penalty.

    A Florida court threw out his death sentence based on an obscure, arcane point of law. Anthony Welch was 22 when he murdered Rufus and Kyoko Johnson.

    "It was sickening and cruel," said Phil Williams, former Brevard County Sheriff. "It was a horrible death."

    Authorities said Welch used a souvenir Samurai sword in 2000 to stab and beat the couple to death in their Suntree home. After the murders, Welch went on a date.

    He was convicted and sentenced to death, but is back in the Brevard County Jail because an appeals court ordered a new sentencing . Welch could escape the death penalty and get life in prison.

    Veteran prosecutor Gary Beatty said reopening a case so long after the fact has challenges.

    "The most difficult part is collecting all your witnesses; the logistics of just getting everybody there that's gonna need to testify," Beatty said.

    Family members are forced to relive the ordeal and testify anew, and a sentencing hearing can cost $250,000.

    The appeals court said it is happening because while selecting the jury, a judge allowed a prospective female juror to be dismissed without asking whether there was a gender-neutral reason for the dismissal.

    "The sheer statistics of how long people are on death row is evidence of how difficult it is to actually get the death penalty imposed," Beatty said.

    A new jury will be selected for the hearing scheduled on Oct. 27.

    http://www.wesh.com/news/convicted-k...#ixzz3G44nE5BK
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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Samurai sword killer in court this morning

    By John A. Torres
    FLORIDA TODAY

    A man who used a souvenir samurai sword to stab and hack his two neighbors to death before going on a date, will be back in court this morning seeking a life sentence for his crimes.

    Anthony Welch was 22 years old when he murdered Suntree couple Rufus and Kyoko Johnson, his former next-door neighbors. According to reports, Welch tied up the couple -- both in their 60s -- tried to extort money, tortured and killed them.

    Welch pleaded guilty in 2005 to the double murder and was sentenced to death. But the Florida Supreme Court reversed the sentence in 2008 citing an error by his trial judge made during jury selection in the penalty phase. Welch has been waiting for a re-sentencing trial ever since.

    But just last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Florida's death penalty is unconstitutional. The court said it was a violation of the sixth amendment to have the judge and not a jury determine the "aggravating circumstances" or facts that lead to a sentence of death.

    This morning, Welch's attorney -- Chief Assistant Public Defender Michael Pirolo -- will ask the court to sentence Welch to the only sentence on the table right now: life in prison.

    Last week, Judge James Earp made a similar ruling in the state's case against William Woodward but the state promptly appealed his ruling with the 5th District Court of Appeals.

    http://www.floridatoday.com/story/ne...ning/80792492/

  5. #5
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    No death penalty overturn for man who killed Melbourne couple

    BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A death row prisoner who stabbed and beat a Melbourne couple to death failed to get his death penalty overturned, despite lawyers trying to use a recent Supreme Court decision to throw out the sentence.

    Kyoko Johnson was killed on her 66th birthday, beaten and stabbed to death along with her husband Rufus after refusing to give $5,000 to a former neighbor's kid. That neighbor was Anthony Welch, 22, at the time. Now at age 37, he's still trying to escape the death sentence.

    "If we're going to continue this case, it's just to give the state a chance to kill one of its citizens," said defense attorney Mike Pirolo. "That is fundamentally wrong; it's unjust; immoral."

    Welch is eligible for a new sentence because of a procedural error in the original case. Defense attorneys told Judge Charles Crawford today a Supreme Court ruling that says the state's death penalty is not applied properly makes it unconstitutional. That means, they say, that Welch's sentence must be changed from death to life.

    The judge didn't buy it.

    "The death penalty has not been ruled unconstitutional," said judge Charles Crawford.

    Instead, he ruled, the Legislature merely needs to change the way in which juries recommend death or life to a deciding judge.

    So Welch will come back for a new sentencing afterward. And prosecutors plan to let no one forget that Welch singled out the victims because they had been kind to him in the past, then stole their TV and went out on a date after the slaughter.

    "The death penalty is the appropriate sentence and that's why we're continuing to seek it. He deserved it," said prosecutor Tom Brown. "He absolutely deserved it."

    Welch could be back in the courtroom as early as April for what could be another death sentence, once the legislature revises the law.

    Prosecutors said Welch used the victims' telephone after their murders, to call his girlfriend and arrange where the two would go.

    http://www.wesh.com/news/no-death-pe...ouple/38150124

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Death sentence reduced to three life terms in Merritt Island double-killing

    By Tyler Vazquez
    Florida Today

    Formerly sentenced to death for the killing of a Merritt Island couple nearly two decades ago, Anthony Welch had his sentence changed to three life terms in prison Thursday after a split jury following an appeal.

    Welch, 40, was originally sentenced to death after being convicted in the double-murder and robbery at the couple's North Courtenay Parkway home.

    On Dec. 14, 2000, Welch went to the home of 69-year-old Rufus Johnson and 60-year-old Kyoko Johnson while they were celebrating Kyoko's birthday. He then threatened the couple in an effort to extort cash.

    When the couple refused, he bludgeoned and stabbed them to death. An extortion note with his fingerprint was found in Kyoko's pocket by investigators.

    Welch later pled guilty to the double-murder in 2006 and was sentenced to death before he later appealed the decision.

    Following rule changes enacted by U.S. Supreme Court case Hurst v. Florida, a jury must be unanimous in recommending the death penalty for capital crimes.

    The new rule meant Welch was spared the death sentence when the jury came back split Thursday evening.

    Welch will now serve three consecutive life terms in prison with the Florida Department of Corrections.

    https://www.floridatoday.com/story/n...ng/3246175002/

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