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Thread: Charles Kenneth Foster - Florida

  1. #1
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    Charles Kenneth Foster - Florida




    Summary of Offense:

    On July 15, 1975, Charles Foster and the victim, Julian Lanier, met two girls at a bar who agreed to go somewhere else to drink with the two men. Lanier bought whiskey and cigarettes and the four left in Lanier’s camper-trailer. Foster and the girls had planned for Lanier to have sex with one of the girls in exchange for money. The vehicle was parked in a deserted area and Lanier and one of the girls began to undress. Foster then hit Lanier, put a knife to Lanier’s throat and cut his neck. Lanier was then dragged into the bushes where he was laid face down and covered with pine branches and leaves. Lanier continued to breathe, so Foster took a knife and cut Lanier’s spine at the base of his neck. The girls and Foster then drove away in Lanier’s vehicle and found his wallet underneath a mattress. Foster and the girls split the money in the wallet and left the vehicle in a motel parking lot. One of the girls reported the crime and was not charged.

    Foster was re-sentenced to death in Bay County on August 12, 1993.

  2. #2
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    July 16, 2009

    After 35 years, Charles Foster is still on Florida's death row

    It's been described as one of the most gruesome murders in Bay County history. And it happened 34 years ago Wednesday.

    On July 15th, 1975, 65-year-old Ohio resident Julian Lanier was visiting family members here when he met Charles Kenny Foster at the Bay Shore Bar in downtown Panama City.

    They picked up two young women and drove to a wooded area east of Callaway to party in Lanier's Winnebago.

    Foster robbed Lanier then cut his throat and severed his spinal cord. Then he covered up his body in the woods. One of the women told the police.

    Three months later, Foster would confess while on the witness stand. He was sentenced to death.

    "They told us he's getting the death penalty. That was in 1975. It's now 2002. He's still there. I've lost my mom, my brother. They never got to see justice done," Julia Austin, Lanier's daughter said.

    Austin spoke to us in 2002 while on vacation. We spoke to her by phone Wednesday from her home outside of Dayton, Ohio.

    "He will never be forgotten as long as I have a breath in my body. He will never be forgotten," Austin said.

    34-years-later, Austin says her family has been put through enough torture and wants justice.

    "He was taken by a monster and that monster is allowed to live," Austin added.

    Foster is a court appeals veteran. He has been sentenced to death three times. Austin says one sentence should have been enough.

    Foster claims to have mental problems and says he should not be put to death, but the courts disagree. His execution date hasn't been set yet.

    To put things in perspective, Foster has been on death row since Gerald Ford was president.

    http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/50893817.html

  3. #3
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    Factors Contributing to the Delay in Imposition of Sentence:

    The delay in the execution of the sentence appears to be due to Foster’s death sentence being vacated multiple times at multiple levels of the court system, and the resulting legal and judicial procedures necessary to entertain legal challenges and re-impose the death sentence upon Foster.

    Case Information:

    Foster filed a Direct Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court on 11/18/75, citing the following issues: the trial court erred in striking jurors because of objections to the death penalty, admitting prejudicial photographic evidence, no consideration of a mitigating circumstance, and the death penalty statute is unconstitutional. The FSC affirmed the conviction and death sentence on 02/22/79.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on 08/06/79 that was denied on 10/01/79.

    On 05/05/81, Governor Graham signed a death warrant and the execution was scheduled for 06/03/81.

    Foster filed a 3.850 Motion with the Circuit Court on 05/13/81 that was denied on 05/15/81.

    Foster filed a 3.850 Motion Appeal and Application for Stay of Execution with the Florida Supreme Court on 05/15/81, citing ineffective assistance of counsel and incompetency during the trial. On 05/28/81, the FSC affirmed the denial of the 3.850 Motion and denied the Application for Stay of Execution.

    Foster filed a federal Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and Stay of Execution with the U.S. District Court on 05/26/81, citing many issues, but all involve claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and competency during trial. The USDC denied the Petition and Stay of Execution on 07/02/81.

    Foster filed an appeal of the USDC’s denial of his Habeas Petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals on 07/08/81. He cited ineffective assistance of counsel, constitutionality of jury instructions regarding aggravating and mitigating circumstances, use of non-record material in sentencing review by the FSC, and constitutionality of jury instructions regarding non-statutory mitigating circumstances. On 06/27/83, the USCA affirmed the denial of the Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on 03/19/84 that was denied on 05/14/84.

    On 09/19/84, Governor Graham signed a death warrant and the execution was scheduled for 10/16/84.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus with the Florida Supreme Court on 10/05/84, citing lack of meaningful appellate review of his sentence, no consideration of mitigating circumstances by the trial judge, and lack of proportionality in sentencing. The FSC denied this Petition on 10/10/84.

    Foster filed a federal Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus with the U.S. District Court on 10/12/84, citing ineffective assistance of counsel. The USDC denied this Petition on 06/05/86.

    Foster filed an appeal of the USDC decision to deny the Habeas Petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals on 08/08/86. The USCA affirmed the USDC decision on 07/16/87.

    Foster filed a 3.850 Motion with the Circuit Court on 01/29/87 that was denied on 02/05/87.

    Foster filed a 3.850 Motion Appeal on 03/06/87 and a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus on 05/26/87 with the Florida Supreme Court, citing error in that the trial court did not consider non-statutory mitigating evidence. On 12/03/87, the FSC affirmed the denial of the 3.850 motion, but granted the Habeas petition. The FSC vacated the death sentence, and a new sentencing hearing was ordered in which all mitigating evidence could be presented.

    Two petitions for Writs of Certiorari were filed with the U.S. Supreme Court - one an appeal of the USCA decision filed on 12/02/87 (filed by Foster) and the other of the FSC decision filed on 04/11/88 (filed by the State). The USSC denied these Petitions on 06/30/88.

    Foster filed a 3.850 Motion with the Circuit Court on 06/01/90 that was denied on 07/18/90.

    Foster was resentenced to death on 06/18/90. The jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of 8-4.

    After resentencing, Foster filed a Direct Appeal and 3.850 Motion Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court on 09/20/90, citing numerous issues. The FSC vacated the death sentence, remanding to the Circuit Court for a new sentencing order, but affirmed the denial of the 3.850 motion.

    Foster was resentenced to death on 08/12/93. The jury recommendation vote of 8-4 was the same vote used to resentence Foster on 06/18/90.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on 06/30/93 that was denied on 11/01/93.

    After resentencing, Foster filed a Direct Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court on 09/10/93, raising three claims: the death penalty is not proportionate in this case, the trial court erred in concluding that a conflict existed with mental health mitigating circumstances, and the trial court’s instruction regarding the cold, calculated, and premeditated aggravating circumstance was flawed. The FSC affirmed the death sentence on 02/23/95.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on 08/07/95 that was denied on 10/10/95.

    Foster filed a 3.850 Motion with the Circuit Court on 03/18/97 that was denied on 12/29/00.

    Foster filed a 3.850 Motion Appeal on 01/31/01 with the Florida Supreme Court, alleging the following errors: failure of the trial court to hold a hearing as to Foster’s claim of violation of right to impartial jury, failure of the trial court to hold a hearing as to Foster’s claim of violation of double jeopardy, failure of the trial court to hold a hearing as to Foster’s Brady claims, failure of the trial court to hold a hearing as to Foster’s claim that his time spent on death row constituted cruel and unusual punishment, and the FSC engaged in a constitutionally flawed harmless error analysis in his Direct Appeal. On 02/14/02, the FSC affirmed the denial of the 3.850 Motion.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus on 04/12/01 with the Florida Supreme Court, alleging ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. On 02/14/02, the FSC denied the Petition.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on 05/10/02 that was denied on 10/21/02.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus with the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida, on 05/15/03 that was dismissed on 01/13/05.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus Appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit on 02/17/05 that was denied on 10/07/05.

    Foster filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on 02/27/06 that was denied on 02/26/07.

  4. #4
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    What Ever Happened to Charles Kenny Foster?

    BAY COUNTY -- The average convicted killer will sit on death row in the United States for more than 16 years. One Bay County man passed that mark long ago.

    Sunday marked 40 years since a judge sentenced the murderer to die, and it's still known as one of the most brutal murders in Bay County history.

    In 1975, 65-year-old Julian Lanier was visiting family in the area when he met then 28-year-old Charles Kenneth Foster at a bar.

    After a night of drinks, the pair picked up two women to continue the party in a wooded area east of Callaway. That's when Foster snapped. He robbed Lanier, attacked him, cut his throat and severed his spinal cord after seeing he was still breathing.

    Fewer than three months later Foster was sentenced to death. But decades later, Foster lives, while the victim's family is left to wonder why?

    "He was taken by a monster, and that monster is allowed to live?" Julia Austin, the victim's daughter, said in a 2004 interview with NewsChannel 7.

    The case came on the heels of re-instating the death penalty in the United States in the 1970's.

    "There's just so many moving parts in the death penalty," Attorney Walter Smith said.

    That's one reason Smith, who's worked with death row appeal cases, says Foster is still living.

    When a person is sentenced to die, their case enters an automatic appeals process in the Florida Supreme Court.

    "It's an example of an early case when the rules were not well established, and that's why it keeps coming back for review, because as the rules change, new issues evolve," Smith said.

    Foster's been sentenced to death in three separate trials, most recently the 90's in an eight-to-four vote.

    Florida's one of three states that doesn't require a unanimous vote to impose the death penalty. Smith says as federal rules evolve, it could delay Foster's case even further.

    "Until there's some resolution in the U.S. Supreme Court about what rules apply, and I think one of the rules that will apply is you have to have a unanimous vote," Smith said.

    In the meantime, each trip to the appeals court brings a new issue to light.

    "Issues regarding the competency of his council," Smith said. "Obviously when this was all tried, nobody knew what the rules were, so lawyers didn't know what they were doing. So now we're reviewing the case in hindsight."

    And the legal fees are adding up. According to a report from the year 2000 by the Palm Beach Post, Florida tax payers pay $51 million annually to execute inmates. Based on numbers from the Department of Corrections, the state executes an average of two to three people each year. The DOC also says there's a yearly cost of about $18,000 to house a prisoner for life.

    "But it just makes no legal or rational sense," Smith said.

    But many families of the victims just want to see justice for their loved ones.

    "I don't know what is wrong with the state of Florida to allow him to live," Austin said in a 2002 interview with NewsChannel 7. "I lived in Florida. I paid taxes so this creep could live."

    That's where Smith and Lanier's daughter can agree.

    "It's always been broken," Smith said. "You know, it was always broken and there's no way of fixing it."

    There are a total of 10 people from Bay County on death row today.

    http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/W...330714391.html

  5. #5
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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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
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  6. #6
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  7. #7
    Moderator Dave from Florida's Avatar
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    This guy is currently the "Dean" of Florida's death row.

  8. #8
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    Article

    Death Penalty Appeal Denied for Bay County Murderer


    The Florida Supreme Court rejected a death penalty appeal Monday from Charles Kenneth Foster.

    Foster was convicted and sentenced to death in 1975 for stabbing and killing Julian Lanier during an outing with 2 other women. The group then dragged Lanier's body into a wooded area and drove away in Lanier's car. They eventually dumped the car and split the money in Lanier's wallet.

    1 of the women later told police what happened and was not charged in the case.

    Foster's attorneys hoped that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that required juries to unanimously approve the death penalty would be enough to get a new sentencing phase in his case. However, that ruling only covers cases decided after 2002.

    Foster's sentence of death became final in 1995.

    (Source: mypanhandle.com)
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  9. #9
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court DENIED Foster's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Florida
    Case Numbers: (SC17-1383)
    Decision Date: January 29, 2018

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/17-9389.html

  10. #10
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    Charles Foster died on December 30, 2020.

    http://www.dc.state.fl.us/offenderSe...&TypeSearch=IR
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