Summary of Offense:
Gerard Booker accrued gambling debts and decided to commit robberies to pay for his losses. On November 28, 1992, Booker enlisted the aid of Jermaine Foster and Alf Catholic to carry out the robberies. Armed with a .38-caliber handgun, a 9-millimeter handgun, and an Uzi-type automatic weapon, the trio went to an area of Auburndale, Florida known as “The Hill” and approached three unknown men who were selling drugs out of their truck. After forcing the victims to remove their clothing and lie on the ground, Foster, Catholic, and Booker stole the victims’ cash, jewelry, crack cocaine, and truck. Foster and Catholic sold some of the stolen drugs, but the proceeds were not enough to cover Booker’s gambling losses. The group of Foster, Catholic, Booker, and Leondra Henderson, who had joined the group after the other three robbed the drug dealers, decided to find a local drug dealer and rob him as well.
The group left in the stolen truck, carrying the guns used in the previous robbery. When the group was unable to find the intended victim, they drove to Osceola County to visit a girlfriend of Catholic and find other victims to rob. At the house of Catholic’s girlfriend, Foster, Booker, Catholic, and Henderson decided to accompany Catholic’s girlfriend and some of her friends to the Palms Bar in St. Cloud, Florida. Catholic and Foster rode with Catholic’s girlfriend, while Henderson and Booker followed in the stolen truck. During the drive to the bar, Foster and Catholic drank liquor and smoked marijuana. When the group stopped for gas, they noticed that the truck had a broken fan belt that was causing the truck to overheat. Booker stated that they would have to steal another car for the return ride home. While at the Palms Bar, Foster, Booker, Catholic, and Henderson found a group of three men and a woman that they targeted to rob.
The plan was to follow the group and rob them as they left the bar in a Nissan Pathfinder. Foster told his coconspirators that if the victims did not have any money, he was going to kill them. In order to get the Pathfinder to stop, Catholic, who was driving the stolen truck, rammed the Pathfinder. When the occupants came to inspect the damage, they were ordered at gunpoint to give up their money. When they responded that they had no money, the victims were forced back into the Pathfinder, where Foster held them at gunpoint and Booker drove the Pathfinder. Henderson and Catholic followed in the stolen truck. When the stolen truck again experienced mechanical problems in the outskirts of Kissimmee, Florida, Catholic drove the truck off the main highway and to a vacant field, with Foster and Booker following in the Pathfinder. All four of the victims were ordered out of the Pathfinder, and the woman was separated from the three men. The men were ordered to remove their clothes, and Foster had the men place their underwear and hands on their head and lie face down on the ground. Foster then shot two of the men in the head, killing them instantly. He shot the third man, but the man’s hand, which was on his head, stopped the bullet from killing him, although he pretended to be dead. Foster approached the woman to kill her, but Booker prevented Foster from doing so. Foster, Booker, Henderson, and Catholic left in the Pathfinder, which they later tried unsuccessfully to dispose of in a lake. Foster, Booker, Henderson, and Catholic were tried together for the crimes.
Foster was sentenced to death in Orange County on July 25, 1994.
Co-defendant information:
Booker, Henderson, and Catholic were also indicted for the same crimes as Foster. Henderson entered into a plea bargain and pled guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder in exchange for testimony in state and federal trials. He was sentenced to two concurrent life terms for the murder charges and fifteen years for the attempted murder charge. Booker pled guilty to all charges and Catholic was found guilty of all charges. Booker and Catholic were both sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder charges and twenty-seven years imprisonment for the other charges.
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