Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Justin Curtis Heyne - Florida

  1. #1
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534

    Justin Curtis Heyne - Florida





    Summary of Offense:

    Convicted murderer Justin Heyne was sentenced to death in the slaying of a five-year-old girl, and he also received two life sentences in the shooting deaths of his roommates. Heyne was convicted in the 2006 shooting deaths of Benjamin Hamilton and Hamilton's girlfriend, Sarah Buckoski, and daughter, Ivory Hamilton.

    Heyne was sentenced to death in Brevard County on December 17, 2009.

  2. #2
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    August 28, 2009

    BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A man convicted of murdering a Brevard County family is one step closer to death row. A judge heard more evidence Friday afternoon before deciding convicted murderer Justin Heyne's sentence.

    A jury has already recommended death for Heyne and he was back in the Brevard County jail after his hearing took place Friday.

    Justin Heyne was given a chance to speak his peace in court Friday, but he decided to keep quiet.

    Facing the death penalty, convicted murderer Justin Heyne walked in courtroom 4g for his Spencer hearing.

    It was the defense and prosecution teams' last chance to tell presiding Judge O. H. Eaton why the 27-year-old should or should not get death by lethal injection.

    When given an opportunity to speak, Heyne turned it down.

    "Is that your decision?" asked Judge Eaton.

    "Yes sir," Heyne replied.

    His victims' family members weren't surprised.

    "What words can he say?" said a family member. "I've seen no remorse from him in any shape or form."

    "Justin Curtis Heyne is guilty of first-degree premeditated murder," Judge Eaton stated.

    Earlier this month, a jury rejected Heyne's self-defense argument and found him guilty of killing an entire family, who included Benjamin Hamilton, Sarah Buckoski and their five-year-old daughter, Ivory.

    Heyne's taped confession was played inside the courtroom.

    "I feel I should've put the pistol in my mouth and shot myself," Heyne said in the tape.

    At this point, grieving family members are certain Heyne will get what he deserves, bringing them closure they've been waiting for since March of 2006.

    "He's for the death penalty and I think that's when he's going to give him," said victims' family member Juanita Perez.

    "I wanted a jury of 12 to tell me he was going to die for what he did," victims' family member Dave Buckoski said.

    The decision is now in the judge's hands. The next time Justin Heyne will be in court for the case will be in November. That is when the judge is expected to make his ruling and decide his fate.

    Friday's hearing came one week after Heyne was accused of plotting to sneak a gun into the Brevard County jail.

    Two people tried to send Heyne a tiny gun, hidden in a stack of legal documents. The gun got all the way to the pod of cells, where Heyne was locked up before a corrections officer became suspicious.

    The pair accused of sending the gun have since been arrested.

    http://www.wftv.com/news/20606024/detail.html

  3. #3
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    December 17, 2009

    Killer Justin Heyne gets death penalty

    VIERA — Based on anticipated appeals, legal wrangling and barring any commutations from future governors, Brevard County prosecutors estimate a man sentenced Thursday to die by lethal injection for the 2006 deaths of a Titusville family won’t see his earliest date with death until at least 2025.

    Dave Buckoski, the father of one of Justin Heyne’s triple-murder victims, said he would prefer the triple-murderer meet a swifter justice. But Buckoski, who described the three-year ordeal since his daughter’s death as “the road to hell” said the sentence brought much-needed closure, nonetheless.

    “What I wanted was for the state of Florida to tell him they were going to kill him. That’s what happened,” Buckoski said of the sentence he’d been hoping for since his daughter, Sarah Buckoski, was killed along with her boyfriend, Benjamin Hamilton, and 5-year-old daughter, Ivory, on March 30, 2006.

    “I would love to be the one to push the plunger,” he said. "I hope God can have pity on his soul. I can't. I hope he can.”

    During a sentencing hearing that lasted less than a minute, Heyne, 28, made no reaction as Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton informed him he would join eight other Brevard County inmates – and 390 across Florida – already sitting on death row.

    Heyne’s lawyers argued during trial this summer he fatally shot 26-year-old Hamilton, his best friend, and 24-year-old Buckoski in self-defense, but accidentally killed Ivory when she ran into the midst of “an argument that just went horribly wrong.”

    Prosecutors said Heyne, who was living with the family at the time of the killings, shot Hamilton during a dispute over a $300 debt.

    Hamilton was unarmed and in bed when Heyne shot him in the head. He shot Buckoski as she cowered in a corner on the floor, and walked over to Ivory where he slapped her before also firing a bullet into her skull, prosecutors said.

    http://www.floridatoday.com/article/...022/1086/rss07

  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    2,740
    Oral arguments were held on the 7th of September.

    http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/p...es/index.shtml

    You can find the briefs here.

    http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/p...323/index.html

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    JUSTIN CURTIS HEYNE v STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's opinions, the Florida Supreme Court AFFIRMED Heyne's convictions and sentence of death on direct appeal.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  6. #6
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Heyne's petition for a writ of certiorari was DENIED.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  7. #7
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    2,740
    Death sentence overturned today under Hurst.

    http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/d.../sc14-1800.pdf

  8. #8
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Family killer to get sentencing do-over

    By Melissa E. Holsman
    Florida Today

    The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the death sentence imposed against a Titusville man who is on death row for the 2006 triple killing of a family.

    Justin Heyne, 35, was convicted during a 2012 trial for the shooting deaths of Sarah Buckoski, 24, her boyfriend, Benjamin Hamilton, 26, and 5-year-old daughter, Ivory, on March 30, 2006. He had been living with them.

    The high court upheld Heyne’s three murder convictions but ordered him to undergo a new sentencing phase because the jury that recommended his execution didn’t reach the decision with a unanimous vote.

    The sentencing do-over ordered Thursday stemmed from a United States Supreme Court ruling issued last year dubbed Hurst v. Florida that found the state gave too much power to judges to make the final decision to sentence someone to death.

    During Heyne’s trial, his lawyers said he fatally shot Hamilton, his best friend, and Buckoski in self-defense, but accidentally killed Ivory when she ran into the midst of “an argument that just went horribly wrong,” court records show.

    Prosecutors said Heyne shot Hamilton during a dispute over a $300 debt.

    Hamilton was unarmed and in bed when Heyne shot him in the head. He shot Buckoski as she cowered in a corner on the floor, and walked over to Ivory where he slapped her before also firing a bullet into her skull, prosecutors said.

    The jury recommended life in prison for Hamilton’s murder, then voted 8-4 for the death penalty in Buckoski’s death and 10-2 in favor of execution for the child’s killing.

    Records show Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton followed the jury’s recommendation in Hamilton and Ivory’s killings, but went against the panel’s recommendation in sentencing Heyne to life in prison without possibility of parole for Buckoski’s murder.

    When Heyne’s jury voted 10-2 for execution, it satisfied a mandate that required a majority of jurors agree to advise a death sentence. Then the Legislature passed a law that required at least 10 out of 12 jurors vote in favor of execution. And it required prosecutors to spell out the reasons, or aggravating factors, why a death sentence should be imposed. It also required the jury, during the initial guilt phase of a death penalty trial, to decide unanimously if there is at least one reason that justifies it.

    But the Florida Supreme Court found that law to be unconstitutional because it didn’t require a unanimous jury vote.

    During the first weeks of this year’s legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that Gov. Rick Scott signed that requires death penalty juries to agree 12-0 before a death sentence can be imposed.

    Brevard State Attorney Phil Archer, through a spokeswoman, declined on Thursday to discuss Heyne’s case or whether his office will seek to return him to Florida’s death row.

    In a prepared statement, Archer acknowledged they expect to see more death penalty cases return for new sentencings based on changes in the law requiring unanimous jury decisions.

    “My office will carefully and thoroughly review the available evidence, obtain input from family survivors and law enforcement and then make a determination on whether to again seek the death penalty in each of these cases,” Archer wrote. “Each will be handled on an individual basis.”

    http://www.floridatoday.com/story/mu...ver/100127380/

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •