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Thread: Justin Ryan McMillian - Florida

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, McMillian's petition for writ of certiorari was DENIED.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Florida
    Case Nos.: (SC10-2168)
    Decision Date: June 28, 2012
    Rehearing Denied: September 14, 2012
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  2. #12
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Jacksonville man on Death Row argues he should get new trial because of incompetence of Public Defender's Office

    By Larry Hannan
    The Florida Times-Union

    Lawyers for a Jacksonville man on Death Row are asking a judge to throw out his conviction and death sentence, arguing that the office of Public Defender Matt Shirk incompetently represented him during his original criminal trial.

    Justin McMillian, 29, was sentenced to death for the January 2009 slaying of his ex-girlfriend, 26-year-old Danielle De-Ann Stubbs. She had recently broken off her relationship with McMillian and was shot twice in her Pineverde Lane home.

    McMillian also was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the attempted murder of K-9 Officer Kenneth Bowen, who helped capture him after the killing. McMillian was shot multiple times while being taken into custody but survived.

    In the motion for a new trial, McMillian’s current lawyer, Ann Finnell, argues that the Public Defender’s Office committed multiple errors while it represented her client.

    After the Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent him, police went to the hospital to interview McMillian, and he ended up confessing to the murder of Stubbs.

    Finnell argues that defense lawyers should have objected to McMillian being interviewed before he met with his lawyers and said the Public Defender’s Office should have fought to suppress that interview so the jury would not know about it.

    The motion for a new trial also argues that defense lawyers should have interviewed employees at what was then Shands Jacksonville to determine what McMillian’s physical and mental state was at the time.

    “No witness was called to fully explain the circumstances surrounding the failure of the Public Defender’s Office to insist on first notification from the hospital so that defendant could have been allowed to speak initially to counsel rather than being subjected to a police interrogation,” the motion said.

    Finnell also criticizes her client’s former lawyers for allowing McMillian to be tried for the murder of Stubbs and the attempted murder of Bowen at the same time.

    “Roughly one-half of the capital trial was consumed by testimony relating to the police shooting,” the motion said. “It was clearly a major feature of the trial and not only detracted from the issues in the capital trial, but deprived defendant of a fair and just determination of his guilt or innocence as to the first-degree murder charge.”

    The two crimes should have been tried separately, and letting the jury know about the shooting of Bowen made it more likely that the jury would convict McMillian for the murder of Stubbs and recommend he get the death penalty, the motion said.

    The jury voted 10-2 to recommend the death penalty. Circuit Judge David Gooding sentenced McMillian to death.

    Defense lawyers also should have objected to putting Stubbs’ parents on the stand during the trial because their appearance was meant to sway the jury emotionally.

    In response, the offices of State Attorney Angela Corey and Attorney General Pam Bondi argue that the performance of the Public Defender’s Office was competent. Prosecutors also cite a Supreme Court ruling that finds that a defense attorney’s performance must be “so patently unreasonable that no competent attorney would have chosen it” before a verdict can be overturned due to ineffective counsel.

    Gooding, the judge in the original trial, will decide in March whether a formal hearing needs to occur. If he denies the motion for a new trial, the issue likely will be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, which already rejected an appeal from McMillian that argued the death penalty was excessive based on the way the murder was committed.

    Finnell was an assistant public defender who left the office after Shirk was elected in 2008 but before he was sworn into office in 2009. She and nine other attorneys were informed via email that they would not be retained when Shirk took office.

    Finnell declined to comment for this story, saying it would be improper to discuss the case before she made her arguments to Gooding.

    Assistant Public Defender Quentin Till, the lead defense attorney during the original trial, also declined to comment. Public Defender’s Office spokesman Matt Bisbee said the office maintains that McMillian received zealous, effective legal representation.

    The office has defended 11 people who have been put on Death Row since Shirk took office.

    http://members.jacksonville.com/news...-trial-because

  3. #13
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On July 18, 2016, McMillian filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/fl...cv00923/326343

  4. #14
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    JUSTIN RYAN MCMILLIAN v THE STATE OF FLORIDA

    Opinion Date: April 13, 2014

    Court: Florida Supreme Court

    After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of premeditated first-degree murder and of attempted second-degree murder. The trial court, following the jury’s recommendation, sentenced Appellant to death. The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant’s conviction and death sentence on direct appeal. Appellant then filed a motion for postconviction relief under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, raising multiple claims of ineffective assistance of counsel during the guilt phase and claiming that he was entitled to relief after the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Hurst v. Florida. The trial court denied the motion. The Supreme Court affirmed the denial of the guilt phase claims but vacated the death sentence and remanded for a new penalty phase pursuant to Hurst v. State, holding that where the jury recommended death by a vote of ten to two, the error in Appellant’s sentencing was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  5. #15
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    McMillian was resentenced to life.

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

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