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Thread: Joshua David Nelson - Florida Death Row

  1. #1
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    Joshua David Nelson - Florida Death Row




    Summary of Offense:

    Joshua Nelson and Keith Brennan constructed a plan to murder Tommy Owens, a peer, and steal his vehicle in order to leave the city of Cape Coral. With the knowledge that Owens kept a baseball bat in his car, Nelson and Brennan lured Owens to a remote street under false pretenses on the evening of March 10, 1995. After convincing Owens to exit his car, Nelson struck Owens with the baseball bat. Owens fell to the ground after a number of blows and then had his arms and legs tied by Nelson and Brennan. Even though Owens pled for his life and offered to forfeit his car, Nelson and Brennan conferred and decided that, in order to avoid capture, they should kill Owens. Brennan used a box cutter and tried to slice Owens’ throat. Owens, however, was still conscious when the stabbing began, and he begged Nelson to hit him with the baseball bat so as to render him unconscious before Brennan continued the stabbing. His request was granted, and Brennan continued the stabbing. Nelson and Brennan continued to strike Owens with the bat a number of times before dragging his body to nearby shes. Owens later died.

    Nelson and Brennan picked up Tina and Misty Porth in Owens’ car and the four left the city. They left the state and drove to New Jersey after stopping in Daytona. Nelson and Brennan informed Tina and Misty over the course of the trip that they had murdered Owens. Tina and Misty both testified at the trial. After law enforcement officers apprehended Nelson and Brennan in New Jersey, Nelson gave both a video- and audio-taped confession. Nelson gave his detailed account of the murder both at the place of the bat’s discovery and at the crime scene, in his confession. The taped video confession was played at the trial for the jury. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement analyst gave testimony that a match to Owens DNA was found on Nelson’s blood stained shoes, the box cutter, and the pair of underwear wrapped around the box cutter.

    Nelson was sentenced to death in Lee County on November 27, 1996.

    Co-defendant information:
    Keith Michael Brennan (DC# 989103)
    Brennan and Nelson were tried together. The date of the offense, March 10, 1995, was eight days prior to Brennan’s eighteenth birthday. On March 20, 1997, he was sentenced to life for first-degree premeditated murder and 13 years, four months for robbery with a deadly weapon.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Factors Contributing to the Delay in Execution of Sentence:

    It took the Florida Supreme Court nearly three years to decide on Nelson’s Direct Appeal. The 3.850 Motion has been pending in the Circuit Court for nine years due to outstanding public records requests, pending motions, and illegibility of archival records, and issues with court staffing.

    Case Information:

    Nelson filed a direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court on 12/16/96. Some of the issues raised included: (1) the trial court erred by failing to properly determine the admissibility of testimony by the State’s DNA expert Darren Esposito; (2) the trial court violated Nelson’s right to confrontation by admitting evidence of his non-testifying codefendant’s out-of-court statement. The Court found all of these claims either without merit or harmless and affirmed the conviction and sentence of death on 05/27/99.

    Nelson filed a petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court on 11/18/99, which was denied on 01/18/00.

    Nelson filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court on 01/05/01, as well as two amended motions on 01/26/09 and 06/15/09. An evidentiary hearing was held on 10/29/09. This motion was denied on 03/05/10.

    On 03/26/10, Nelson filed a 3.850 Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court. This appeal is currently pending. Oral arguments are set for 05/04/11

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    JOSHUA D. NELSON, vs STATE OF FLORIDA

    Today the Florida Supreme Court DENIED Nelson post-conviction relief.

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Slain teen's family able to wait for generations

    Don Owens of Pine Island, bless his departed soul, didn’t live to see his son’s murderer executed.

    Yet his plan to watch Josh Nelson pay for killing 19-year-old Tommy Owens in 1995 was perfect.

    “I’ll be sitting right in the front row with popcorn,’’ Don told The News-Press in 1996. “It’s an awful thing to be happy about, the death penalty, but he has to die. My son is dead. It has to be done.’’

    Don’s dream of justice died Dec. 4, 2004. Linda, his widow, will represent both of them when the execution takes place.

    “I can picture my going to Florida and watching the lethal injection,’’ Linda, 61, said Friday from her Stony Point, N.Y., home.

    Nelson’s exhausting death-penalty appeals don’t stymie her resolve.

    “I hope I’m in good shape then,’’ she said. “My cholesterol keeps climbing, but so far everything is functioning all right.’’

    Nelson, now 34, has been on death row for 15 years. Friends of Tommy, Nelson and Keith Brennan, now 33 and serving life in prison, lured the victim to a remote area of northern Cape Coral and killed him with an aluminum baseball bat and box cutter before stealing his car.

    It went beyond being heinous as a crime.

    It deserved two eyes for an eye as punishment.

    But Linda doesn’t dwell on past atrocity and tries to go with the flow.

    “When something is going on in the courts, I can count on two things: a letter from Tallahassee and a call from State Attorney Steve Russell,’’ she said.

    Linda received both last week. The Florida Supreme Court denied Nelson’s latest appeal Thursday. “I was happy to hear that the request was denied,’’ she said.

    So was Russell.

    “(Nelson) has one more level of appeals, the federal level,’’ he said. “And that could take several years.’’

    Unlike many victims, Linda isn’t looking for closure with Nelson’s death.

    “Closure? There’s no such thing,’’ she said. “People say forgive and move on. Well, I’ve moved on but there is no forgiving. I don’t have forgiveness at all.’’

    The wound of her son’s death is 16 years old, yet the scab is easily pricked.

    “I feel anger building in me now,’’ she said. “I’d rather not talk about it.’’

    She would like to talk about Russell, who prosecuted Nelson and garnered the 1996 conviction before he was state attorney.

    “When Steve was running for state attorney, he asked to use our case on his website,’’ Linda said. “We said yes. He said he would always be there for our court dates. He’s kept his promise to this day.

    “They should have had Steve Russell prosecuting this Casey Anthony case and she would not be getting out.’’

    Back to Nelson.

    Linda has backup if she doesn’t live long enough.

    “My stepson, Donald Owens, is a sergeant at New City Jail in Rockland County,’’ Linda said. “He will be 48 later this month. If I can’t make it, he will.’’

    http://www.news-press.com/article/20...news|text|Home

  5. #5
    Senior Member Frequent Poster stixfix69's Avatar
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    Another reason they can't allow DR inmates play out the string of 10+ years with their appeals, so many family of the victims, especially the older ones like a grandparent live to see justice served.....

  6. #6
    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    I agree stixfix69 - I think fair trials and appeals are possible within a few years and not decades.

  7. #7
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On August 3, 2011, Nelson filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/flo...v00423/261274/

  8. #8
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On August 20, 2014, Nelson's habeas petition was DENIED in Federal District Court.

    http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal...0327/259005/59

  9. #9
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On September 24, 2014, Nelson filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir.../ca11/14-14371

  10. #10
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On April 5, 2016, oral argument will be heard in Nelson's appeal before the Eleventh Circuit.

    http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/sites/d...n%20Public.pdf

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