Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Corey Smith - Florida

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

    Corey Smith - Florida




    Summary of Offense:

    In December 2000, Corey Smith and seven other individuals were indicted for crimes committed in connection with the John Doe organization, a criminal enterprise that distributed powder and crack cocaine and marijuana in Miami-Dade County from 1994 to 1999. Smith was the alleged leader of the group and was convicted of conspiracy to engage in a criminal enterprise, engaging in a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to traffic in marijuana, conspiracy to traffic in cocaine, four counts of conspiracy to commit murder, four counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Leon Hadley, Cynthia Brown, Angel Wilson, and Jackie Pope, and two counts of manslaughter for the deaths of Melvin Lipscomb and Marlon Beneby. On March 17, 2005, Smith received two sentences of life in prison for his involvement in the murders of Jackie Pope and Leon Hadley. Smith received two sentences of death for his involvement in the murders of Cynthia Brown and Angel Wilson. These sentences were received in conjunction with eight other sentences ranging from 15 to 30 years in prison on a 14-count indictment. While the details of the other charges and sentences are explained elsewhere [see Smith v. State, No. 05,703 (Fla. March 19, 2009)], this section of the case summary will outline only the circumstances of the offenses that resulted in a sentence of death.

    Cynthia Brown was smothered to death on July 24, 1997. Brown was the sole witness against Smith in the 1996 murder of Dominique Johnson, a 19-year-old rival drug seller. While several people witnessed the Johnson murder, Brown was the only individual who came forward to identify Smith to the police. Smith was scheduled to be tried for Johnson’s murder on July 28, 1997. However, the prosecution was forced to dismiss the charges against Smith when Brown, the only witness, was found murdered less than a week before the trial was to take place. Several witnesses testified that Smith wanted to eliminate the witness who was going to testify against him in the Johnson murder case. Anthony Fail testified that Smith had offered him $50,000 to kill Brown, although he did not accept the offer. Fail also testified that Smith had put aside $20,000 to pay Brown’s boyfriend, Chazre Davis, for murdering Brown. Carlos Walker testified that he heard Smith instructing Davis to strangle or suffocate Brown, so as to not leave evidence at the scene.

    Brown died from asphyxia as a result of being smothered with a pillow in a motel room she was sharing with Davis. The couple checked into the motel on the evening of July 23, 1997 and her body was found the following morning. Brown had petechial hemorrhages in her eyes, inside her upper lip, and on her epiglottis. Her lungs were full of fluid due to pulmonary edema. She had also sustained postmortem cuts on the side of her neck. All of these injuries were consistent with asphyxia as the cause of death.

    Angel Wilson was shot to death on December 1, 1998. Due to a continuing feud between Smith and Wilson’s then-boyfriend, Anthony Fail, Smith had arranged for members of the John Doe organization to target Fail on the evening of Wilson’s death. That night, the couple took Wilson’s car when visiting the home of Fail’s stepbrother, James Harvey. When they arrived, Harvey warned Fail that he had seen a car, occupied by John Doe members, circling the block. Fearing for Wilson’s life, Fail persuaded her to leave the house and to drive home. Soon thereafter, Wilson was shot multiple times with a semiautomatic assault rifle while she was driving her car.

    Wilson died of multiple gunshot wounds to her entire body. She was struck 16 times by bullets entering the driver’s side of her vehicle. Six of the bullet wounds were fatal. The medical examiner testified that Wilson’s lungs were riddled with pieces of metal fragments ripped from the door by the passing bullets. The bullet wounds caused extensive tissue damage, including severing her left breast and part of her ankle. She died in the vehicle from internal injuries.

    Smith was sentenced to death in Miami-Dade County on March 24, 2005.

    Co-defendant information:
    Chazre Davis was indicted for the first-degree murder of Cynthia Brown, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and racketeering on December 19, 2000. These charges are still under review in Miami-Dade County, case number F-00-040026-H.
    Julius Stevens and Eric Stokes were charged in the murder of Angel Wilson. Stevens was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Eric Stokes was convicted of second-degree murder and is serving a 15-year sentence.

    Additional Information:
    On March 30, 1999, Smith was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge. On October 21, 1999, Smith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for federal drug and firearm charges. Five of his gang members received the same conviction and sentence.

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    2,740
    Factors Contributing to the Delay in Imposition of Sentence:

    There are no undue delays at this time.

    Case Information:

    On 04/25/05, Smith filed a Direct Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court, citing the following issues: (1) the trial court erred in ordering extensive security precautions in and around the courtroom, which were highly prejudicial to the defendant, without giving the defendant notice and opportunity to be heard, which was in violation of his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to a fair trial; (2) the trial court erred in not striking the jury panelists who had been exposed to an out-of-court comment by the defendant’s mother, which several members of the venire disapproved of or found inappropriate; (3) the trial court erred in allowing the State to use a nonqualified expert to interpret the words and phrases used by various persons on taped conversations played to the jury; (4) the trial court erred in allowing the State to introduce, as non-hearsay, a police report which contained out-of-court statements of a witness accusing Corey Smith of a homicide not charged in this case and expressing her fear of him, (5) the trial court erred in limiting the cross-examination of three witnesses crucial to the State’s case, where the proffered cross-examination would provide an additional explanation for the cause of death of one victim and would provide motive to lie and bias for the two other witnesses; (6) the trial court erred by not granting a mistrial after the prosecutor presented the medical examiner with an improper hypothetical and solicited an opinion from the witness on the same facts after two defense objections were sustained; (7) the trial court erred in not granting a new trial for the State’s intentional failure to provide the defense with a witness statement that was materially favorable to the defense; (8) the trial court erred in not holding a hearing to determine prejudice to the defense after the testimony of witness, Carlos Walker, where the State failed to disclose to the defense that Carlos Walker has changed his statement after he was deposed and prior to his testimony at trial; and (9) the trial court erred in not granting a new trial where the trial was fundamentally flawed by the cumulative effect of prosecutorial misconduct, which could have reasonably been expected to affect the outcome of the trial. Oral Arguments were held on 11/08/07. On 03/19/09, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed both the convictions and the sentence of death. The Florida Supreme Court issued a mandate on 04/13/09.

    On 08/10/09, Smith filed a petition seeking review of a non-final order in a death penalty proceeding in the Florida Supreme Court. This petition was dismissed voluntarily on 03/09/10.

    Smith filed a 3.851 Motion in the Circuit Court on 05/28/10. This case is currently pending.

  3. #3
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    Related

    January 8, 1999

    Massive sweep shatters drug gangs

    The John Does got an identity Thursday. Police took the mask off the fearsome Liberty City gang, unveiling federal drug, gun and money-laundering charges that could send 15 accused street gangsters to prison for life.

    Among the accusations: five murders, including that of Cynthia Brown, a government witness killed in 1997 two days before her scheduled testimony against Corey Smith, the reputed leader of the John Does.

    U.S. Attorney Thomas Scott said the John Doe charges - announced with a second indictment against the rival Cloud Nine drug gang - reflect a sophisticated 15-month law enforcement effort to "take back the streets from drug dealers" by using wiretaps, surveillance and multiagency shoe leather.

    "These two indictments represent a major blow to two of the most significant narcotics gangs operating in Liberty City, and in the case of the John Doe organization, perhaps, by far, the most violent, " Scott said at a news conference.

    "Some may ask, won't another gang just step up and take the place of the John Does and Cloud Nines of the world?" he said. "They want to face us with [the threat of] life imprisonment charges? We're willing to take them on."

    More than 200 police officers and federal agents fanned out across Miami-Dade County early Thursday, seeking 25 people. Eight were already in jail on other charges, one was in the hospital paralyzed from a gunshot wound, and 12 were picked up at home or on the streets. Four are still at large.

    Miami Police, who started the probe, said the John Doe gang has controlled a substantial part of the powdered cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana trade in Liberty City and Overtown since at least 1994.

    Members operated at least 11 "drug holes" - Scott called them "convenience stores" for drugs - and used deadly force to expand and consolidate their territory, investigators said.

    The Cloud Nine gang also sold drugs, police said, but the 10 members under indictment are not accused of violence.

    The John Doe indictment accuses gang members of killing five people in the course of drug trafficking:

    * Leon Hadley, a rival drug dealer shot to death Aug. 21, 1995, allegedly by Smith and two other men.

    * Calvin Cook, shot to death Sept. 28, 1996, by three members, allegedly "following the orders of Corey Smith."

    * Dominique Johnson, a rival drug dealer shot to death Nov. 7, 1996, allegedly by Smith.

    * Brown, the key witness to Johnson's murder, killed July 23, 1997, two days before she was scheduled to testify against Smith, who allegedly "arranged for and caused the murder." Brown's death forced prosecutors to drop a murder charge against Smith.

    * Marlon Beneby, a John Doe drug seller, who was shot July 23, 1998, and died later, allegedly at the hands of Smith's No. 2 man, Latravis Gallashaw, in a "dispute concerning profits from drug sales."

    The John Does hit the streets in the early '90s, when they went by the name Lynch Mob. Members sold drug paraphernalia and were enforcers for other gangs. Eventually, they began selling marijuana. They acquired their own drug holes and employees, branching out into cocaine and crack.

    "Like all corporations, they just got stronger and stronger, " said Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick White, who is coordinating the prosecution.

    When the group's former leader was arrested for murder, Smith took over, White said. The indictment alleges Smith oversaw a network of lieutenants, street sellers, lookouts and "table men" who packaged drugs for distribution.

    Miami Police Detective Luis Diazlay, in court documents, said the John Does met daily at 1504 NW 58th St., the home of Smith's mother, Willie Mae Smith. A police search there uncovered two handguns and two hand grenades. Police charged Corey Smith - already a convicted felon - with illegal possession and held him without bond Nov. 12.

    Smith's lawyer has said Smith is being unfairly targeted by police because they had to drop the murder charge against him. But investigators say Smith's arrest history, wealth, lifestyle and lack of employment suggest he's a major drug dealer. Upon his most recent arrest, his 24th, officers seized $185,000 cash.

    Court documents show police listened to more than 2,500 phone calls on Smith's and Gallashaw's phones. Officers heard alleged gang members using everyday words as codes for drug dealing. "Collard greens" meant marijuana. "Toys" meant guns. "White shoe" meant cocaine.

    Smith is implicated in all five murders outlined as "overt acts" in the indictment. Scott and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said they will review the cases for possible state prosecution. But some of the cases would be difficult to prove individually, and even if convictions resulted, the state penalties would be no higher than the life imprisonment already available under federal narcotics laws.

    Rundle defended her office's handling of drug cases, saying no matter the number, state law doesn't provide "teeth" to keep low- and mid-level violators in jail.

    Federal prosecution "is one of the strongest weapons we have in our arsenal against these drug dealers, " Rundle said. "We can put these guys away for life. We don't have to worry about them being released in 12 hours, going back to the same street corners, dealing the same old stuff."

    The indictment also accuses Eric Stokes and Julius Stevens, two John Doe lieutenants, with attempting to kill Anthony "Little Bo" Fail on Dec. 11, 1998, shooting more than 30 rounds into a house occupied by four adults and five children.

    Fail was a former John Doe member whose bitter split with the group has sparked about a dozen fatal shootings in Liberty City since August, police said. He was captured early Tuesday in West Palm Beach after an intensive, eight-day search. Fail was not indicted Thursday.

    The Rev. Richard Bennett, a Liberty City minister who has supported police efforts, said residents of the impoverished neighborhood are tired of living with violence but cannot afford to move to safer places. "This will do a great deal of good in our community, " he said during Thursday's news conference, adding that he hopes police will continue to be a forceful presence.

    Miami Police Chief William O'Brien said his department is committed to keeping the heat on.

    "Can we, police, stop the drug sales in Miami and Liberty City alone? No, we can't, " he said. "Police alone are not the answer to crime. Society's total approach to crime is the only answer. However, with that being said, we will work to arrest as many drug dealers as we can."

    It won't take long to see another round of charges. Miami-Dade Police are wrapping up a lengthy probe of the Boobie Boys, Vonda's Gang and other drug groups - also expected to end with a federal indictment. And investigators are not through with the John Does.

    "We have people inside the group cooperating, " said Miami homicide Lt. John Campbell. "We're already looking at who our next target will be."

    http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...le1928994.html

    January 8, 1999

    Gang `Shut Down' By Raid, Police Say

    MIAMI — Gun-wielding drug peddlers accused of terrorizing Liberty City since last summer were besieged on Thursday by federal agents and Miami police officers armed with guns, search warrants and federal indictments.

    Fifteen people were arrested on federal drug or weapons charges. All were affiliated with the John Doe gang or a less experienced rival, the Cloud Nine gang, police said.

    The dawn raid "shut down" the John Doe drug trafficking gang, U.S. Attorney Tom Scott said. While authorities beamed about the 6 kilograms of crack and $250,000 in cash confiscated at the gangs' stash houses, there was no assurance that new traffickers wouldn't promptly fill the power vacuum.

    That was the feeling of the Rev. Richard Bennett, a community leader, whose comments at Thursday's news conference were in stark contrast to those made by Scott and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

    "You cannot get businesses to open in your community unless the crime rate drops," he said. "You can see the effect of gang violence] when the little children can't go outside and play on Christmas Day."

    The gangs' weaponry was not limited to handguns and bulletproof vests. Miami Police Lt. John Campbell said his officers picked up several Chinese rip-offs of AK-47s and live grenades.

    Those arrested on Thursday were among 26 indicted by a federal grand jury. Six others had already been arrested on other charges, and five remain at large.

    Also behind bars is the city's most wanted man, Anthony Dejuan Fail, who allegedly left the John Doe gang in August. He was taken into custody at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday on three attempted murder charges and one armed robbery charge.

    Brooks said Fail's attempt to form his own drug gang late last summer sparked the violence that left at least 12 people dead. Fail was not associated with Cloud Nine, Campbell said.

    Once they had Fail in custody, police questioned him for 15 hours at Miami police headquarters. Fail, a slight-framed 25-year-old, waived his right to an attorney and was cooperative, Miami detectives said. Miami Assistant Police Chief John E. Brooks said Fail corroborated a great deal of the information about the John Doe members that authorities already had.

    Fail and the suspects arrested on Thursday are being held without bail.

    Vincent Mazzilli, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami Field Division, said the crack confiscated on Thursday was made from high-quality cocaine, with more than 80 percent purity. It was not immediately clear whether the drugs originated in Colombia, Venezuela or Peru. But suppliers in those countries continue to ship cocaine to Miami via small go-fast boats.

    "It's the old trafficking route that's been used for two decades," Mazzilli said.

    Still under investigation are the South American contacts at Miami's ports who unload the go-fast boats and sell the drugs in bulk to drug gangs like the John Does, he said.

    Authorities said all of the suspects could face up to life in prison if convicted on the federal drug charges.

    http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/199...afficking-gang

    December 30, 1998

    Drug Wars Hold Residents Hostage In Liberty City

    MIAMI — -- Some of Liberty City's pregnant women sleep in their bathtubs while some elderly people make their beds on the floor for fear bullets will fly through their windows at night, community leaders say.

    "On a daily basis, our citizens are held hostage by the criminals," said the Rev. Willie Sims, director of Miami-Dade's Community Relations Board. "Churches close down in the evening, people are sleeping on the floor. People are afraid, and we need to take the streets back."

    The violence linked to warring, drug-dealing gangs reached a climax during the Christmas holiday when four men where cut down by assault rifles.

    At Regina Miller's variety store, Northwest 68th Street and 15th Avenue, some 50 fist-sized bullet holes riddle the walls outside. They came from the ambush of a suspected gang member, gunned down as he rode his bike the day after Christmas.

    "As soon as the sun goes down, I close up," said Miller, 45, who used to keep her store open until 10 p.m. "I am afraid. The drug boys even chased away the children from the streets."

    The shooting outside Miller's store was the latest in a string of Liberty City murders that have claimed 12 lives since August.

    On Monday, Police Chief Bill O'Brien blamed gang members vying for control of the area's drug trade and dispatched a special team of 25 officers to Liberty City in an effort to stop it.

    By Tuesday night, the department had gotten an anonymous call vowing that officers venturing into Liberty City would be shot by rooftop snipers, police spokesman Delrish Moss said.

    As officers began blanketing the streets on Tuesday night, residents welcomed the intervention but yearned for a long-term solution.

    At the Apostolic Revival Center, a block away from Miller's store, the Rev. Gilbert Smith said he stopped having night services two years ago.

    "It's too dangerous," Smith said. "Stray bullets come from several blocks away. One of our ministers got hit in the shoulder and one of our cars, also. People stay home. They are scared."

    One police program this past spring helped stem the gang violence in Liberty City, said Maj. Gerald Darling, North District commander. The Zero Tolerance program, in which small-time dealers and buyers were systematically arrested, lasted only three months before the money for the program ran out, Darling said.

    "Zero Tolerance demonstrated that by removing a drug dealer, you also removed a [shooting] target," Darling said. "But the operation had a cost to it, and when we stopped, the demand for dope brought back the dealers."

    For about three years, Liberty City has been in the grip of the John Doe gang, the closest thing South Florida has to the gangs of Los Angeles or Chicago, Darling said.

    The gang, which prints its name on the marijuana and cocaine baggies it sells on the streets, is at the center of a struggle for control of the area's drug trade, Darling said.

    That battle heated up in August when a John Doe member named Anthony Fail broke away from the gang and formed a rival gang, Assistant Police Chief John Brooks said. The rivalry escalated when John Doe leader Corey Smith, Fail's rival, was arrested in November, creating a power vacuum, Brooks said.

    Since then, Fail and Smith's lieutenants have been warring for control, Brooks said. The department's main focus in stopping the violence is arresting Fail, Brooks said.

    Police have issued a warrant for Fail's arrest on two counts of attempted murder, but have yet to find him or charge him with any killings.

    "The gang members have the capacity to take life and have no concern about doing so," Darling said. "But with Operation Draw the Line], we are about to put an end to all this."

    By Tuesday evening, several patrol cars could be seen cruising the streets of Liberty City. The hope is that the visible police presence will corner targeted dealers into an area saturated with undercover police officers poised to make arrests.

    While Liberty City seemed relatively quiet, automatic weapons fire erupted in nearby Overtown on Tuesday morning. Three men were shot by a gunman in a passing car as they stood on the corner of Northwest Second Court and 18th Street. One remained in serious condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Tuesday; the others suffered minor injuries. Police said they were not sure whether the shooting was related to the Liberty City gang wars.

    In Liberty City, many residents long for the times when people didn't have to duck stray bullets and fear dope dealers; when 15th Avenue was teaming with businesses and people.

    "In the 1960s and 1970s, this was a great place to live -- a lot of people bought houses here," Sims said. "Now the people don't have the money to relocate and are trapped here."

    Sims, along with other community leaders, said they think the only way to take back the streets is with a joint effort between the police, the community and South Florida's business leaders.

    "We can't tell the kids `Don't do that' and not give them any alternatives," Sims said. "Dealing dope has become an acceptable way of life."

    http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/199...police-program
    Last edited by Mike; 01-14-2016 at 08:40 PM.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    COREY SMITH v THE STATE OF FLORIDA and CORY SMITH v JULIE JONES

    In today's Florida Supreme Court opinions, the court AFFIRMED the post-conviction court's denial of Smith's claims except his claims to the constitutionality of his penalty phase, DENIED habeas relief, vacated his death sentence and remanded for a new penalty phase.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  5. #5
    Member Newbie
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    Columbia SC
    Posts
    44
    What's the status of the new penalty trial? Smith is still in his DR orange clothes.

  6. #6
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    Smith filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus to the FSC on 8/11/2023.

    https://acis-api.flcourts.gov/courts...6-0eba6e4dab76
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  7. #7
    Senior Member CnCP Addict
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    Posts
    702
    Yesterday, Smith filed a petition at the Florida Supreme Court challenging application of the new sentencing statute. His sentencing retrial is set for August 28, 2023 in Miami-Dade County.

    https://fladeathpenalty.substack.com...at-the-florida

  8. #8
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    John Doe gang boss is on death row for murders. Can Florida fairly retry the case?

    BY CHARLES RABIN
    The Miami Herald

    Defense attorneys for one of South Florida’s most notorious convicted gang leaders are trying to convince a judge that the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is too compromised to participate in the retrial of a two-decade old death penalty verdict.

    Attorneys for Corey Smith — convicted in state court of four murders, though suspected of taking part in many more — argued that the state attorney should recuse itself from the case because it allowed “favors” to potential witnesses who prosecutors were trying to turn against Smith before his 2004 murder trial.

    The defense team considers a document placed in discovery two months before the trial began by then-Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Bronwyn Miller — but apparently not noticed then by Smith’s defense attorneys — a major piece of evidence that bolsters their argument. It says that during briefings, “civilian witnesses” were given food, beverages and Black & Mild cigars. Miller became a judge in 2005 and currently serves on the Third District Court of Appeal.

    One witness, Demetrius Jones, testified last week that he had sexual contact with a woman in the main conference room of Miami’s homicide bureau, a large room with a large window that looks out onto the detectives’ desks.

    In 1999, Smith was convicted in federal court of drug and firearm charges. A year later a Miami-Dade grand jury indicted Smith and seven others on 17 counts for crimes committed in connection with Liberty City’s violent John Doe drug gang.

    By 2004, Smith was found guilty of four murders by a Miami-Dade jury. He was sentenced to death in 2005.

    His high-profile Miami-Dade trial — heavily armed law enforcement flooded the courthouse and Smith wore a stun belt to court each day to prevent his escape — came five years after the federal government tried to dismantle the John Does, named for the toe tags tied to unidentified bodies at the morgue.

    During testimony at this week’s hearing, Smith’s former defense attorney Jimmy DellaFera said the first time he learned of then-Assistant State Attorney Miller’s memo was last week when defense attorneys forwarded him a copy. Had he been aware of the memo, he said he would have asked for the names of anyone who might have received a “favor.”

    “If I was aware, I would have asked to take depositions,” DellaFera said.

    Miller appeared as a witness earlier this week, a rarity among judges. Her answers were curt and to the point. The judge said she prepared witnesses prior to the trial almost daily at the Miami Police Department or in a jury room. Asked if she knew about or ever witnessed anyone drinking alcohol or having sex, she said, “No.”

    Defense attorneys have also produced affidavits signed by Smith’s former girlfriend and a former drug dealer with the John Does, both of whom testified against Smith at trial. The affidavits claim the two mingled and conspired with other witnesses at the Miami Police Department before they testified against Smith.

    State prosecutors Stephen Mitchell and Michael Von Zamft counter that Smith’s former girlfriend Tricia Geter and former drug dealer Anthony Fail signed the affidavits because Smith had created a “hit list” and they feared for their lives.

    Kevin Rodriguez, a former Miami-Dade organized crime detective who developed a rapport with Geter, testified that Geter told him she feared Smith would kill her. Rodriguez also testified that Geter told him that Smith continues to have pull with jail guards and came up with a system in which he speaks to Geter weekly without being recorded by using burner cellphones supplied by guards.

    “We also had additional law enforcement sources who supported Geter, saying Smith [still] has reach at jail and in law enforcement,” Rodriguez said.

    Smith’s re-sentencing, now tentatively scheduled for June, is the cascading effect of a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down Florida’s death penalty law. In an 8-1 vote, justices ruled Florida’s law unconstitutional because it only required a bare majority vote.

    The next year, Florida’s Supreme Court adopted the ruling and ordered new sentencing trials for two of Smith’s cases in which he was sentenced to death by non-majority votes,. But even as the state and Smith’s defense prepared for a new trial, the law was again upended in early 2023.

    This time, seething from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School convicted killer Nikolas Cruz’s life sentence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state legislators changed the death penalty law to only require a super-majority 8-4 vote for death, with jurors also having to vote unanimously on an aggravating factor like the crime being unusually cruel and heinous.

    Smith’s is one of almost two dozen death penalty sentences expected to be retried in Miami-Dade.

    The murders for which Smith was convicted were part of the John Does’ war for control over Miami’s drug trade in the 1990s.

    Leon Hadley, who ran the Liberty City drug holes Smith’s gang was fighting to take over, was killed in a drive-by shooting after he threatened Smith and a co-hort.

    ▪ John Doe “watchout” Jackie Pope stated in a deposition that a John Doe member shot a police officer at one of the drug holes. Pope’s body was later riddled by 16 bullets from John Doe “hit men,” according to a federal indictment.

    ▪ Though Cynthia Brown’s death was staged to look like an overdose, a coroner determined that the potential witness against Smith had been suffocated in a hotel room.

    ▪ Angel Wilson was killed when a car pulled up to her vehicle in Liberty City and peppered it with almost four dozen rounds from an AK-47. Smith thought he had killed Fail, a former associate whose breakup with the gang threw Smith into a rage.

    During the sentencing phase of the trial, Smith received life sentences for the murders of Hadley and Pope. He was sentenced to death by a 10-2 margin for his role in Brown’s murder and by a 9-3 vote for the murder of Wilson.

    Judge Wolfson is expected to rule on the defense motion on Feb. 28, after the two sides give closing arguments.

    https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/loc...285463167.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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
  •