Facts of the Crime:
Anthony Spann was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Kazue Perron. On November 13, 1997, Lenard Philmore and Sophia Hutchins robbed a pawnshop, stealing mostly jewelry and firearms. Anthony Spann drove the getaway car. Philmore and Spann spent that night at a motel with Keyontra Cooper and Toya Stevenson. On November 14, 1997, Cooper received a phone call that the police were looking for Philmore. Spann and Philmore decided that they needed to leave town. The two men also decided to rob a bank because they needed money to leave town. Spann and Philmore believed that the police would be looking for Spann’s Subaru that they had used in the pawnshop robbery and planned to use in the bank robbery. Spann and Philmore decided to carjack a woman and use her car to leave town.
Spann and Philmore looked for a victim at a shopping mall, but were unsuccessful. They continued to look in a “nice neighborhood” until they saw a woman driving a Lexus, who they followed until she pulled into the driveway of a home. Philmore approached the woman, Kazue Perron, and asked to use her cell phone. He then forced Perron back into the Lexus at gunpoint. Philmore drove with the victim in her car, and Spann followed in his Subaru. They drove to an isolated area where Philmore shot Perron in the head and dumped her body in the canal.
Philmore and Spann drove to the bank in Spann’s Subaru. Once at the bank, Philmore went inside, snatched an estimated $1,000 from a customer at the bank counter and fled to the car. The men left the bank in the Subaru, later abandoned it and picked up the Lexus. Afterwards, Spann and Philmore picked up Cooper and Stevenson. An undercover officer observed Spann driving the Lexus and knew that he was wanted on an outstanding homicide warrant. The officer radioed for back-up who began to follow Spann.
Spann attempted to outrun the police in the Lexus, reaching speeds in excess of 100 mph through a residential area. Spann was able to elude the police when he reached the interstate. The Lexus was found off the road after blowing a tire. A motorist contacted police when he saw the Lexus drive off the road and four people flee into an orange grove. The owner of the orange grove also saw the four run into the grove and noticed they were armed. The grove owner instructed the four people to hide in the brush near the creek. He then called police and helped the police search. Spann, Philmore, Cooper and Stevenson were found hiding in the orange grove. Two guns and a beeper were found in the water near where the four had been hiding. The bullet removed from the victim and the shells recovered at the scene were positively identified as matching one of the firearms that was stolen from the pawnshop, which was recovered from the creek near where Spann, Philmore, and the two women had been hiding.
Spann was sentenced to death in Martin County on June 23, 2000.
Co-defendant information:
Lenard Philmore (Martin County Circuit Court #97-1672) was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit robbery with a firearm, carjacking with a firearm, kidnapping (during the commission of a felony or to facilitate a felony), robbery with a firearm, and grand theft (more than $300 and less than $5,000). On June 21, 2000, Philmore was sentenced to death, a fifteen-year sentence, three life sentences, and a five-year sentence, respectively. For more on Philmore, see: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...rida-Death-Row
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