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Thread: Jason Demetrius Stephens - Florida Death Row

  1. #1
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    Jason Demetrius Stephens - Florida Death Row


    Robert Sparrow III’s Grave


    Jason Demetrius Stephens


    Facts of the Crime:

    Jason Demetrius Stephens was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of three-year-old Robert Sparrow III. On June 2, 1997, Jason Stephens and several accomplices broke into the home of Robert Sparrow, Jr. Stephens refused to name his accomplices. Horace Cummings, however, turned himself into authorities as one of the accomplices. The police never apprehended the other accomplices.

    According to Stephens, he went with his accomplices, including Horace Cummings, to the Sparrow home to buy drugs, and he claimed that they did not know about his plans to commit the robbery. According to testimony at trial, Stephens came into the home carrying a 9-mm firearm. Stephens was standing next to three-year-old Robert Sparrow III and Consuelo Brown, Sparrow’s mother. Brown confronted Stephens, who hit her in the face with the firearm. Stephens then shot a bullet into the floor to prove that the firearm was loaded and demanded money and marijuana. Stephens told Robert Sparrow Jr. to give him the keys to the blue car parked near the house, but Sparrow did not have the car keys. Stephens told all of the hostages, who included Robert Sparrow III, Robert Sparrow Jr., Consuelo Brown, Kahari Brown, Tracey Williams, Derrick Hosea Dixon and Tammy Cobb, to lie on the ground, and an unknown man held the hostages at gunpoint while Stephens looked around the home for a room in which to put the hostages. Stephens chose the bathroom and made the hostages crawl to the bathroom.

    David Cobb, Robert Sparrow Jr.’s half brother and his friend, Roderick Gardener, arrived at the home during the commission of the robbery and were forced into the bathroom with the other hostages. Items taken from the men included the keys to Gardener’s mother’s green Kia. Stephens showed the hostages his ID and said that he was taking Robert Sparrow III with him for ‘insurance.’ Stephens said that he would leave Robert Sparrow III somewhere if he was not followed. Stephens left the Sparrow residence with Robert Sparrow III in the green Kia because his accomplices would not let him in the black car, which they had driven to the Sparrow residence, with the child.

    Both the black and green cars left, and they pulled over less than one mile away and left Robert Sparrow III in the car in a sunny area around 2:30 in the afternoon. The car was not found until after 9 o’clock that night. Three-year-old Robert Sparrow III was found dead in the green Kia. Stephens claimed that the Sparrow was alive when he left him in the car. A doctor presented by the defense testified that Robert Sparrow III died from hyperthermia due to being in the hot car for the extended period of time. In contrast, the medical examiner testified that Sparrow died from asphyxiation, which included either strangulation or suffocation; however, the medical examiner could not rule out hyperthermia.

    Stephens was sentenced to death in Duval County on April 7, 1998.

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Factors Contributing to the Delay in Execution of Sentence

    The Direct Appeal was pending nearly three years prior to being denied.

    Case Information:

    Stephens filed his Direct Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court on 05/13/98. The issues addressed included that the trial court erred in denying motions for a new trial, to withdraw robbery plea, for a change of venue and for a judgment of acquittal. Stephens also argued that the trial court erred in evaluating mitigating and aggravating factors. The Florida Supreme Court did not find errors that warranted reversing the conviction or sentence and affirmed the conviction and sentence on 03/15/01. Rehearing was denied on 06/04/01. A Mandate was issued on 07/05/01.

    Stephens filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari on 09/10/01 with the United States Supreme Court. The petition was denied on 11/13/01.

    Stephens filed a 3.850 Motion with the circuit court on 10/23/02. An evidentiary hearing was held on 11/20/03. The motion was denied on 04/29/05.

    On 07/022/05, Stephens filed 3.850 Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court. On 11/15/07, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial Stephens filed a Motion for Rehearing on 11/30/07 which was denied on 02/06/08. The Florida Supreme Court issued a mandate on 02/22/08.

    On 08/30/06, Stephens filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Florida Supreme Court, which was denied 11/15/07. Stephens filed a Motion for Rehearing on 11/30/07 which was denied on 02/06/08. The Florida Supreme Court issued a mandate on 02/22/08.

    On 03/18/08, Stephens filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the United States District Court – Middle District. This petition was denied and dismissed with prejudice on 03/18/11.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    No. 12-5857 *** CAPITAL CASE ***
    Title:
    Jason Demetrius Stephens, Petitioner
    v.
    Kenneth S. Tucker, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al.
    Docketed: August 20, 2012
    Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
    Case Nos.: (11-11727)
    Decision Date: May 1, 2012
    Rehearing Denied: June 26, 2012

    ~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Aug 15 2012 Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due September 19, 2012)
    Sep 17 2012 Brief of respondents Kenneth S. Tucker, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. in opposition filed.
    Sep 27 2012 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of October 12, 2012.
    Oct 15 2012 Petition DENIED.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/12-5857.htm
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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Florida Supreme Court rejects 10 Death Row appeals, including in Duval and Clay

    By News Service of Florida
    Florida Times-Union

    The Florida Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals by 10 Death Row inmates, including three in Duval County and one in Clay County.

    The Supreme Court’s release of 10 nearly identical rulings at the same time was a somewhat-unusual move. But each of the cases involved inmates challenging their death sentences because juries did not unanimously recommend execution.

    The appeals were rooted in a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a case known as Hurst v. Florida and a subsequent Florida Supreme Court decision. The 2016 ruling found Florida’s death-penalty sentencing system was unconstitutional because it gave too much authority to judges, instead of juries. The subsequent Florida Supreme Court ruling said juries must unanimously agree on critical findings before judges can impose death sentences and must unanimously recommend the death penalty.

    But the Florida Supreme Court made the new sentencing requirements apply to cases since 2002. That is when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling known as Ring v. Arizona that was a premise for striking down Florida’s death-penalty sentencing system in 2016.

    In each of the cases Monday, the Death Row inmates had been sentenced to death before the Ring decision and argued that the jury-unanimity requirements should also apply to their cases.

    The Jacksonville cases were Marvin Burnett Jones, Pressley Bernard Alston and Jason Demetrius Stephens. In Clay County, Donald Bradley’s appeal was denied.

    The others were Eric Scott Branch in Escambia County, Kayle Barrington Bates in Bay County, Daniel Jon Peterka in Okaloosa County, Harry Franklin Phillips in Miami-Dade County, Ernest D. Suggs in Walton County and Frank A. Walls in Okaloosa County.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/public-...ding-duval-and
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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