Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 13

Thread: William Earl Sweet - Florida Death Row

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

    William Earl Sweet - Florida Death Row




    Summary of Offense:

    William Sweet was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of 13-year-old Felicia Bryant. In June 1990, Marcine Cofer was robbed and physically accosted in her apartment by three men. Cofer was able to identify two of her attackers by name and on June 26, 1990, she was taken to the police station to try to identify the third assailant through photographs. That evening Detective Robinson dropped Cofer off back at her apartment. William Sweet was watching from afar as Cofer left the detective. Sweet had previously implicated himself to a friend as the third perpetrator in the attack and robbery of Cofer. That same evening, Cofer asked her neighbor, Mattie Bryant, if Bryant’s two daughters, Felicia and Sharon Bryant, could stay with her in her apartment. Mattie agreed and the girls went over to Cofer’s place around 8:00 p.m.

    At 1:00 a.m., Sharon reported hearing a loud kick on the apartment door. She woke Cofer and informed her of the noise. After checking the premises, Cofer told Sharon not to worry as it appeared that whoever had been there had left. Cofer then went back to bed. Sharon then saw someone pulling on the screen in the living room and again alerted Cofer. Cofer then looked out the peephole of her front door and noticed Sweet standing outside the apartment.

    Cofer told Felicia to bang on the wall of the bathroom, alerting her mother, Mattie Bryant, who was next door. Mattie rushed over a few minutes later. The four women lined up behind the door, with Cofer in the back of the line. As they attempted to leave, William Sweet forced his way inside the apartment, trying to cover his face with a pair of pants. Sweet opened fire on Cofer, and then proceeded to shoot the other three women. Six shots were fired. Cofer was shot twice, as was Felicia. Felicia died as a result of the gunshot wounds to her abdomen and hand.

    Sweet was sentenced to death in Duval County on August 30, 1991.

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    2,740
    Sweet was denied by the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on October 23, 2006.

    http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-11th-circuit/1489956.html

  3. #3
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On April 30, 2007, Sweet's certiorari petition was denied by the US Supreme Court.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/06-9755.htm

  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    Supreme Court rejects 10 more death penalty appeals

    By News Service of Florida

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - With the total number of similar rulings reaching 30 over three days, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected appeals by another 10 Death Row inmates challenging their death sentences.

    Justices, in a highly unusual move, have released batches of 10 rulings each day this week, with all of the cases dealing with issues about jury unanimity. The appeals were based on a 2016 U.S.Supreme Court opinion in a case known as Hurst v. Florida and a subsequent Florida Supreme Court decision.

    The 2016 U.S. Supreme Court 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 June 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 Wednesday, the Death Row inmates had been sentenced to death before the Ring decision and argued that the new sentencing requirements should also apply to their cases.

    The inmates who lost their appeals Wednesday were Donald David Dilbeck in a Leon County case; Steven Maurice Evans in an Orange County case; Etheria Verdell Jackson in a Duval County case; Gregory Alan Kokal in a Duval County case; Harold Gene Lucas in a Lee County case; John Christopher Marquard in a St. Johns County case; William Earl Sweet in a Duval County case; Steven Richard Taylor in a Duval County case; William Gregory Thomas in a Duval County case; and Robert J. Trease in a Sarasota County case.

    https://www.news4jax.com/news/florid...enalty-appeals

  5. #5
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    The Florida Supreme Court rejected a couple of his claims today.

    http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/d.../sc17-1987.pdf

  6. #6
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On July 12, 2018, Sweet filed a successive habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/fl...cv00874/352381

  7. #7
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Sweet's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Florida
    Case Numbers: (SC17-699)
    Decision Date: January 24, 2018
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  8. #8
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,318
    Petition for writ of certiorari filed to SCOTUS on September 18, 2020.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/20-5786.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

  9. #9
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,318
    Distributed for conference December 4, 2020.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/20-5786.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

  10. #10
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On December 7, 2020, the United States Supreme Court DENIED Sweet's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Florida
    Case Numbers: (SC19-195)
    Decision Date: February 27, 2020
    Rehearing Denied: April 21, 2020

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/20-5786.html

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

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
  •