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Thread: James Daniel Turner - Florida

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    James Daniel Turner - Florida

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    Facts of the Crime:

    James Daniel Turner had been in jail in Newberry County, South Carolina, on a violation of probation charge. The sheriff’s office assigned him to work on various tasks. He was considered trustworthy, which gave him special privileges such as unrestricted access to most of the sheriff’s office and keys to vehicles in their parking lots. On September 28, 2005, Turner escaped from the Newberry County Jail in a stolen Newberry County Office Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). The SUV was found the next day in a parking lot in St. Johns County, Florida, by local employees. Turner had left his identification card and crack cocaine in the vehicle.

    On the morning of September 30, 2005, Turner was spotted by two guests and several housekeepers at the Comfort Inn in St. Augustine. He had passed by Renee Howard, her four children, granddaughter, and Stacia Raybon, when on they were on their way to breakfast at the motel. After breakfast, Howard drove her son to work and daughter to school. Two of the other children joined her in the truck. When Howard returned to the motel, Raybon came downstairs to help her with the children. She saw Turner standing outside their room on her way down. Howard, Raybon, and the three children returned to the motel room to prepare for checking out.

    Raybon was preparing bottles for the children when Turner entered their room. He struck Howard first and then attacked Raybon by stabbing her in the elbow. Turner saw Howard move back towards the door entrance. Meanwhile, Raybon grabbed her purse and locked herself in the bathroom. Raybon heard hitting noises and children screaming outside the bathroom. Turner tried to enter the bathroom several times. Raybon asked him to give her one of the kids. He demanded money, so Raybon gave him several credit cards. Turner allowed one of the children to enter the bathroom with Raybon. She pleaded with Turner to not hurt her or the children. He told her to wait 10 minutes before leaving the room. Turner left one minute later, and Raybon came out of the bathroom to find Howard dead. The pathologist who conducted the autopsy concluded that Howard died due to shock and blood loss from 15 stab wounds.

    Raybon attempted to call 911 from the hotel room, but was unable to connect. One of the housekeepers allowed Raybon to use her cell phone. When the police arrived, Raybon provided a description of Turner and Howard’s truck, which was now missing.
    Deputy Graham T. Harris spotted the truck, with Turner driving it, five miles away from the Comfort Inn. He approached the truck and turned on his flashing lights, but the truck went in reverse, rear-ending the front end of Harris’s patrol car. Turner pulled away from Harris’s car, but then began to hit the driver’s side. Harris accelerated in an attempt to escape, but Turner continued to hit him from behind. Eventually, the truck hit a guard rail on the Deep Creek Bridge. Turner exited the truck and jumped off of the bridge into the creek below.

    Multiple deputies arrived at the bridge, bringing a search canine with them. The dog found Turner in the creek. Turner would not comply with the deputies’ commands to surrender; so, the canine was ordered to attack Turner. Turner attempted to drown the dog, but eventually surrendered.

    Turner was sentenced to death in St. Johns County on April 24, 2008.

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    April 24, 2008

    ST. AUGUSTINE, FL (AP ) -- The South Carolina fugitive convicted of killing a woman in a St. Augustine hotel has been sentenced to death.

    Thursday morning a judge gave James Turner the death penalty for killing Renee Boling Howard, stabbing her 15 times.

    The murder took place in September 2005 at the comfort inn on state road 207 by I-95.

    Howard was killed in her hotel room with three young children in the room.

    A close friend, Stacia Raybon, was also in the room preparing baby bottles at the sink when Turner stormed in.

    Turner was also sentenced to 30 years in prison for attempting to kill Raybon.

    Turner's sentence also includes 5 years in prison for stealing Howard''s truck, life in prison for home invasion and robbery with a deadly weapon, and 15 years in prison for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

    Turner showed little emotion as the judge announced the sentence.

    However, Howard's mother, Betty Boling, cried out in tears.

    Boling later told First Coast News that Turner will pay for what he did.

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    The Florida Supreme Court denied Turner's direct appeal on May 20, 2010.

    Opinon is here:

    http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/d...0/sc08-975.pdf

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    Man on death row seeks new trial in murder of Crescent Beach mother of five

    Turner, convicted of killing Crescent Beach woman, claims ineffective counsel

    A man convicted in the 2005 killing of a Crescent Beach mother of five at a Comfort Inn is to be in court again today to ask for the judge to overturn his conviction and death sentence and give him a new trial.

    A jury found James Daniel Turner of Silverstreet, S.C., guilty of stabbing Renee Boling Howard, 37, 15 times on Sept. 30, 2005, at the St. Augustine motel off State Road 207 and Interstate 95 after escaping from a South Carolina prison and stealing a police car.

    Prosecutors said he stabbed Howard several times before turning to see her crawling toward the door and stabbing her again.

    Turner was in court Tuesday claiming ineffective counsel during the capital penalty phase because he said his attorneys didn’t get him properly mentally evaluated or present experts during the penalty phase of his trial, according to his motion.

    Today is the second of a two-day evidentiary hearing held before St. Johns Circuit Judge Wendy Berger.

    On Tuesday, the defense’s expert witness said Turner had grave mental illnesses which were not presented to the jury.

    Miami Beach-based clinical psychologist Hyman Eisenstein said he had extensively tested Turner and found Turner suffered from Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity disorder and Bipolar Disorder, suffered from anxiety and depression and for years had self-medicated with drugs and alcohol.

    He said he also has periodic psychotic episodes.

    However, he said Turner scored low on a test predicting future violence and said prison life had reduced some of the stressors that led to Turner’s biggest problems.

    “Mr. Turner would be a good candidate for life in prison ... with a low risk of violence,” Eisenstein said.

    Eisenstein said everyone he spoke to in Turner’s family had stories about Turner’s poor judgment and impulsivity and that he had brain damage to his frontal lobe.

    “I think the findings describe Mr. James Turner, who he is,” Eisenstein said.

    Attorneys Carol Rodriguez and Raheela Ahmed are representing Turner, court records show.

    Relatives also testified that Turner had an unstable upbringing, living at times with a mother who had him at 17 and physically abused him. Other times, he lived with his aunt and developed a close bond with an uncle who died of cirrhosis of the liver. He also lost his grandfather, a significant figure in his life.

    Eisenstein said that childhood instability created grave problems for Turner later in life, including drug and alcohol dependence.

    About the trials

    If Berger grants a new trial, it would be the third for Turner.

    Berger declared a mistrial during Turner’s first trial in July 2007 when a juror had a seizure during consideration of the fifth and final charge against the defendant.

    Jurors found him guilty Nov. 29, 2007, during his re-trial and later recommended the death penalty.

    Dr. Miguel Mandoki, a Jacksonville psychiatrist, said during the first trial that he believed Turner was insane when Howard was killed in St. Augustine.

    Berger will hear more testimony beginning at 9 a.m. today.

    About the crimes

    Turner was completing a prison term at a Newberry, S.C., jail on Sept. 28, 2005, when he hotwired a police car and drove to St. Augustine, where he ran out of gas. Then, he went looking for a car and money to continue his getaway, prosecutors said at the time.

    Turner was a trustee and had three or four months left on his sentence for a probation violation, according to testimony at his trial.

    Howard and a friend, Stacia Raybon, had been staying at the Comfort Inn with two 10-month-old babies and a 2-year-old toddler. One of the babies and the 2-year-old were Howard’s. The other baby was Howard’s granddaughter.

    They were preparing to check out of the motel when Turner burst into their room and began stabbing Howard, according to testimony.

    Raybon was attacked twice before she locked herself in the bathroom.

    After the attacks, he stole Howard’s car and led police on a high-speed chase.

    Jurors found him guilty of attempted first-degree murder, grand theft of a motor vehicle, home invasion robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault on a police officer.

    State Attorney Angela Corey, who is now prosecuting the Trayvon Martin case, prosecuted Turner at trial as an assistant state attorney.

    In addition to the death sentence, Berger sentenced Turner to life in prison for home invasion robbery with a deadly weapon, five years for the grand theft of Howard’s Ford F-150 pickup truck and 15 years for aggravated assault on a police officer.

    St. Johns County Deputy Graham Harris had testified that he chased Turner south on State Road 207 at speeds between 90 and 100 mph. He said Turner put the pickup truck in reverse and rammed his patrol car before jumping off the Deep Creek bridge.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...e#.T6pdX1JX-uI
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    Death row inmate's fate now up to Judge Berger

    A death row inmate convicted in a brutal stabbing death in a motel room in 2005 now must do what probably is familiar to him: wait.

    James Daniel Turner was in court Wednesday for the second day of an evidentiary hearing in which his attorneys asked for a new trial. They said Turner’s former attorneys didn’t make the jury aware of significant mental health illnesses he had when Renee Boling Howard, 37, a mother of five, was stabbed to death at a Comfort Inn.

    The hearing concluded before noon, and now Circuit Judge Wendy Berger will think over the matter before making a decision.

    No date has been set for a decision.

    On Tuesday, an expert witness for the defense said Turner suffers from bipolar and borderline personality disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and that the jury was not made aware of those diagnoses.

    On Wednesday, an expert witness for the state said he does not believe Turner suffers from bipolar or borderline personality disorders.

    Dr. Jeffrey Danziger, a Maitland-based psychiatrist and medical doctor, said the symptoms that led to those diagnoses were induced by Turner’s dependence on powdered methamphetamine, cocaine and alcohol and did not appear in the seven years he was in prison.

    Danziger said Turner “does not suffer from bipolar disorder because he hasn’t had a manic episode that I am aware of.”

    He said accounts of manic activities such as Turner’s spending of a $25,000 settlement in one week and unstable romantic relationships, including three failed marriages, could be attributed to the effects of the substances.

    Rather, “he has some situational unhappiness, and that’s to be expected” because he is in prison and sentenced to death, Danziger said.

    He said Turner had not exhibited borderline behavior while in prison, such as cutting himself, banging his head against a wall or attempting suicide.

    And the ADHD?

    “Maybe,” Danziger said. But even if he does suffer from that disorder, “it has little to do with (the murder) in 2005.”

    Danziger agreed with several previous diagnoses that found that Turner has frontal lobe damage.

    He said those findings were “not surprising for someone who has a history of heavy substance abuse and maybe suffered some knocks to the head,” including head trauma in substance-induced car accidents.

    A jury in 2007 found Turner, then of Silverstreet, S.C., guilty of stabbing Howard on Sept. 30, 2005, at the St. Augustine motel off State Road 207 and Interstate 95 after escaping from a South Carolina prison and stealing a police car.

    Prosecutors said he stabbed Howard several times before turning to see her crawling toward the door and stabbing her again.

    Two of Howard’s children, a 10-month-old and a 2-year-old, were in the room, as was her 10-month-old grandchild. They weren’t injured, but Howard’s friend Stacia Raybon was attacked twice before locking herself in the bathroom.

    If Berger grants a new trial, it would be the third for Turner.

    Berger declared a mistrial during Turner’s first trial in July 2007 when a juror had a seizure during consideration of the fifth and final charge against the defendant.

    Jurors found him guilty Nov. 29, 2007, during his retrial and later recommended the death penalty.

    Dr. Miguel Mandoki, a Jacksonville psychiatrist, said during the first trial that he believed Turner was insane when Howard was killed in St. Augustine.

    In addition to the death sentence, Berger sentenced Turner to life in prison for home invasion robbery with a deadly weapon, five years for the grand theft of Howard’s Ford F-150 pickup truck and 15 years for aggravated assault on a police officer.

    St. Johns County Deputy Graham Harris had testified that he chased Turner south on State Road 207 at speeds between 90 and 100 mph. He said Turner put the pickup truck in reverse and rammed his patrol car before jumping off the Deep Creek bridge.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...r#.T6t52lJX-uI
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    JAMES DANIEL TURNER vs. STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's opinions, the Florida Supreme Court DENIED Turner's motion to vacate his conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851
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    On July 28, 2014, Turner filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/flo...cv00885/300337

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    With new death penalty rules on the books, judge vacates sentences in 2 old cases

    By Jared Keever
    The St. Augustine Record

    Two men, long ago convicted of murder in separate cases in St. Johns County and sentenced to death, have had their sentences vacated and been given an opportunity to have the penalty portion of their trials heard again.

    The recent orders from Circuit Court Judge Howard Maltz came in response to motions filed on behalf of James Daniel Turner and Norman Blake McKenzie that sought to have the sentences thrown out after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida’s old sentencing scheme for death penalty cases.

    Their convictions stand but each shall be granted a new penalty phase “if the State still desires to seek the death penalty,” the orders say.

    A jury convicted Turner of first-degree murder in 2007 for the 2005 stabbing death of Renee Boling Howard of Crescent Beach after he escaped from a South Carolina prison. Then-Circuit Court Judge Wendy Berger sentenced him to death in 2008 after a 10-2 jury recommendation for the sentence during the penalty phase of his trial.

    Berger, who now serves on the 5th District Court of Appeal, also handed down two death sentences for McKenzie after two 10-2 recommendations from a jury in 2007. Months earlier, jurors had convicted him of first-degree murder for killing Randy Wayne Peacock and Charles Frank Johnston with a hatchet. Peacock was also stabbed.

    It was those 10-2 juror recommendations that were at the heart of Maltz’s orders in response to what are now often referred to as “Hurst motions.”

    The name is a reference to the January 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case Hurst v. Florida that found Florida’s sentencing procedures were unconstitutional.

    The court found that the procedures violated the defendant’s right to a trial by jury by allowing the judge to make the final decision after considering the jury’s recommendation. It also took issue with those recommendations having to come from only a majority of jurors rather than a unanimous decision.

    Legislators responded that same year by passing a new law that required a 10-2 vote from jurors for a death sentence, but that was quickly shot down by the Florida Supreme Court, which found that the Hurst decision, and its predecessor — a 2002 decision in Ring v. Arizona in which the U.S. Supreme Court examined many of the same issues — meant that a unanimous decision from jurors was needed for a death sentence.

    Gov. Rick Scott signed a new law in March requiring just that.

    Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis told The Record on Wednesday that the new law, in conjunction with the “guidance” from the Florida Supreme Court, means that any death sentence that was made final after the Ring decision can be challenged.

    Lewis said that in the 7th Judicial Circuit, which includes Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns and Putnam counties, there are around 30 death penalty cases and about half of them appear eligible for a challenge.

    “From what we’ve looked at so far, we have about 15,” he said, adding that, right now, judges seem to be vacating only those sentences in cases in which the jury recommendation was not unanimous.

    For instance, Lewis said, the Florida Supreme Court recently upheld the death sentence for Quentin Marcus Truehill that was based on a unanimous recommendation, saying that what constitutes a “Hurst error” is rendered “harmless” if all the jurors agreed when they sent their recommendation to the judge.

    A jury in 2014 convicted Truehill, a prison escapee from Louisiana, of murder for killing Vincent Binder, a 29-year-old Florida State University graduate student, and dumping his body in St. Johns County.

    Maltz applied similar reasoning as the Florida Supreme Court in March when he declined to vacate a death sentence for John Christopher Marquard, who, in 1993 was sentenced to death for first-degree murder.

    Because the sentence predated the Ring decision, Maltz wrote, Marquard was not “entitled to retroactive Hurst relief.”

    Even if he were to apply Hurst to the case, he added, Marquard still would not be entitled to the relief “because the jury’s unanimous recommendation of death rendered any error harmless.”

    For the sentences that do get overturned, Lewis said he and his colleagues deal with them on a case-by-case basis.

    Prosecutors consult with the victims’ families to see if there is still desire to seek a death penalty and then make a decision as to how they will proceed, he said.

    That is what has been set in motion now with Monday’s orders in the Turner and McKenzie cases.

    “Once those orders come out we have 45 days,” Lewis said.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...es-2-old-cases
    "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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    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Prosecutors will seek death penalty again in two old cases

    By JARED KEEVER
    The St. Augustine Record

    After having two death sentences thrown out because of recent high court rulings, prosecutors have decided to again seek the death penalty for two men convicted of murder years ago in two separate cases.

    Attorneys for James Daniel Turner and Norman Blake McKenzie were both in Circuit Judge Howard Maltz’s St. Johns County courtroom on Tuesday afternoon for status conferences regarding their clients’ cases.

    Maltz, earlier this year, vacated both men’s death sentences after the U.S. Supreme Court, in 2016, struck down Florida’s old sentencing scheme for death penalty cases in a case called Hurst v. Florida.

    The court found that the procedures violated the defendant’s right to a trial by jury by allowing the judge to make the final decision after considering the jury’s recommendation. It also took issue with those recommendations having to come from only a majority of jurors rather than a unanimous decision.

    Legislators responded that same year by passing a new law that required a 10-2 vote from jurors for a death sentence, but that was quickly shot down by the Florida Supreme Court, which found that the Hurst decision, and its predecessor — a 2002 decision in Ring v. Arizona in which the U.S. Supreme Court examined many of the same issues — meant that a unanimous decision from jurors was needed for a death sentence.

    Gov. Rick Scott signed a new law in March requiring just that.

    While Turner’s and McKenzie’s convictions still stand, they do have to be resentenced after Maltz found that, because jurors in their trials did not vote unanimously for the death sentence, they are eligible for new penalty phases because of what courts have come to call a “Hurst error.”

    Turner, who appeared in court with his attorney Tuesday, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2007 for the 2005 stabbing death of Renee Boling Howard of Crescent Beach after he escaped from a South Carolina prison. Then-Circuit Court Judge Wendy Berger sentenced him to death in 2008 after a 10-2 jury recommendation for the sentence during the penalty phase of his trial.

    Berger, who now serves on the 5th District Court of Appeal, also handed down two death sentences for McKenzie after two 10-2 recommendations from a jury in 2007. Months earlier, jurors had convicted him of first-degree murder for killing Randy Wayne Peacock and Charles Frank Johnston with a hatchet. Peacock was also stabbed.

    McKenzie, who was not in court Tuesday, will be returning to the St. Johns County jail to await sentencing. Turner will be returning to state prison where he is also serving time on other charges related to the 2005 murder.

    Both cases are scheduled for another status conference in November. The new penalty phases are expected to take place some time next year.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...-two-old-cases

  10. #10
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    Prosecutors seeking death penalty again in 2005 murder case

    By Jared Keever
    The St. Augustine Record

    A South Carolina man who killed a woman in a St. Johns County hotel in 2005 is back in court this week as prosecutors again seek the death penalty in his case.

    Jury selection for James Daniel Turner began Monday in the St. Johns County courthouse before Circuit Judge Howard Maltz.

    A jury convicted Turner of first-degree murder in 2007 for the stabbing death of Renee Boling Howard of Crescent Beach after he escaped from a South Carolina prison. Then-Circuit Court Judge Wendy Berger sentenced him to death in 2008 after a 10-2 jury recommendation for the sentence during the penalty phase of his trial.

    In 2017, Maltz vacated that sentence after the U.S. Supreme Court, in 2016, struck down Florida’s old sentencing scheme for death penalty cases.

    The high court found the procedures violated the defendant’s right to a trial by jury by allowing the judge to make the final decision after considering the jury’s recommendation. It also took issue with those recommendations having to come from only a majority of jurors rather than a unanimous decision.

    Prosecutors filed their notice of intent to seek the death penalty in July 2017.

    Though Turner’s conviction stands, he does have to be resentenced, which, because prosecutors are again seeking the death penalty, requires a new jury to be seated.

    https://www.staugustine.com/news/201...05-murder-case
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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