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Thread: Brandy Bain Jennings - Florida Death Row

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    Brandy Bain Jennings - Florida Death Row



    Summary of Offense:

    Vicki Smith, Jason Wiggins and Dorothy Siddle were employees at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Naples, Florida when they were killed on the morning of November 15, 1995, during the commission of a robbery. Police found the victims on the floor of the freezer and all three victims had their throats slit. Siddle was found with her hands bound with electrical tape behind her back. Both Wiggins and Smith still had electrical tape hanging from their left wrists, however; it appeared to have come free from their right hands.

    Bloody shoe prints led from the freezer, through the kitchen, and ended up in the office. The office safe was found open and was surrounded by cash and plastic containers. Behind the restaurant there were scattered bills, a knife, a knife case, a pair of bloodstained gloves, an air pistol, and shoe prints leading away from the restaurant.

    Brandy Jennings and Jason Graves knew the victims through their previous employment at Cracker Barrel. Three weeks after the murders, Jennings and Graves were apprehended and jailed in Las Vegas, Nevada for the robbery and murders. Jennings initially blamed Graves for the murders, but admitted his participation in the planning and in the perpetration of the robbery itself. Jennings admitted wearing gloves during the commission of the robbery. Jennings acknowledged that he used his Buck knife to cut the electrical tape after binding the victims’ hands, but claimed that he must have put the knife down after using it because he does not recall seeing it after that point. Jennings stated that he saw the dead victims on the floor of the freezer and that he slipped in the blood, but he does not recall falling, getting his clothing and hands bloody, or subsequently washing the blood off of his hands in the kitchen sink. Jennings told the police that it was Graves’ air pistol and Jennings then directed the police to the canal when evidence of the crime had been discarded.

    Items eventually recovered from the canal included: gloves, clothes, shoes, socks, packaging from a pellet air gun, a money bag marked “Cracker Barrel”, money bands, a clear garbage bag, and rocks which were weighing down the bundle of evidence. An expert testified that the bloody footprints in and around the Cracker Barrel matched the prints on the shoes that belonged to Jennings, which were pulled out of the canal.

    After being confronted by police with inconsistencies in his story, Jennings stated in a taped interview that, “I think I could have been the killer. In my mind I think I could have killed them, but in my heart I don’t think I could have.” Jennings made comments to several people about his dislike of victim, Siddle. Jennings also previously made comments about robbery and witness elimination. Jennings had stated that robbery was an easy way to get money and the best way to get away with it was not to leave witnesses.

    Jennings was sentenced to death in Collier County on December 2, 1996.

    Co-defendant information:
    Jennings' accomplice, Charles J. Graves, was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery with a deadly weapon. Graves is serving three life sentences for the convictions of first-degree murder and 15 years for the conviction of robbery.

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    August 14, 2010

    Naples man’s last ditch hearing to escape death for 1995 Cracker Barrel triple homicide concludes

    Attorneys for Brandy Bain Jennings, the Naples man sentenced to death row for a 1995 triple homicide at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant, concluded a special hearing in his case in a Collier courtroom on Wednesday.

    With prosecutors, they’ll submit closing arguments to a Collier judge, who will decide if Jennings’ original case was flawed and merits another look.

    The hearing follows Jennings’ petition for post-conviction relief due to ineffective counsel, a standard action in death penalty cases.

    It may also represent one of his last opportunities to escape death row. The Florida Supreme Court denied his appeal in 1998, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to hear his case the following year.

    The evidentiary hearing, held before Collier Circuit Judge Fred Hardt, was continued from April, when testimony was taken for two days. Jennings was present both times, attentive and clad in an orange jumpsuit.

    Wednesday morning, he listened as clinical psychologist Faye Sultan described the consequences of his chaotic upbringing. Raised amidst sexual abuse and moved frequently from state to state, Jennings grew up without normal impulse control, Sultan said.

    He began drinking and doing drugs at an early age, making him an overly sexualized substance abuser, Sultan said.

    “They don’t develop normally neurologically, and they don’t develop normally emotionally,” Sultan said.

    Such an assessment of Jennings’ background should have been presented during his trial, his attorneys contend.

    Jennings, 41, and his accomplice, Charles Jason Graves, 33, were each convicted of three counts of capital murder and one count of robbery in the killings of Dorothy Siddle, 38, of Golden Gate; Vicki Smith, 27, of Copeland; and Jason Wiggins, 21, of East Naples during an early morning holdup at the restaurant on Collier Boulevard near Interstate 75.

    Both former Cracker Barrel employees, Jennings and Graves bound their three victims and placed them in a freezer on Nov. 15, 1995. Jennings, the state proved, then repeatedly slashed the throats of the victims, while Graves stood at the freezer door with a pellet gun to prevent their escape. They had planned the crime more than a month ahead of time, hoping to snatch up to $15,000 in a simple parking lot robbery.

    The two men were arrested in Las Vegas less than a month after the killings.

    Jennings is being represented by Paul Kalil of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel. Assistant State Attorney Richard Montecalvo represented the state in the hearing, with help from Assistant Attorney General Carol Dittmar.

    http://www.marconews.com/news/2010/a...er=yahoo_feeds

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    Factors Contributing to the Delay in Imposition of Sentence:

    The Direct Appeal was pending for three years prior to a decision being rendered.

    3.850 Motion is still pending after almost nine years.

    Case Information:

    A Direct Appeal was filed on 12/17/96. Issues that were raised included whether the trial court erred in failing to grant Jennings’ motion to suppress the statements made to Florida law enforcement officers while in custody in Las Vegas and whether the trial court erred in finding the flight to avoid arrest aggravator. The Florida Supreme Court found all of these claims either without merit or harmless and affirmed the conviction and sentence of death on 09/10/98.

    A Petition for Writ of Certiorari was filed on 04/26/99 and denied on 06/24/99.

    A 3.850 motion was filed with the circuit court on 03/20/00 and was amended on 06/23/00. The motion was denied on 01/31/11.

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    On June 27, 2013, the Florida Supreme Court denied Jennings' petition for post-conviction relief.

    http://caselaw.findlaw.com/fl-suprem...t/1636496.html

    On October 17, 2013, Jennings filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/flo...v02677/290219/

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    Cracker Barrel murders 20 years ago haunt families of victims as killer awaits execution

    On a Wednesday morning 20 years ago, three employees worked before dawn to open up the Cracker Barrel restaurant off Collier Boulevard.

    Eighteen-year-old Jason Wiggins had stayed overnight to clean up. Manager Dorothy Siddle, 38, arrived around 4:30 a.m., and 27-year-old cook Vicki Smith showed up about 10 minutes later. But before the restaurant could open that morning, all three were dead.

    The killings at Cracker Barrel were unlike anything that ever had happened in the community, said Chief Chris Roberts of the Collier County Sheriff's Office, who was then a sergeant in the violent crimes bureau.

    "At that time, it was one of the most heinous crimes in Collier County," Roberts said. "You just didn't see that sort of thing in Naples, Florida, back then, no more than you see it today. We were just coming down from some of the stuff in the '70s and '80s where we had the cocaine cowboys and square grouper. We had murders related to those, but something like what happened at Cracker Barrel wasn't common at all."

    After two failed attempts to rob the restaurant, Brandy Bain Jennings and Charles Jason Graves — both former employees — entered the Cracker Barrel on Nov. 15, 1995, stealing about $6,000 and killing Wiggins, Siddle and Smith, who were found in the freezer with their hands bound and their throats slit. Jennings and Graves were picked up by police in Las Vegas after Collier County investigators issued a nationwide bulletin.

    The investigation had quickly pointed to Jennings and Graves as detectives spoke with other employees in the days after the robbery.

    "It was one of those things like peeling an onion," Roberts said. "Every layer we peeled back made us feel more certain Jennings and Graves were the folks we should be focused on."

    Detective Andy Rose was driving to North Florida with his partner, Detective Jay Crenshaw, to meet with Graves' family when they got word that the suspects had been arrested in Las Vegas. Somewhere around Tampa, the two detectives turned around and hopped a flight from the Southwest Florida International Airport with just one change of clothes.

    At first, Jennings didn't want to talk to the detectives, but the next morning, he changed his mind, giving a four-hour interview where he admitted to robbing the restaurant but blamed Graves for the killings.

    "His entire story took us from before when it happened basically to the point where we were that day," said Rose, now a police commander in North Port. "He was very cordial and seemed to be pretty forthcoming with everything."

    Graves and Jennings were convicted in separate trials in Pinellas County in the fall of 1996. Graves was sentenced to life in prison, while Jennings received the death penalty.

    Felicia Wojeck, a juror at Jennings' trial, said she still thinks about the case to this day.

    "It's something I'm never going to forget as long as I live," she said. "I still have nightmares about the brutality of the killings and the senselessness of it. I'll never forget the photographs, and I'll never forget the victims."

    Every now and then, Wojeck said she checks the computer to see the status of Jennings' appeals.

    "The fact that he's still living bothers me a great deal," she said.

    Jennings filed his federal habeas corpus petition on Oct. 17, 2013, saying his lawyer was ineffective and that a judge should have suppressed his interview with detectives. The state filed its response on April 25, 2014 and the matter is now pending.

    State prison records show Jennings has not had a visitor since 2012, when a pen pal came to see him. Graves is regularly visited by his girlfriend, mother and other relatives.

    Clifford Siddle, whose wife, Dorothy, was killed, said it frustrates him that no execution date has been set for Jennings.

    "He admitted he did it, but 20 years later, you're still feeding him. That's wrong," Siddle said. "There's just not going to be any peace or rest 'til he's gone."

    Although he remains in prison, Roberts, the former violent crimes sergeant, said Jennings "is certainly where he belongs."

    "The viciousness of attacks on those folks is something I'll remember for the rest of my days," Roberts said.

    http://www.naplesnews.com/news/crime...348014041.html
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    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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    Article

    Cracker Barrel Murderer' to remain on Death Row following appeal

    Brandy Jennings, the infamous "Cracker Barrel Murderer," will remain on Death Row after the Florida Supreme Court denied his appeal.

    Jennings murdered 18-year-old Jason Wiggins, 27-year-old Vicki Smith, and 38-year-old Dorothy Siddle during a robbery at a Cracker Barrel off Collier Boulevard in November of 1995.

    The state attorney's office said that all three had their hands bound, their throats slit, and were left in the restaurant's freezer.

    Jennings, along with an accomplice, Charles Graves, were both former employees of the Cracker Barrel. The duo also stole $6,000 then fled to Las Vegas where they were captured.

    Jennings was found guilty in all three murders and one count of robbery with a deadly weapon in 1996.

    Graves is serving three life sentences along with 15 years for the robbery charge.

    “The Florida Supreme Court properly rejected Brandy Jennings’ argument. With this decision, we move one step closer to achieving justice for Dorothy Siddle, Vicki Smith and Jason Wiggins,” said Chief Assistant State Attorney Amira Fox.

    http://www.nbc-2.com/story/37383594/...llowing-appeal
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  9. #9
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court DENIED Jennings' certiorari petition.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Florida
    Case Numbers: (SC17-938)
    Decision Date: January 29, 2018

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/18-5054.html

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    On December 1, 2020, Jennings’ habeas petition was denied by the Federal District Court. He was also denied a Certificate of Appealability.

    https://law.justia.com/cases/federal...751/290385/69/
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