Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Thomas William Rigterink - Florida

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

    Thomas William Rigterink - Florida




    Summary of Offense:

    Rigterink regularly bought marijuana from Jeremy Jarvis and decided to steal a shipment of marijuana from him. On September 24, 2003, he went to Jarvis’ apartment and stabbed him, but Jarvis fled to a nearby office building. Allison Sousa worked in the office building and was attempting to help Jarvis when Rigterink stabbed her to death. Jarvis died from 22 stab wounds. Rigterink’s fingerprints linked him to the scene, and an employee identified Rigterink as the attacker. He also admitted to the slayings for detectives, but he later testified a drug dealer threatened him. No mitigating factors were present; Rigterink had a happy childhood but started using drugs.

    Rigterink was sentenced to death in Polk County on October 14, 2005.

  2. #2
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has thrown out a Florida court ruling favorable to a former male model sentenced to death for fatally stabbing his friend and an office worker.

    The justices on Monday ordered the Florida Supreme Court to take a new look at the case of Thomas Rigterink in light of their ruling last week in another Florida case.

    The Florida court threw out Rigterink's conviction and death sentence for the slayings of Allison Sousa, 23, and Jeremy Jarvis, 24. The court cited problems with the Miranda rights warning police gave Rigterink before he confessed to the killings.

    But the Supreme Court last week declared Florida's Miranda warning sufficient, despite complaints it wasn't clear a suspect could have a lawyer present during questioning.

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...co7KQD9E5TL002

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    THOMAS WILLIAM RIGTERINK, vs. STATE OF FLORIDA

    On remand from the Supreme Court, the Florida Supreme Court has AFFIRMED Rigterink's conviction and death sentence.

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Florida Supreme Court reverses itself, upholds death sentence for Polk County man

    In an odd twist, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday reversed itself, this time upholding the conviction and death sentence of Winter Haven warehouse murder suspect Thomas Rigterink, concluding that the Miranda violation it earlier cited was no violation.

    Rigterink, now 39, was convicted and sentenced to die for killing a man who was attacked with a knife during a robbery and the woman into whose office the victim ran for help.

    The robbery victim, Jeremy Jarvis, had been stabbed 22 times.

    The other victim was Allison Sousa. She was at work in an office in the same warehouse complex when a bloody Jarvis burst through the door. She called 911, then a co-worker who went into hiding heard someone else come in and Sousa call out, "Don't hurt me. Don't hurt me."

    Sousa was stabbed six times.

    The attack was Sept. 24, 2003.

    Two years ago, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new trial, agreeing with Rigterink's lawyers, who argued that Rigterink was read an incomplete version of the Miranda warning. The defendant was told he had a right to a lawyer before answering questions, but deputies failed to tell him that he could also have one while talking to them, his attorneys wrote.

    But the Florida Attorney General's Office appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which concluded that although the Sheriff's Office's Miranda warning was not comprehensive, it was good enough

    It ordered the case back to the Florida Supreme Court.

    http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,4301452.story

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    THOMAS RIGTERINK v THE STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's Florida Supreme Court opinions, the court AFFIRMED the district court's DENIAL of Rigterink's motion to vacate his convictions for first-degree murder and sentences of death under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  6. #6
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On June 22, 2016, Rigterink filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/fl...cv01680/325169

  7. #7
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    April 17, 2017

    Ex-model Thomas Rigterink to get new sentencing hearing in Polk murders of drug supplier, passerby


    By Suzie Schottelkotte
    The Ledger

    BARTOW — Convicted murderer Thomas Rigterink, a former model who fatally stabbed his drug supplier and the passerby who tried to call for help more than a decade ago, will get another day in court.

    Circuit Judge Jalal Harb has set aside Rigterink’s death sentence and has ordered a new sentencing hearing. Harb based his written decision on a recent Florida Supreme Court ruling mandating that jurors agree unanimously on evidence supporting a death sentence, and that the jury’s recommendation for death is unanimous.

    Before, 12-member juries had to reach only a simple majority, and presiding judges determined whether the facts supporting death were proved.

    In another recent ruling, the state’s high court also decided lower courts must consider death cases dating to 2002, when a federal ruling put the Florida Legislature on notice that a unanimous jury recommendation should be required. State courts now will determine whether death penalties imposed since June 2002 should be reconsidered, particularly those in which the jury’s death recommendation wasn’t unanimous.

    In Rigterink’s case, the vote was 7-5 for death.

    State Attorney Brian Haas said he wasn’t surprised that Rigterink will receive a new sentencing hearing.

    “Based upon the rulings of the Supreme Court in these cases, we anticipated this one would be sent back,” he said Monday.

    Rigterink, 45, was convicted in September 2005 of brutally stabbing Jeremy Jarvis, 24, and Allison Sousa, 23.

    Authorities said Rigterink planned to rob Jarvis, who had been his regular drug supplier, at a warehouse unit where Jarvis lived on County Road 542 and Jimmy Lee Road, near Winter Haven. On the afternoon of Sept. 24, 2003, he attacked Jarvis, who escaped to a nearby office, where Sousa became embroiled in the affray. Sousa was fatally stabbed as she was attempting to call for help, authorities said.

    In his testimony to jurors, Rigterink denied involvement in the killings, saying instead that he happened upon the grisly scene and saw the true assailants, who were drug dealers who threatened to harm his loved ones if he reported what he knew.

    In his sentencing order, Circuit Judge J. Dale Durrance stated he saw the evidence differently.

    “From the testimony of family members and friends, the defendant was considered Mr. Perfect and could do no wrong,” he wrote. “From the jury’s verdict, the defendant was found to be a liar, a manipulator, and a double murderer who did do wrong and refuses to recognize it.”

    Haas said Monday it will be a challenge to present testimony in a killing that took place 14 years ago.

    “We certainly will give this the same attention and effort that we did when it came through the first time,” he said. “Even though time has gone by, it doesn’t make the case any less significant.”

    In most death-penalty cases, juries hear testimony in the guilt phase of the trial that they then carry into the penalty phase. In a resentencing case, prosecutors and defense lawyers must present enough evidence to make their respective cases, and often that can mean presenting nearly all the evidence from the original trial.

    “They have to go back and present a significant part of the case years and years later,” Haas said, “Anytime you go back and retry any part of a case there are challenges with doing that. Witnesses’ memories fade, and sometimes they aren’t available anymore.”

    In an unrelated case, Harb has denied resentencing for condemned murderer George James Trepal, 68, a Mensa member who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1991 for fatally poisoning his neighbor in Alturas.

    Although Trepal’s jury voted 9-3 for death in his case, his 1991 sentence predated the 2002 federal court ruling that established retroactivity.

    http://www.theledger.com/news/201704...plier-passerby
    "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

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
  •