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Thread: James Guzman - Florida

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    James Guzman - Florida




    Summary of Offense:

    Around August 5, 1991, James Guzman and Martha Cronin began living together at the Imperial Motor Lodge, where they became acquainted with David Colvin, who also resided at the motel. At approximately 3:00 p.m. on August 10, 1991, Guzman confessed to Cronin that he had killed Colvin and had taken a diamond ring and some money from him. Later, Guzman also discussed the commission of the crime with a cellmate named Paul Rogers in the spring of 1992. On August 12, 1991, Colvin’s body was discovered lying face down on the bed of his motel room. The body had nineteen stab wounds. They included hack wounds to the face, skull, back, and chest and a defensive wound to the left hand. The body was soaked in blood and a large amount of blood was found spattered on the walls.

    A bent and twisted samurai sword was found on the light fixture above the bed. Colvin’s blood alcohol level was determined to be .34 at the time of death. The cause of death was determined to be loss of blood.

    Guzman was re-sentenced to death in Volusia County on December 27, 1996.

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    3rd trial ordered in '91 samurai sword slaying

    A 3rd trial has been ordered for a Florida man accused of slaying a Virginia nightclub owner with a samurai sword in 1991.

    James Guzman has been on death row since 1996, after he was convicted and sentenced to die for a second time for the slaying of David Colvin in a motel.

    A federal judge this week said Guzman's right to a fair trial was violated because of misconduct by the lead Daytona Beach police detective, who didn't disclose that a key witness was paid a $500 reward.

    The Florida Supreme Court overturned Guzman's 1st conviction and death sentence because of a conflict of interest in Guzman's defense by the public defender's office.

    Guzman's attorney says he was pleased to see the federal court address the detective's misconduct.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Have they appealed to the 11th circuit?

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    The State appealed it in March of 2010 to the 11th Circuit. It is still pending.

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Cheers. 11th circuit are pretty hardcore pro's from what I can gather so the attorney's got some work to do.

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    JAMES GUZMAN V. SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,
    FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL


    In an opinion dated October 27, 2011, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals AFFIRMED the District Court's order granting Guzman a new trial.

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    Federal court agrees inmate didn't get fair trial in Daytona slaying

    A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower court's ruling that a long-time Florida death row inmate should get a new trial for a Daytona Beach murder.

    In a 41-page ruling, a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed last year's federal court order that found James "Chico" Guzman didn't get a fair trial in 1996.

    Guzman, 47, has been on death row since 1996, when he was convicted a second time of killing a wealthy nightclub owner with a samurai sword in a Daytona Beach motel.

    David Colman, 48, of Norfolk, Va., was found stabbed to death on Aug. 12, 1991, at the Imperial Motor Lodge on South Ridgewood Avenue.

    At the center of Guzman's appeal was the fact that a key witness was paid $500 as a reward, which was not disclosed by the lead detective in the case, Alison Sylvester.

    The legal issue surrounding that lack of disclosure had been argued but denied by the Florida Supreme Court.

    In the order issued Friday, the federal appeals court held that the Florida Supreme Court's determination "was more than just incorrect it was an objectively unreasonable application of clearly established Supreme Court precedent."

    "I am amazed after all these years that justice caught up to Guzman, on death row 15 years after his trial," Gerard Keating, Guzman's lawyer in the trial said Tuesday.

    The case could be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court for review. A new trial date has not yet been set.

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ne...a-slaying.html

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    Daytona man twice convicted in bloody sword killing back on trial

    A man accused in the sword killing of a Virginia businessman in a Daytona Beach motel in 1991 went on trial on Thursday for the 3rd time.

    Prosecutors are hoping to send James "Chico" Guzman back to death row where he had been until a federal appeals court in 2011 overturned his conviction. Guzman is charged with first-degree murder and robbery in the trial before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins at the S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach. If convicted, Guzman could face the death penalty.

    Guzman, 51, had been on death row since 1996, when he was convicted a 2nd time of killing David Colvin, 48, from Norfolk, Virginia. Colvin was found stabbed to death on Aug. 12, 1991, at the Imperial Motor Lodge on South Ridgewood Avenue.

    A federal appeals court in 2011 affirmed a lower court's ruling that Guzman should get a new trial. At the center of Guzman's appeal was the fact that a key witness was paid $500 as a reward, which was not disclosed by the lead detective in the case.

    Guzman's 1st conviction had also been overturned. Now he is back on trial but some of the people who testified at the earlier trials have died and a gold ring Guzman is accused of stealing has been sold by Colvin's wife, who said she felt it was a bad omen. But prosecutors showed jurors a picture of the ring.

    Defense attorneys reserved their opening statements but Assistant State Attorney John Reid had plenty to say.

    Reid told a jury of 8 men and 5 women that Colvin was living in the hotel after his drinking problems prompted him and his wife to agree they should separate. Colvin, a NASCAR fan who had been attending races for 20 years, made his way to Daytona Beach.

    Colvin did not drive because he was often drunk so he had Guzman chauffeur him around Daytona Beach in a black Cadillac. Guzman would even wear a black chauffeur's hat as he drove Colvin's Cadillac.

    Guzman told his girlfriend at the time, Martha Cronin, that Colvin would be an easy target, because he was old, drunk and had money. And Guzman said something else the girlfriend told police.

    "When you rob someone you got to kill them because dead witnesses don't talk," Reid said Guzman told his girlfriend 25 years ago.

    Jurors listened as Reid went through his opening statement. At least one taking notes several times. Guzman sat at the table between his 2 defense attorneys and looked down at his legal pad as he wrote or look toward Reid, who pointed toward Guzman several times to emphasize a point. Guzman, who is bald with a close-shaved grey bead, wore a pair of small glasses and a yellow shirt and pants.

    Reid told jurors that Guzman used the ornamental sword to kill Colvin, bending the decorative sword in the attack. Then Guzman took Colvin's money and his custom-made gold ring with 13 diamonds, Reid said.

    Cronin, who at the time was a prostitute, returned to their room to find Guzman looking shocked.

    "And he says I did it. I killed David," Reid said Guzman told his girlfriend.

    Cronin put the ring on her thumb and noticed a bit of blood still on it, Reid said.

    They decided to get rid of the ring, exchanging it for a big rock of crack cocaine and a few hundred dollars.

    Colvin's body was found 2 days later by a maintenance man. Daytona Beach police responded and the grisly scene they found was shown to jurors in pictures and on a video tape.

    Colvin's head was obscured by a bloody pillow. Blood splattered the walls. The bent sword with a fat hilt was on a shelf above the bed.

    Guzman looked at the video tape as it panned the room, but after the pillow was removed he looked toward his legal pad.

    Beneath the pillow was Colvin's head, his hair matted, disheveled, a large gash next to his ear.

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ar...news/160429894

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    Man convicted in sword-killing retrial

    A man will face a possible death sentence for the 3rd time after a jury on Wednesday convicted him of 1st-degree murder for hacking and stabbing another man to death in 1991. It was the 3rd time James "Chico" Guzman had been convicted of 1st-degree murder for killing David Colvin, a 48-year-old businessman from Norfolk, Virginia, on Aug. 10, 1991 at what was then the Imperial Motor Lodge on South Ridgewood Avenue. Guzman was also convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon.

    Guzman, who turned 52 on Wednesday, is facing a possible death sentence when the trial's penalty phase begins on Tuesday before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins at the S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach.

    The jury of 8 men and 4 women deliberated about 4 1/2 hours on Wednesday before reaching a verdict. Earlier they listened to prosecutor Ed Davis, who reminded jurors of the sword he had held up for them to see earlier during the murder trial.

    "You saw that sword. That sword is bent. That sword's been used very vigorously to chop someone or something," Davis said.

    According to Davis, that someone was Colvin.

    Guzman has been convicted twice before. Guzman has been sentenced to death twice before. And Guzman's convictions have been overturned on appeal twice before.

    Guzman had served only nine years of a 30-year sentence for killing a woman in Miami when he was released from prison in April 1991 and made his way to Daytona Beach, where he met Colvin, a businessman with a drinking problem who had separated from his wife.

    Guzman took the stand earlier in the trial and testified that it was another man who gave him Colvin's expensive ring.

    Guzman's defense attorneys, Junior Barrett and Randall Richardson, worked to prevent a 3rd conviction and a return to death row.

    Richardson said during his closing that the state's main witness, Guzman's ex-girlfriend, Martha Cronin, was not credible because she would have told police anything to stay out of jail.

    He said Cronin changed her testimony about the time on Aug. 10, 1991, that Guzman supposedly told her he had killed Colvin and showed her a ring he had taken from him.

    Richardson told jurors that Cronin received a $500 reward the day before she testified before a grand jury after the murder.

    Richardson said no blood or fingerprints were found on the sword. And no blood was found on Guzman despite the attack which left blood splattered on the wall of the motel room.

    Davis, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant State Attorney John Reid, said blood and fingerprints can be wiped away and cleaned off and someone should not be rewarded for cleaning up.

    Davis said if Cronin was framing Guzman then she would have to be vile and despicable to do that in the first place and continue to do it now.

    Davis also said Cronin had testified that she would not falsely accuse someone of murder to get herself out of jail.

    Davis said Guzman began lying to police immediately after the killing and continues lying today. He said Guzman even denied to police that his nickname was "Chico."

    And Davis reminded jurors that Cronin testified Guzman told her that dead witnesses don't talk. Davis said Guzman intended to kill Colvin.

    "This isn't 1 stab wound. This is a series of stabs, slices, chops. This is a murder by someone intent on killing Mr. Colvin," Davis said.

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ar...illing-retrial

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    Jury recommends 3rd trip to death row for Daytona sword killer James Guzman

    DAYTONA BEACH — A jury voted 11 to 1 on Tuesday to recommend death for the third time for James Guzman, who hacked and sliced a man with a sword in a 1991 Daytona Beach killing.

    James "Chico" Guzman was found guilty last week of first-degree murder and robbery with a deadly weapon in the death of David Colvin, a 48-year-old businessman from Norfolk, Virginia, on Aug. 10, 1991, at what was then the Imperial Motor Lodge on South Ridgewood Avenue.

    The jury's death recommendation is the first in the 7th Circuit since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Florida's death sentencing process in January. Since then the state has approved a new death sentencing process, although the jury instructions for the new process have yet to be approved by the state Supreme Court.

    It is the third time that Guzman has been sentenced to death for killing Colvin. The previous two convictions and sentences have been overturned on appeal.

    Guzman, 52, showed no reaction and looked straight ahead as a clerk read the death recommendation. The final decision will be up to Circuit Judge Terence Perkins, who will hand down the sentence at a hearing to be set at the S. James Foxman Justice Center.

    The jury of eight men and four women deliberated about 4½ hours last week before reaching their guilty verdicts. They took about an hour to reach their recommendation for death.

    Guzman is the first case in the 7th Circuit in which prosecutors sought the death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court in January overturned Florida's death penalty sentencing process. That prompted the Legislature to approve a new death sentencing method with some key differences.

    Now jurors must unanimously find and identify at least one aggravator justifying the death penalty. They must also check a box indicating they unanimously found the aggravator, something that increases the egregious nature of the crime. If the jurors do not find at least one aggravator then the person cannot be sentenced to death. Before jurors did not have to say which aggravator they found or check a box on a jury form indicating the aggravator.

    Another change is that at least 10 jurors must recommend death for a judge to be able to sentence that person to death. Previously only seven jurors needed to recommend death for the judge to have that option. A judge could previously override a jury's recommendation for life, even though that had not happened in a while. Now, a judge cannot override a life recommendation.

    The Florida Supreme Court has yet to approve the new jury instructions for the revamped sentencing process. That lack of approval has prompted Guzman's defense attorneys, Junior Barrett and Randall Richardson, to object to the entire jury instructions.

    Prosecutor Ed Davis on Tuesday told jurors that four aggravating circumstances supported a death penalty in the case: Guzman killed Colvin during a robbery, Guzman killed him to avoid prosecution by eliminating a witness, the killing was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel since he hacked and sliced him with a sword. Davis said the fourth aggravator was that Guzman had murdered before.

    Several jurors wrote on their legal pads when Davis told them that Guzman had killed before. Guzman sat looking straight ahead between his two defense attorneys.

    Guzman had served only nine years of a 30-year sentence for killing a woman in Miami when he was released from prison in April 1991 and made his way to Daytona Beach, where he met Colvin, a businessman with a drinking problem who had separated from his wife.

    Guzman's defense attorney Randall Richardson asked the jury for mercy on Guzman and cited as a mitigator that Guzman had been under the influence of drugs.

    On Tuesday, retired Miami-Dade Police homicide detective Charles Hebding testified that he investigate the case in 1982 when Guzman kidnapped two women and shot one of them to death. Hebding testified that Guzman kidnapped two women on Jan. 23, 1982, and drove them to a remote part of northwest Miami-Dade County. He shot one in the head but the other managed to escape.

    Earlier in the trial prosecutor Ed Davis held up the sword Guzman used to kill Colvin and he

    Guzman took the stand earlier in the trial and testified that it was another man who gave him Colvin's expensive ring, which was a key piece of testimony against him.

    Guzman's defense attorneys, Junior Barrett and Randall Richardson, worked to prevent a third conviction and a return to death row. Richardson said during his closing that the state's main witness, Guzman's ex-girlfriend, Martha Cronin, was not credible because she would have told police anything to stay out of jail.

    Richardson told jurors that Cronin received a $500 reward the day before she testified before a grand jury after the murder. Richardson also said no blood or fingerprints were found on the sword. And no blood was found on Guzman despite the attack which left blood splattered on the wall of the motel room.

    Davis, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant State Attorney John Reid and Heatha Trigones, said blood and fingerprints can be wiped away and cleaned off and someone should not be rewarded for cleaning up.

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ar...r-James-Guzman

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