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Thread: Judge Sentences Deangelo Thomas to Life in 2010 FL Slaying of Navy Chief Petty Officer David Gilbert

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Judge Sentences Deangelo Thomas to Life in 2010 FL Slaying of Navy Chief Petty Officer David Gilbert


    CPO David Gilbert


    DeAngelo Thomas sits in court during jury selection for his trial on a murder charge.

    Chief's Girlfriend Testifies In Murder Trial

    The girlfriend of a Navy chief shot and killed in his home last year testified Tuesday in the trial of the suspect in her boyfriend's slaying.

    Stacy Hass gave emotional testimony about the death of Navy Chief Petty Officer David Gilbert, 40.

    Prosecutors said Gilbert, who was stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, came home and found DeAngelo Thomas burglarizing his Roosevelt Boulevard apartment in April, and they said Thomas fatally shot Gilbert.

    Also Tuesday during the first day of trial, Gilbert's neighbor Tiffany McKinnis testified she heard gunshots and saw Thomas and identified him.

    Edgar Allen, 25, is also charged with murder in Gilbert's death. Police said Allen had set up the burglary of Gilbert's Savanna Oaks apartment on Roosevelt Boulevard and was waiting in a getaway car during the crime.

    Gilbert's death came two years after Thomas finished an eight-year prison sentence for armed robbery in Baker County.

    Baker County investigators said if Thomas had gotten a life sentence for being a habitual offender, Gilbert's killing never would have happened. But investigators said the jury in the armed robbery wasn't able to hear about Thomas' long history of violence.

    If convicted, Thomas could receive the death penalty.

    http://www.news4jax.com/news/26790933/detail.html

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    Man convicted of killing Jacksonville sailor in front of 3-year-old daughter

    A Baker County man faces a possible death penalty after a Duval County jury convicted him in a Jacksonville U.S. Navy man's death.

    Deangelo Thomas, 30, was charged with the murder of David Gilbert, a 40-year-old chief petty officer, on April 16 at Gilbert's apartment near Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Prosecutors stressed that Gilbert was killed in front of his girlfriend and 3-year-old daughter and that Thomas broke into the apartment by mistake while trying to rob a drug dealer.

    A jury of five men and seven women deliberated for two hours and 15 minutes Thursday, finding Thomas guilty of first-degree murder and burglary.

    Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz1Daz7xerS

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    WOW I thought this case was a slam dunk death sentence!

    Jury opts for life sentence for Jacksonville Navy man's killer

    After an hour and 30 minutes of deliberations, a Duval County jury has spared the life of a Baker County man convicted of killing a Jacksonville Navy man in front of his girlfriend and 3-year-old daughter.

    Deangelo Thomas, 30, was convicted last week of killing U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer David Gilbert, 40, during a burglary at Gilbert's apartment by Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Thomas set out to break into a drug dealer's apartment but picked the wrong window.

    The jury was brought back in Tuesday to decide between execution and life in prison as a penalty for the crime. The panel came back at 7:10 p.m. and opted for life.

    Gilbert was shot eight times April 16, 2010, as he returned home from a day out with his girlfriend and daughter. A neighbor had noticed someone breaking into the apartment. She called 911 just as Gilbert came home. She also tried to get outside to warn him, but was too late.

    Gilbert's sister, Diane Smith, said shortly before her brother's death her son asked him what he'd do if someone ever broke into his house. She said Gilbert told the young man that he'd fight to the death if that's what it took to protect his family.

    "He kept his word," Smith said.

    Prosecutors painted a hero's image of Gilbert, a man whose instincts thrust him into a protector's role as his home and loved ones were under attack no matter how startling and confusing the attack must have been.

    "He was a big man, a strong man, but he was no match for the ambush," said State Attorney Angela Corey. "He was no match for those eight shots fired from that Glock 40."

    Friends and family described Gilbert as an outstanding father and an accomplished military man who'd served two tours in Iraq.

    "He wanted his children to experience life, to live life to the fullest and to thank the lord for it," said Gilbert's mother, Wilmarie Gilbert.

    Gilbert had two sons and one daughter.

    Defense attorney Todd Niemczyk asked the jurors to base their verdict on the law, not their emotions. He described the case as sad and tragic, but argued that Thomas is not the worst of the worst.

    Before making the sentencing recommendation, the jury also heard from a number of Thomas' family members, including his 12-year-old son, who cried as he described playing sports with his father.

    The jury was made up of six men and six women. Two alternates were called into action because a man and a woman on the main panel were suspected of researching the case on the Internet.

    Niemczyk asked for a mistrial. Circuit Judge Jeff Morrow denied the request but excused the two jurors. He stressed that neither was in any trouble, but their services would no longer be needed.

    Court records show Thomas did prison time for an armed robbery in 2002 and an attempted robbery in 2009. Both were at Baker County gas stations. The store clerks in each case testified Tuesday, describing the terror they felt as he robbed them at gunpoint.

    Thomas' lawyers took testimony from friends and family who described him as a good father and a generous man.

    "If you needed it and he had it, it was yours," said Dennis Larry Jr., one of Thomas' brothers.

    One of his cousins, Raymond Larry, said Thomas could remain a positive influence on his son and an example of what will happen if his son makes bad choices.

    "His son will listen to anything that he says, but not follow in his footsteps. Not this bad," he said.

    Thomas made A's and B's in school, but dropped out before he got to high school, family said. A sister, Alexis Thomas, mentioned that racial tensions at school were a factor. Thomas eventually got his GED while in prison. He also earned a masonry certificate.

    Prosecutors were quick to turn on the defense testimony, arguing that if Thomas was such a model citizen he wouldn't have a lengthy criminal record topped by a murder conviction.

    "You were loved. You were hugged. You were cared for," Corey said. "How many chances do you think he should get?"

    Morrow has the ultimate say over Thomas' sentence, although judges tend to side with jury recommendations. A sentencing hearing will be set for a later date.

    Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz1E55db4UI

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    Prosecutors: Navy officer’s killer should die despite jury’s life sentence recommendation

    Prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence a Baker County man to death for killing a Jacksonville Navy chief petty officer during a botched burglary last year.

    It’s a move that would require Circuit Judge Jeff Morrow to override a jury’s recommendation last month that Deangelo Thomas, 31, should be sentenced to life in prison for the April 2010 shooting death of David N. Gilbert, 40.

    Thomas was in court Tuesday as his attorneys and the prosecution prepare for the formal sentencing. Another hearing has been scheduled for Friday.

    Assistant State Attorney Jeff Moody said the jury’s 6-6 decision on the death sentence Feb. 15 was compelling enough for him to ask the judge to cast what would be essentially a tie-breaking vote in favor of Thomas’ execution.

    “We’re not dealing with a 1-11 or a 0-12 vote. It’s a 6-6,” Moody said.

    Under Florida law, a death sentence is ultimately up to the judge although judges give weight to the jury’s recommendation. To recommend the death penalty, at least seven people on a jury must vote in favor after the panel hears evidence, testimony and case law.

    The jury is not required to show how it voted if the majority rejects the death penalty or the vote is split. But in the Thomas case, the six jurors who voted in favor of death asked specifically for the record to reflect that they’d voted that way.

    Assistant Public Defender Greg Messore, one of the attorneys representing Thomas, said it would be a rare move if Morrow overrode the jury. Messore said the defense team is compiling case law to argue that the judge should stick with the jury’s wishes.

    Gilbert was shot eight times as he returned home from a day out with his girlfriend and daughter. A neighbor had noticed someone breaking into the apartment. She called 911 just as Gilbert came home. She tried to warn him but was too late.

    Prosecutors say Thomas broke into the Roosevelt Boulevard apartment by mistake as he searched for a drug dealer.

    Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz1FNyLLcJg

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    Death penalty case still looking for a judge

    The fate of a convicted killer remained in question Friday as court officials worked to get the case in front of a new judge.

    Deangelo Thomas, 31, was convicted of first degree murder last month in the April 2010 shooting death of Navy Chief Petty Officer David Gilbert, 40.
    A jury recommended a life sentence but prosecutors were preparing to argue for the death penalty during a Friday hearing before Circuit Judge Jeff Morrow.

    Morrow, 56, died of an apparent heart attack earlier this week, an event that stunned Jacksonville’s legal community and also left Thomas’ sentencing in limbo.

    Duval County Judge Russell Healey was filling in as court officials tried to find new judges to try Morrow’s cases. Healey said the case will have to be put in another courtroom. He delayed Friday’s hearing until Wednesday in an effort to find transcripts of earlier proceedings.

    Prosecutor Jeff Moody explained that judges have to be certified to hear death penalty cases. Morrow was qualified, but not everyone on the bench is, which has made the scheduling process a bit tougher.

    Moody said prosecutors’ plan to argue for the toughest sentence has not changed.

    “We’ve thought of this as a death case from the start,” he said. “The passing of judge Morrow was sad both personally and professionally but it doesn’t change the facts of the case.”

    http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog...-looking-judge

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    Jacksonville judge seeks help in death sentence dilemma

    A Jacksonville judge said Tuesday he was stumped over what to do about a murder conviction left hanging without a sentence when the trial judge died unexpectedly this month.


    Senior Judge Michael Weatherby said he may need an opinion from the state appellate courts to determine how to sentence Deangelo Thomas, 31.


    Thomas was found guilty of first degree murder in the April 2010 shooting death of Navy Chief Petty Officer David Gilbert, 40. Gilbert was killed in front of his girlfriend and young daughter as Thomas tried to flee when he realized he’d broken into Gilbert’s apartment off Roosevelt Boulevard by mistake looking for a drug dealer.


    Tuesday’s hearing sketched out the uncharted territory Weatherby finds himself in at a time prosecutors want a jury’s life sentence recommendation overrode so that Thomas is executed. Circuit Judge Jeff Morrow died of an apparent heart attack before he could sentence Thomas.


    One of the biggest questions facing Weatherby is whether he should impanel another jury for a new sentencing hearing. Doing so, he said, would lead to a likely defense appeal just as upholding the life sentence recommendation could lead to an appeal from the prosecution.


    Assistant State Attorney Jeff Moody and defense attorney Todd Niemczyk were challenged to find a schematic for Weatherby to use in Florida case law. About the closest comparison was a case in which a judge died in a plane crash before sentencing a man in a 1989 Panhandle kidnapping-murder.


    However, the question in that case was whether the jury’s death verdict should be upheld by a new judge who didn’t personally hear the penalty hearing evidence. Because Thomas’ jury recommended life, the other case wasn’t necessarily a road map.


    “With every answer I find, I come up with three more questions,” Moody told the judge.


    Weatherby scheduled another hearing for April 13.

    Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz1I29Zyagh

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    Replacement judge in Jacksonville death-penalty case has complicated decision

    A judge navigating uncharted territory in a Jacksonville death-penalty murder case said he’s against calling in a new jury, at least for now.

    Senior Circuit Judge Michael Weatherby said Friday that he may decide to empanel a new jury for Deangelo Thomas, 31, if prosecutors can convince him to override a life sentence recommendation jurors made Feb. 15.

    Weatherby was assigned the case after the presiding judge, Circuit Judge Jeff Morrow, died unexpectedly in early March. Prosecutors were preparing to ask Morrow to sentence Thomas to death despite the jury’s recommendation.

    The same argument is now posed for Weatherby but it’s unclear if the law allows Weatherby to override the jury because he did not personally hear testimony in the case. Several other Florida cases, including one in which the presiding judge was killed in a plane crash before another judge overrode a death sentence, have been cited but none are an exact match to the Thomas case.

    Thomas was convicted of first-degree murder in the April 2010 shooting death of U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer David Gilbert, 40. Thomas broke into Gilbert’s apartment by mistake looking for a drug dealer and opened fire during a scramble to leave when he realized he was in the wrong place.

    A jury voted 6-6 during the penalty phase of Thomas’ trial, which amounts to a life sentence recommendation. Prosecutors would like the judge to serve as a tie-breaking vote in favor of death although judges typically side with the jury vote.

    Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz1JgXmQ0KR

  9. #9
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Looking at this from a neutral perspective, I don't think Mr Thomas's crime is brutal enough for a death penalty reccomendation. He should obviously face a severe punishment but I dont think the death penalty is what is needed here.

  10. #10
    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    I disagree at this point JLR - this crime is in my eyes brutal enough for the DP (but personaly I have low standards for the DP ;-) ). On the other hand I agree that there are more criminals outside which are more eligable for the DP. Unless the US can´t execute all these criminals they should put their focus on these cases.

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