2 Florida death row inmates win appeals; one killed a Fort Lauderdale policeman
By Jackie Hallifax Associated Press Writer Posted
December 16 2004, 6:34 PM EST
TALLAHASSEE --
Two death row inmates won appeals Thursday in the Florida Supreme Court, including a North Carolina man who gunned down a 27-year-old police officer in Fort Lauderdale.
Jeffrey Weaver was sentenced to death by Broward County Judge Mark Speiser in August 1999 even thought the jury recommended that Weaver be sentenced to life in prison.
The unsigned ruling upheld Weaver's conviction but vacated his death sentence and ordered that he be sentenced to life in prison.
In the second capital case, the court reversed both the conviction and the death sentence given to Michael Mordenti for the 1989 murder of Thelma Royston in Hillsborough County.
Weaver, from Salisbury, N.C., was convicted of fatally shooting Officer Bryant Peney during a chase in January 1996.
Weaver denied that he had ever aimed at Peney, insisting he fired a shot to try to frighten the officer so he would stop chasing him across South Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale.
The high court said the trial judge erred in overriding the jury, which recommended life in prison by a vote of 8 to 4.
Under Florida law, a judge cannot condemn a killer after a jury has recommended life in prison unless evidence is ``clear and convincing that virtually no reasonable person could differ.''
That standard, which has been in place for nearly 30 years, was not met in the Weaver sentencing, Florida's high court concluded.
``Here, the jury heard testimony from Weaver's family about his caring behavior toward them and how, even from prison, they believe that he could serve a purpose in their lives,'' the court wrote.
``The jury also heard testimony about Weaver's work habits and the fact that this was essentially his first violent offense, though not necessarily his first encounter with the legal system.''
Weaver's criminal record had five misdemeanor offenses between 1979 and 1982.
The unsigned opinion was unanimous with the exception of Justice Harry Lee Anstead, who concurred in the result only as to upholding Weaver's sentence.
In the second capital ruling, the court said the failure of prosecutors to give Mordenti's attorney evidence that might have helped him undermined its confidence in the trial.
Mordenti was convicted primarily through the testimony of his ex-wife, who was given immunity.
The entire case against Mordenti ``rose and fell'' on that testimony, the court wrote. Yet Mordenti's attorney wasn't told about a datebook that contradicted her testimony or about information about her relationship with the husband of the murder victim.
``There was no money trail, no eyewitnesses, no confession, no murder weapon, no blood, no footprints and no DNA evidence linking Mordenti to the murder,'' Thursday's unsigned opinion reads.
The opinion was unanimous with the exception of Justice Charles Wells, who concurred in the result only.
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