DC# V02093
DOB: 07/31/67

Seventh Judicial Circuit, Volusia County, Case #92-34756 CFAES
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable R. Michael Hutcheson
Trial Attorney: J. Peyton Quarles, Esq. – Private
Attorney, Direct Appeal: J. Peyton Quarles, Esq. – Private
Attorney, Collateral Appeals: Mary Catherine Bonner, Esq. – Registry

Date of Offense: 11/05/92

Date of Sentence: 11/07/96

Circumstances of Offense:

Paul Anthony Brown was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Roger Hensley on 11/05/92.

Paul Anthony Brown moved from Tennessee to Daytona Beach in October of 1992.  He met Scott Jason McGuire and the two spent several weeks abusing drugs and alcohol together.  Brown decided to go back to Tennessee, however, had no means of getting back, and McGuire’s vehicle was immobile.

Brown and McGuire met Roger Hensley, the victim, outside a bar on 11/05/92.  The three men returned to Hensley’s apartment to have a beer and smoke marijuana.  At one point, Hensley invited Brown and McGuire to stay the night, and then he retired to bed. 

According to McGuire’s court testimony, Brown told him that he was going to shoot Hensley and steal his vehicle.  McGuire was concerned about the loud sound that a gunshot would produce, so Brown obtained two knives from the kitchen and motioned to McGuire that he would slit Hensley’s throat.  McGuire reportedly threw the knife down and refused to participate in the murder. 

At that point, Brown said he would do it himself, but ordered McGuire to block the doorway, so that Hensley could not escape.  Brown entered the bedroom and began to stab Hensley.  McGuire heard Hensley exclaim “No!” and upon entering the room, he saw Hensley drenched in blood and gasping for air.

Brown found the keys to Hensley’s vehicle and the two men fled to Tennessee.  Brown was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on 11/08/92 for his involvement in a Tennessee bank robbery.  When the FBI questioned him, Brown confessed to partaking in the murder of a Florida man, but implicated McGuire as the one responsible for slitting Hensley’s throat.

Codefendant Information:

Scott Jason McGuire pled guilty to Second-Degree Murder for his part in the murder of Roger Hensley on 11/05/92.  On 09/28/93, McGuire was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Trial Summary:

11/08/92          Defendant arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Tennessee on unrelated charges.  During questioning, Brown implicated himself in the murder of Roger Hensley.

04/06/93          Defendant indicted on:

Count I:           First-Degree Murder

10/18/96          The jury found the defendant guilty.

10/23/96          Upon advisory sentencing, the jury, by a 12 to 0 majority, voted for the death penalty.

11/07/96          The defendant was sentenced as followed:

Count I:           First-Degree Murder - Death

11/13/96          The defendant was additionally adjudicated and subsequently sentenced on the following charges which stemmed from the murder of Roger Hensley:

Count I:           Armed Robbery – 17-years

Count II:          Armed Burglary – 17-years

Case Information:

Brown filed his Direct Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court on 12/16/96.  All the issues that Brown raised on appeal referred to the penalty phase of the trial.  He argued that the court erred when it instructed the jury that the murder was heinous, atrocious, and cruel (HAC) and that the murder was cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP). 

Brown also questioned the proportionality of his sentence and the constitutionality of Florida’s death penalty.  The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence of death on 10/01/98.

On 03/01/99, Brown filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on 05/03/99.

Brown next filed a Motion to Vacate Judgment and Sentence (3.850) in the State Circuit Court on 11/03/00.  That motion was denied on 04/30/01.  Brown filed an appeal of that decision in the Florida Supreme Court on 06/08/01, which was affirmed on 04/24/03.

Brown also filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Florida Supreme Court on 12/10/01, which was denied on 04/24/03.

Floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us