DC# 374123
DOB: 12/04/72

Ninth Judicial Circuit, Orange County Case# 92-10868
Sentencing Judge:  The Honorable Dorothy J. Russell
Attorneys, Trial:  Patricia Cashman & Kelly Sims – Assistant Public Defenders
Attorney, Direct Appeal:  George D.E. Burden – Assistant Public Defender
Attorneys, Collateral Appeals:  Robert T. Strain & Carol Rodriguez – CCRC-M

Date of Offense:  10/03/91

Date of Sentence:  12/09/94

Circumstances of Offense:

Darius Kimbrough was convicted of burglary, sexual battery, and the murder of Denise Collins, which occurred on 10/03/91.

Denise Collins was discovered in her bathroom by paramedics. She was nude, semiconscious, and covered in blood. The sliding glass door on her second-floor apartment was partially open, and there were ladder impressions on the ground under the balcony. Collins was rushed to the hospital but died shortly thereafter.

A resident of the apartment complex, told police that he had seen a man near the apartment and had seen a ladder leaning on the apartment’s balcony. Police had trouble locating the man Lee had described, but Lee later identified Kimbrough from a picture lineup. A workman at the apartment complex identified Kimbrough as the man who had watched him put away a ladder in the complex at the time of the murder.

Police took semen evidence from the bed sheets, blood evidence from Collins’ body, and found pubic hairs in the bed and on a towel. The samples were sealed in a bag and sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab for analysis.

The DNA evidence showed that the semen taken from the bed sheets matched Kimbrough’s, and some of the pubic hairs matched his. However, additional pubic hairs from another unidentified black male and a Caucasian male were also found. The DNA evidence indicated that the blood samples taken from the bed matched Kimbrough’s.

The medical examiner testified that the cause of death was hemorrhaging and head injury to the brain caused by blunt trauma to the face. There were bruises on her arms and evidence of vaginal injury, including tears and swelling consistent with penetration.

10/03/91          Indicted as follows:

Count I:           First-Degree Murder

Count II:          Burglary

Count III:         Sexual Battery 

07/01/94          Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the indictment.

11/09/94          Jury recommended death by a vote of 11-1.

12/09/94          Sentenced as follows:

Count I:           First-Degree Murder – Death

Count II:          Burglary – Life

On 01/11/95 Kimbrough filed a Direct Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. The Court found that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing DNA evidence; in failing to find age as a statutory mitigator; and, prohibiting defense testimony that the victim’s ex-boyfriend had beaten her during their relationship.

The Court also found that the death sentence was not disproportionate to the crime, and that substantial evidence supported the finding that the murder was committed during the course of sexual battery. The Court affirmed his conviction and sentence on 08/21/97.

Kimbrough filed a Petition of Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court on 01/16/98 and was denied on 03/23/98.

Kimbrough filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court on 07/30/98, which was denied on 04/26/04.

Kimbrough filed a 3.850 Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court on 05/24/02, which was denied on 06/24/04.  The mandate was issued on 09/30/04.

Kimbrough filed a Habeas Corpus to the Florida Supreme Court on 02/10/03, which was denied on 06/24/04.  The mandate was issued on 09/30/04.