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AKA: Nathen Parker or Shawn Vincent
DC# 019355
DOB: 09/29/44
Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami-Dade County Case# 78-11151-A
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable Fredricka G. Smith
Attorney, Trial & Direct Appeal: Benedict P. Kuehne – Private
Attorney, Collateral Appeals: Rachel L. Day, Billy H. Nolas
(Private) &
Julie D. Naylor – CCRC-S
Date of Offense: 07/18/78
Date of Sentence: 11/18/81
Circumstances of the Offense:
During an illegal drug transaction, the defendant, Norman Parker
Jr., murdered Julio Chavez with a single gunshot.
On 07/18/78, Parker and codefendant Robbie Lee Manson were
admitted into a Miami home to complete an illegal drug deal with
two male occupants of the home. Soon thereafter, the defendants
produced firearms and demanded cocaine and money from the two
men. They were forced to surrender jewelry, strip naked and lie
on a bed.
Two other occupants, a female and her boyfriend, were
discovered in another room and also were forced to strip naked
and surrender jewelry. All four victims were then confined to
the same room, on the same bed.
Parker then searched the home
for additional valuables while Manson stood guard over the four
occupants. After a period of time, Parker aimed a revolver at
Chavez’s back, whereupon Manson handed him a pillow. Parker
then shot Chavez through the pillow.
The other three victims
heard the muffled shot and nothing further from Chavez. Parker
then committed a sexual battery on the female. Both Parker and
Manson then fled. They were later identified by the surviving
victims from a photographic lineup.
Codefendant Information:
Robbie Lee Manson – Fugitive
A Department of Corrections post-sentence investigation found
that Robbie Lee Manson was at large in 1981. No additional
information is available.
Additional information:
Parker was previously sentenced to life in prison in 1967 for a
first-degree murder also committed in Miami-Dade County. He
escaped a few months prior to the July 1978 murder. He also was
convicted of a second-degree murder he committed in Washington
D.C. in August 1978.
Parker filed a 3.853 Motion (DNA testing) to the Circuit Court
on 09/27/05; it is indigenous. Parker requested that the semen
found on his clothing at the time of the murder be tested,
despite the original police report which stated that no semen
was on the clothing.
Trial Summary:
01/15/80 Indicted as follows:
Count I: First-Degree Murder
Count II: Robbery
Count III: Robbery
Count IV: Robbery
Count V: Robbery
Count VI: Sexual
Battery
Count VII: Unlawful
Possession of a Firearm while engaging in
criminal
offense
Count VIII: Unlawful Possession of
a Firearm by a convicted felon
09/18/81 Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of
the indictment
Jury recommended death by a vote of 10-2
11/18/81 Sentenced as follows:
Count I: First-Degree Murder – Death
Count II: Robbery –
Life
Count III: Robbery –
Life
Count IV: Robbery –
Life
Count V: Robbery –
Life
Count VI: Sexual
Battery
Count VII: Unlawful
Possession of a Firearm while engaging in
criminal
offense – Suspended
Count VIII: Unlawful
Possession of a Firearm by a convicted
felon – Life
Case information:
Parker filed a
Direct Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court on
12/21/81.
Numerous issues were raised. First, Parker claimed the
statements he gave to the police should have been suppressed.
Second, Parker claimed he was denied his Sixth and Fourteenth
Amendment rights to a fair trial. Third, Parker claimed the
trial court abused its discretion in refusing his request for
additional peremptory challenges. Fourth, Parker claimed trial
court abused its discretion in denying his challenges for cause
on two members of the jury venire. Fifth, the prosecution
should not have been permitted to introduce Parker’s admission
that he shot a man in Washington, D.C. Sixth, the
circumstantial evidence was insufficient to support his
conviction is meritless. Seventh, Parker claimed he was denied
a fair trial by the introduction of evidence that he used
aliases in D.C., suggesting that he was a criminal. Finally,
there was a break in the chain of custody of the bullet taken
from Chavez’s body and that this evidence should not have been
admitted. The Court found all these claims meritless.
On
09/06/84, the Court affirmed Parker’s convictions and death
sentence. The mandate was issued on
10/15/84.
Parker then filed a
3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court on 01/02/87. While the case
was pending, Governor Martinez signed a death warrant for Parker
on 04/21/88. The following month, he petitioned the Florida
Supreme Court for a Writ of Habeas Corpus on 05/23/88. While
his 3.850 Motion was pending, the trial court granted a stay of
execution on 06/01/88. The Habeas petition was denied on
12/01/88 and the 3.850 Motion was denied on 02/07/89.
On 03/30/89, Parker
filed a 3.850 Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. The Court
affirmed the trial court’s denial of the 3.850 Motion on
10/15/92. Parker filed a motion for rehearing on 11/30/92,
which was denied on 02/05/93. The mandate was issued on
02/05/93.
Parker then filed a
second 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court on 06/11/93, which was
denied 11/18/93.
Parker filed a
3.850 Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court on 02/21/97. The
Court affirmed the trial court’s decision, once again, in
denying the 3.850 Motion on 05/28/98.
Parker filed a
motion for rehearing on 06/29/98, which was denied on 09/23/98.
The mandate was issued on 10/23/98.
Parker filed a
Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus to the United States District
Court, Southern District, on 04/23/97. The consolidated case
was denied on 05/14/02.
At the same time
Parker filed the Habeas petition, on 04/23/97, he filed another
with the consolidate case, which was denied on 01/25/02.
Parker filed a
Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme
Court on 02/26/99. The petition was denied on 05/03/99.
On 09/04/02, Parker
filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court, which was denied on
11/25/03.
On 01/12/04, Parker
filed a 3.850 Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. The Court
affirmed the trial court’s denial of Parker’s 3.850 Motion.
Because
Parker’s conviction was already final when Ring v. Arizona
was rendered, Ring does not apply retroactively to him.
Furthermore, one of the aggravating circumstances found by the
trial court was prior conviction of a violent felony, a factor
which under Apprendi v. New Jersey and Ring did
not need to be found by the jury. On 07/27/05, the Court
affirmed the trial court’s denial of the 3.850 Motion. The
rehearing was denied on 11/03/05.
On 09/27/05, Parker
filed a 3.853 Motion (DNA testing) to the Circuit Court;
it is indigenous.
Parker requested that the semen found on his clothing at the time of the
murder be tested. The motion was denied on 06/06/06.
On 07/1/06, Parker
filed a 3.853 Motion to the Florida Supreme Court, which is
currently pending.
FloridaCapitalCases.state.fl.us
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