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Nineteenth Judicial Circuit,
Martin County, Case# 97-1672
Sentencing Judge, Trial: The
Honorable Cynthia Angelos
Attorneys, Trial: Sherwood
Bauer & Thomas Garland – Assistant Public Defenders
Attorney, Direct Appeal:
Patrick C. Rastatter – Assistant Public Defender
Attorneys, Collateral Appeals:
Richard E. Kiley & James V. Viggiano – CCRC-M
Date of Offense: 11/14/97
Date of Sentence: 07/21/00
Circumstances of Offense:
Lenard Philmore was convicted in
the 11/14/97, murder of Kazue Perron and sentenced to death.
Philmore and Anthony Spann, the
codefendant, wanted to go to New York and decided to rob a store to
obtain the money required to get there. Their first attempt to rob a
pawnshop failed and, subsequently, they decided to rob a bank.
On
11/13/97, after picking up their girlfriends, Spann told Philmore that
in order to rob a bank, they needed to steal a car to use as a getaway
vehicle. Spann also told Philmore they had to kill the driver.
On 11/14/97, Philmore and Spann
started to search for a car to steal at the Palm Beach Mall. Using
Spann’s Subaru, they followed a woman in her vehicle to another mall,
but failed to steal her car. Then, they noticed Perron driving her
Lexus in a nearby neighborhood and began to follow her.
Philmore and Spann followed
Perron until she pulled into a driveway. Spann then told Philmore to
“get her.” Spann walked up to Perron, who was still in her car, and
asked if he could use her phone, but she told him she did not live in
the house. Philmore then took out his gun and ordered her to move over
to the passenger side of the car. Philmore drove Perron’s Lexus while
Spann followed in his Subaru. During the drive, Perron was crying and
told Philmore she was scared.
Spann flashed his lights at
Philmore indicating that he wanted to pull over. Spann then told
Philmore to take Perron to the bank. Philmore asked her if she had any
money in her account. She told him no but offered to give him the $40
she had with her. Philmore took off her rings and stored them in the
armrest of the Lexus. Perron asked if Philmore or Spann was going to
kill her, and he replied that no one was going to kill her.
After they continued to drive
for a while, Spann flashed his lights again indicating that they should
turn down a street. They were then in western Martin County. Once they
stopped, Philmore told Perron to get out of the car and to start to walk
toward some high vegetation in the area. Perron began to resist and
Philmore shot her once in the head. Philmore put the body in the
vegetation.
Philmore and Spann, both still
in the separate cars, then drove to Indiantown and stopped at a store
where Spann pointed out a bank for them to rob. Philmore left the Lexus
a distance from the bank and rode with Spann. While Spann was waiting
in the car, Philmore went into the bank, grabbed $1100 from the teller,
and returned to the Subaru. They then drove to the Lexus, hid the
Subaru and drove away. Philmore discarded his tank top out of the car
window, which had Perron’s blood on it.
They drove back to Palm Beach
County to pick up their girlfriends and eat. Philmore then wanted to go
to a house because he had left his shoes there. Upon driving to the
house, they spotted an undercover police vehicle near the house. The
officer in the vehicle recognized Spann because of an outstanding
warrant he had. Spann, with Philmore and the two girls in the car, sped
away and the officer followed, which began a high-speed chase on
Interstate 95.
The chase led them back to
Martin County, where a tire blew out on the Lexus. All four of them hid
in a nearby orange grove, but were discovered by the manager of the
grove. The manager told authorities where to find them and they were
arrested.
During the Police interviews
Philmore confessed to the robbery, stealing the car and shooting
Perron. On 11/21/97, Philmore took the police to the spot they had left
Perron’s body.
Trial Summary:
11/14/97 Defendant was arrested
12/16/97 Indicted as follows:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder (Perron)
Count II: Conspiracy to
Commit Robbery with a Deadly Weapon
Count III: Carjacking with a
Deadly Weapon
Count IV: Kidnapping
Count V: Robbery with a
Deadly Weapon
Count VI: Grand Theft
02/24/98 Defendant entered a written plea of not guilty
01/20/00 Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the
indictment
01/28/00 Jury recommended death by a vote of 12-0
07/21/00 Sentenced as follows:
Count I: First-Degree
Murder (Perron) – Death Count II: Conspiracy to Commit Robbery with
Deadly Weapon - 15 years
Count III: Carjacking with a
Deadly Weapon – Life
Count IV: Kidnapping – Life
Count V: Robbery with a
Deadly Weapon – Life
Count VI: Grand Theft – 5
years
Codefendant Information:
Anthony Spann (DC# 347463)
Spann was indicted by the same grand jury with the same charges as
Philmore, but they were tried separately. Spann received a death
sentence and is currently on death row appealing his conviction and
sentence (CC#
97-3500).
Case Information:
On
08/21/00, Philmore filed his Direct Appeal to the Florida Supreme
Court. Philmore contended that the trial court erred in not suppressing
his statements made to the officers while being questioned about the
circumstances. He also claimed that the trial court erred in not finding
error in the State’s peremptory challenge that was not race-neutral.
Philmore argued that the trial court wrongly dismissed his motion to
exclude pictures of the victim’s body. He also claimed that the State
made improper statements during both the guilt and penalty phase.
Philmore claimed that the trial court improperly found the “avoid
arrest” aggravator. He contended that the trial court failed by
rejecting the under extreme mental disturbance, substantial domination
of another and the impairment of capacity mitigators. The Florida
Supreme Court found no merit to any of Philmore’s arguments and affirmed
his conviction and sentence on 05/30/02.
On
07/05/02, Philmore filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United
States Supreme Court, which subsequently was denied on 10/07/02.
On
09/16/03, Philmore filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court, which was
denied on 05/13/04.
On
06/14/04, Philmore filed a 3.850 Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.
On appeal, Philmore asserts that the trial court erred in denying
several of his claims of ineffective counsel (during pre-indictment
trial, jury selection, penalty phase, and in conceding Philmore’s
guilt). Accordingly, Philmore’s reliance on the Court’s 2003 decision
in the Nixon case to support his claim of ineffective counsel is
without merit. On 06/15/06, the Court affirmed the trial court’s denial
of Philmore’s 3.850 Motion.
On
02/09/05, Philmore filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus to the
Florida Supreme Court. Philmore raised four claims the trial failed to
consider: (1) expert testimony, (2) the constitutionality of Florida’s
death penalty statute, (3) ineffective assistance of trial counsel, (4)
jury instructions, and (5) competency at the time of execution
(violation of his Eighth Amendment rights). Philmre argues that the
cumulative effect of the trail errors deprived him of a fundamentally
fair trail.
Since the Court concluded that Philmore’s other claims were
without merit or were procedurally barred, the Court further concluded
that Philmore that there was no cumulative effect to consider and was
not deprived of a fundamentally fair trial. The Petition was denied on
06/15/06.
