James Hunter was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for a robbery murder. According to court documents James Hunter , Andre Smith, Lee Lewis and Charles Anderson would rob four men who would all would be shot with one dying from his injuries: Wayne Simpson. James Hunter would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
James Hunter 2021 Information
| DC Number: | 115624 |
|---|---|
| Name: | HUNTER, JAMES E |
| Race: | BLACK |
| Sex: | MALE |
| Birth Date: | 12/17/1970 |
| Initial Receipt Date: | 08/18/1993 |
| Current Facility: | UNION C.I. |
| Current Custody: | MAXIMUM |
| Current Release Date: | DEATH SENTENCE |
James Hunter More News
992, James Hunter (a.k.a. Michael Miller), Tammie Cowan, Cathy Woodward, Charles Anderson, [Bruce Pope (a.k.a. Andre Smith) ], and Eric Boyd [ (a.k.a. Lee Lewis) ] traveled by car from St. Augustine to DeLand. Tammie Cowan testified that there were two black BB guns and one silver handgun in the car. Boyd and Anderson had the BB guns and Hunter had the handgun. In DeLand they stopped briefly to see Andre Smith’s mother. Thereafter, at approximately 11:44 p.m., Cowan stopped the car and Anderson, Boyd, Smith, and Hunter exited. Hunter then confronted and robbed a man on the street, using the silver handgun. Hunter and his companions then departed for Daytona Beach. Shortly afterwards, a “be on the lookout” (BOLO) alert for the DeLand robbers was transmitted by the police throughout the Volusia County area. The BOLO described a gray four-door sedan occupied by at least five black individuals, two of whom were females, who were suspects.
After the robbery, Hunter directed Cowan to drive to Daytona Beach and the vicinity of Bethune-Cookman College where four young men were standing outside the “Munch Shop.” Hunter instructed Cowan to stop the vehicle, and Hunter, Lewis, Anderson, and Smith exited and approached the four men. Hunter was armed with the silver handgun.
Hunter approached the men and ordered them to “give it up.” Hunter and his companions then robbed the men at gunpoint. Thereafter, while the men were lying face down on the sidewalk, Hunter shot each of them in turn. Wayne Simpson was the last victim to be shot in this process, and he subsequently died. Hunter and his colleagues then fled with the victims’ clothing, jewelry, and other miscellaneous items of personal property. When Hunter returned to the car, he ordered Cowan to leave, and told her that he had fired the gun because a victim had tried to run. Shortly thereafter, at 12:40 a.m., Deputy Richard Graves observed a vehicle in Ormond Beach matching the DeLand BOLO. Graves stopped the automobile, and Cowan told Graves that she and the others had come from DeLand. While the car was stopped, the DeLand robbery victim was brought to the scene where he identified Hunter as his robber and also identified the car. Cowan consented to a search of the car which yielded two BB guns and personal property belonging to the victims of both the DeLand and Daytona Beach robberies. The gun used by Hunter was never found.
Id. at 246-47. The jury recommended that Hunter receive the death penalty for Simpson’s murder, and the trial court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Hunter to death. Id. We affirmed Hunter’s convictions and sentence of death on direct appeal. Id. at 246.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/fl-supreme-court/1088749.html
