Melvin Trotter was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the robbery and murder of Virgie Langford. According to court documents Melvin Trotter would attack Virgie Langford inside of her grocery store during a robbery. Virgie Langford would later suffer a cardiac arrest that was triggered from here injuries. Melvin Trotter would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
On June 16, 1986, Melvin Trotter entered a grocery store in Palmetto, Florida, owned by seventy-year-old Virgie Langford, grabbed Ms. Langford by the neck, and stabbed her seven times with a sixteen-inch-long butcher knife that Trotter had obtained at her store. Although Trotter had cut her eight-inches deep and disemboweled her, Ms. Langford remained alive while Trotter robbed her of money and food stamps. Ms. Langford died later at a hospital after a customer discovered her while she lay bleeding on the floor of her store. Trotter used the money that he stole from Ms. Langford to purchase crack cocaine.
After a trial, a jury found Trotter guilty of robbery with a deadly weapon and first-degree murder and recommended a sentence of death by a nine-to-three vote.
James Dailey was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of fourteen year old Shelly Boggio.. According to court documents James Dailey and two accomplices Jack Pearcy, and Dwayne “Oza” Shaw would pick up Shelly Boggio. The fourteen year old was found naked and dead the next day. James Dailey would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
Shelley Boggio’s nude body was found floating in the water near Indian Rocks Beach in Pinellas County, Florida. She had been stabbed repeatedly, strangled, and drowned. On the day of the murder, Shelley, her twin sister Stacey, and Stephanie Forsythe had been hitchhiking along a road near St. Petersburg, Florida. They were picked up by Dailey, Jack Pearcy, and Dwayne “Oza” Shaw. The three men drove the girls to a local bar. Stacey and Stephanie returned home shortly thereafter, but Shelley remained with the group and returned to Jack Pearcy’s house. Dailey was living in Pearcy’s home, where he had his own bedroom. Pearcy and his girlfriend, Gayle Bailey, shared a second bedroom. Shaw, a friend of Pearcy’s from Kansas, was temporarily staying at Pearcy’s house while he resolved marital issues. He slept on a couch in the living room.
Shaw testified that on the night of the murder he drove with Pearcy and Boggio to a public telephone booth, where he was dropped off. Pearcy and Boggio then drove off alone. After speaking on the phone for several minutes, Shaw returned to the house on foot and fell asleep on the couch. Shaw testified that when he woke up later that night, he saw Pearcy and Dailey, but not Boggio, entering the house together. Shaw noticed that Dailey’s pants were wet.
The State presented testimony from the lead detective in the case, John Halladay, and three informants who were inmates at the same facility where Dailey was held while awaiting trial. One of the inmates, Paul Skalnik, testified that Dailey had struck a deal with Pearcy, who had also been charged with Boggio’s murder.1 Skalnik testified that he relayed messages between Dailey and Pearcy. According to Skalnik, Dailey promised that if Pearcy did not testify at Dailey’s trial, Dailey would attempt to exonerate Pearcy once he was acquitted.
Based on the testimony of Shaw, Skalnik, and several other witnesses, Dailey was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death. On appeal, this Court affirmed the conviction but struck two aggravating circumstances and remanded the case for resentencing after concluding the trial court had failed to weigh mitigating circumstances. Dailey v. State, 594 So.2d 254 (Fla.1991).2 At resentencing, Dailey was again sentenced to death.
A trial judge on Friday denied James Dailey’s latest effort to prove he is innocent of the 1985 murder of 14-year-old Shelly Boggio, a crime for which he awaits execution.
Dailey’s defense hoped that his co-defendant, Jack Pearcy, might exonerate him. They obtained a signed statement from Pearcy in December which stated, “I committed the crime alone.”
But in a court hearing in March, Pearcy refused to testify and claimed he is the one who’s innocent. Pearcy has given inconsistent statements over the years about who was responsible for the murder.
Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa concluded in an order issued Friday that there is no new admissible evidence to warrant a new trial.
It is unclear what will happen next. Dailey, 73, still has an appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Unfortunately, the trial court ruled today that it could not consider the overwhelming evidence of Mr. Dailey’s innocence, including Jack Pearcy’s repeated confessions that he committed the murder alone, because of its view concerning a number of technical legal requirements,” Dailey’s lead defense attorney, Josh Dubin, said in a statement Friday. “We respectfully disagree with the Court’s ruling and will continue to fight for justice for James Dailey. He did not murder Shelly Boggio.”
In September, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered Dailey’s execution, setting a Nov. 7 date. But a federal judge later granted a stay of execution to give his attorneys more time to research and argue their case.
No new execution date has been set.
Dailey and Pearcy were found guilty in separate trials in the murder of Boggio. Her body was found one morning in May 1985 in the Intracoastal Waterway near the Walsingham Road bridge in Indian Rocks Beach. She had been beaten, choked, stabbed 31 times and ultimately drowned.
The two men were among the last people seen with the girl. Prosecutors suggested the motive for the crime was sexual.
William Reaves was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of Cpl. Richard Raczkoski . According to court documents William Reaves was being arrested by Cpl. Richard Raczkoski when a gun fell from his pocket. The two men struggled over the weapon and Cpl. Richard Raczkoski was shot and killed in the process. William Reaves would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
In the early morning hours of September 23, 1986, William Reaves walked from his girlfriend’s home to a nearby convenience store in Indian River County, Florida, where he placed three calls from a pay phone to a taxi service in order to get a ride home. Reaves grew impatient waiting for a taxi to arrive and, not having any more change to make another call, he dialed 911 shortly after 3:00 a.m., hoping to have the operator call a cab for him. For some reason he hung up the phone before speaking to the 911 operator.
Deputy Richard Raczkoski was dispatched to investigate the hang-up call. After arriving at the convenience store and talking with Reaves for a while, the deputy contacted the 911 dispatcher and learned that Reaves had no outstanding warrants. The deputy asked the operator to contact the taxi service and find out if one was coming for Reaves, and the operator confirmed that a taxi was on its way. All seemed to be going well.
But events sometimes tumble toward tragedy as if the devil himself had shaved the dice.1 What tumbled in this case was a .38–caliber pistol, which had been concealed on Reaves but somehow slipped from the waistband of his short pants and fell to the ground. The record does not show how that happened, but it does show that Reaves had prior felony convictions for conspiracy to commit robbery, for grand larceny, and for grand theft. The record also shows that Reaves believed that if he were arrested and convicted for being a felon in possession of that firearm he would face mandatory prison time. He did not want to go back to prison.
When Reaves reached for the pistol on the ground Deputy Raczkoski tried to stop him. Reaves pushed the deputy, grabbed him by the throat, picked up the pistol, and pointed it in the deputy’s face. Pleading with Reaves not to kill him, the deputy managed to back away, turn, and run. Reaves emptied the entire seven-round clip of his pistol, each shot requiring a separate pull of the trigger, and four of those shots struck the deputy, hitting him in the back. As the deputy lay bleeding on the ground, he fired several shots from his weapon, but none of them hit Reaves. Later that morning Deputy Raczkoski died on the operating table.
After the shooting, Reaves fled into dense woods behind the convenience store and made the seven-mile trek to the home of a friend, Erman Eugene Hinton, all the while eluding a police manhunt that involved dozens of officers, a K–9 unit, and a police helicopter. Reaves arrived at Hinton’s home, woke him up, and asked to take a shower and for a change of clothes. Hinton obliged. According to Hinton’s trial testimony,2 Reaves told him that as the deputy attempted to draw his own weapon he had pointed the gun in the deputy’s face and warned him, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Reaves recounted to Hinton how the deputy had pleaded for his life, begging Reaves not to shoot him, to which Reaves had responded: One of us got to go, me or you. Hinton testified that he had no difficulty understanding Reaves, whose speech was not slurred and who appeared to be in full control of his faculties that morning.
Later that day Reaves offered a half ounce of cocaine to Jerry Bryant, his niece’s husband, in exchange for a ride to a motel in Melbourne, Florida. Bryant agreed and Reaves directed him to retrieve some cocaine that he had hidden in his mother’s house. After retrieving the cocaine, Bryant drove Reaves to a motel in Melbourne, some 30 to 40 miles away, and rented a room for Reaves to use. On the afternoon of the following day, Reaves boarded a Greyhound bus for Albany, Georgia. When he arrived there, Reaves was arrested by Georgia authorities, who had been notified that he was suspected of killing Deputy Raczkoski.
At the time of his arrest, which was not quite two full days after he killed the deputy, Reaves had four-and-a-half ounces of cocaine with him, at least a portion of which he intended to sell in order to finance his continued flight, and he also had a newspaper bearing the headline, Indian River Deputy on Emergency Call Killed in Shooting. Reaves initially lied to the Georgia authorities, telling them his name was Randy Martin and giving them a false home address and place of employment. He did not appear to be intoxicated to any of the officers who encountered him.
Detectives from the Indian River Sheriff’s Department arrived in Albany the following morning to interview Reaves. During a taped confession, which was later played for the jury at trial, Reaves admitted to shooting Deputy Raczkoski and recounted the incident, including his ensuing flight, in considerable detail. Reaves, however, told the officers that he had ingested an unspecified amount of cocaine before the incident, and he made over a dozen references to being coked up, high, and wired out at the time of the shooting. Although Reaves repeatedly blamed the shooting on drug-induced panic and paranoia, he also explained that he couldn’t let that officer get that gun because he believed that, as a convicted felon, he was facing a mandatory three years for possessing a firearm. Reaves confirmed telling Hinton about the shooting, although he said that what he told Hinton was that he thought he had shot a police officer.
Dominick Occhicone was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murders of Raymond and Martha Artzner. According to court documents Dominic Occhicone would go to the home of his ex girlfriend and after she refused to speak to him he would murder her parents Raymond and Martha Artzner. Dominic Occhicone was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
In the early morning hours of June 10, 1986 Occhicone awakened his former girlfriend by knocking on the sliding glass door to her bedroom in a house she shared with her children and her parents. The woman refused to talk with him and he left. He returned an hour or so later, armed with a handgun, and cut the telephone lines and roused the household. When the woman’s father confronted him outside the house, Occhicone shot him. The woman and her daughter fled the house while Occhicone was breaking into it through a locked door. Once inside Occhicone shot the woman’s mother four times.
Occhicone v. State, 570 So.2d 902, 904 (Fla.1990). At trial, Occhicone asserted a voluntary intoxication defense claiming that his level of intoxication on the night of the murders, as well as his documented drinking habit, prevented him from having the requisite mental state to premeditate the murders. However, the jury found him guilty and recommended the death penalty for both murders by a seven-to-five vote.
Although the trial judge sentenced Occhicone to life in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s father, he sentenced him to death for the murder of her mother. In support of the death sentence, the trial judge found three aggravating factors: (1) previous conviction of a violent felony; (2) murder committed during a burglary; and (3) murder committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner. As statutory mitigation, the trial judge found that the murder was committed while Occhicone was under the influence of extreme mental and emotional disturbance. Finally, as nonstatutory mitigation, the judge found that Occhicone was a good prisoner and had acclimated to his custodial environment
Dennis Sochar was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of Patricia Gifford. According to court documents Dennis Sochor would kidnap and murder Patricia Gifford after she refused to have sex with him. Dennis Sochor would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Dennis Sochor wanted to have sex, and when eighteen-year old Patty Gifford refused him, Sochor choked her to death with his bare hands. Sochor dumped Patty’s body by the side of a road and drove home to his apartment. At trial, the jury heard these facts from the tape-recorded confessions of Patty’s murderer, Dennis Sochor.
Sochor lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1981. Sochor’s brother, Gary, traveled from Michigan to Fort Lauderdale on the day after Christmas to visit him. At 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, the brothers drove a truck from Sochor’s apartment to a lounge called the Banana Boat.
Patty and her boyfriend also lived in Fort Lauderdale in 1981. Patty’s boyfriend had to work on New Year’s Eve so Patty and her friend, Delta Harville, decided to celebrate together. Their friend, Patricia Boreman, tended bar at the Banana Boat. They drove Delta’s car to the lounge at 9 p.m.
Patty and Delta sat at a tiki bar behind the Banana Boat. As they sat there, Boreman served Delta a few drinks. Sochor and his brother approached Patty and Delta and tried to talk with them. Sochor sat at the bar and talked with the women for a few hours. Someone took a photograph of Sochor sitting next to the women.
Delta had too much to drink. Patty, Sochor, and Gary took Delta to the parking lot and put her in her car. Patty then returned to the Banana Boat to pay her bar tab. When Patty came back to the parking lot, she determined that Delta was unable to drive. Sochor and his brother asked Patty if she wanted to accompany them in the truck to find something to eat while Delta slept in her car. Tragically, Patty accepted their invitation.
Sochor and Gary did not take Patty anywhere to eat. In a tape-recorded confession to the police that the prosecution played for the jury, Sochor stated that he and Patty had an argument. Sochor asked Patty if she wanted to have sex, and Patty said no. When Sochor grabbed Patty by the hair, she fought for her life. Patty screamed and scratched Sochor’s face. Sochor “got angry and began choking her.” When Patty stopped breathing, Sochor knew that he had “probably just murdered her.” After Sochor murdered Patty, he drove the truck down a dirt road “and placed her body in the weeds.”
Gary testified against his brother. Gary stated that, after they left the Banana Boat, the truck came to a stop and Sochor stepped out of it. Gary stated that he heard “Patty ․ hollaring [sic] for help, asking what was going on.” Gary testified that he “got out of the passenger’s side, ran around the vehicle, and [saw that Sochor] had [Patty] on the ground, had [Patty’s] hands pinned down.” Gary threw a rock at Sochor and “hollared [sic] at [Sochor] to leave her alone,” but Sochor “told [him] to get back in the truck.” Gary did as he was told because he was scared of his brother. Gary testified that he never saw Patty again.
A local television station produced a news report about Patty’s disappearance. As Sochor watched the report, the photograph of Sochor sitting with Patty at the tiki bar behind the Banana Boat appeared on the television screen. When Sochor saw the photograph, he “estimate[d] that [he] had, in fact, committed another rape and was terrified of the fact, so [he] decided to leave town.”
Sochor fled Fort Lauderdale in the truck. He drove to Tampa, Florida, where he dumped the truck, and then traveled by bus to New Orleans, Louisiana. He eventually moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Police officers later arrested Sochor in Georgia.
When officers from Fort Lauderdale interviewed Sochor in Atlanta about Patty’s disappearance, Sochor confessed, but stated that his memory of that New Year’s Eve was foggy. The officers recorded the confession by audio tape. The officers transported Sochor to Fort Lauderdale and drove him to the Banana Boat. Again, Sochor made a tape-recorded confession, but this time he provided more details about the murder. The officers tried to locate Patty’s body, but Sochor did not remember its exact location. Sochor made one more recorded confession. At trial, the jury heard all three confessions.
Sochor’s roommate in Atlanta, Paul Jones, testified at trial. Jones stated that Sochor once “told [Jones] of a time that he had choked someone, and how [Sochor had] disposed of the body ․ [o]ut in the countryside, a drainage pipe.” Jones testified that Sochor told him that “[i]f he had to, he would do it again.” Sochor told Jones that the murder “didn’t bother him at all” and that “women were more or less a sexual tool, nothing more.”
An inmate that Sochor met when he was incarcerated in the Broward County jail in 1987 named Michael Hickey testified at trial. Hickey stated that Sochor approached him and asked whether he “knew different methods of discrediting a witness.” Hickey testified that “at the end of the conversation, [Hickey] was telling [Sochor] how to discredit his brother, then [Sochor] said to [Hickey], ‘Yeah, in case your [sic] wondering, I killed a fucking, slut, bitch[.]’ ”
Dr. Arnold Zager, a psychiatrist, interviewed Sochor and testified for the defense at trial. Dr. Zager testified that Sochor had a “long-standing problem of drug and alcohol abuse,” and he suspected that Sochor suffered from “anti-social personality disorder.” Dr. Zager stated that Sochor was “a much more aggressive, potentially very violent, individual under the influence of intoxicants.” Dr. Zager testified that Sochor told him that he had an alcoholic blackout on the night of the murder, and Dr. Zager believed that alcohol affected Sochor that night: “[I]t was my impression that this gentleman, if indeed he committed the crime, and was stopped in the act, and when asked is it wrong or is it against the law to commit such a crime, that individual might say certainly it is, but in a sense, disregard it.” Although Dr. Zager did not believe Sochor met the requirements for involuntary commitment under Florida law, Dr. Zager believed that Sochor was “extremely dangerous to the public.”
Dr. Patsy Ceros–Livingston, a clinical psychologist, also interviewed Sochor and testified for the defense at trial. She testified that Sochor reported a long-term history of drug and alcohol abuse, starting at a very young age. She stated that Sochor told her that the Army recommended that he get psychiatric care when it discharged him. She also stated that Sochor told her that he had attempted to commit suicide by drowning. Dr. Ceros–Livingston testified that she administered two psychological tests to Sochor. The test results suggested that Sochor suffered from alcohol and drug abuse, that Sochor might have a quick temper, that he might engage in impulsive and destructive behavior, and that Sochor was attempting to “make [himself] look psychopathological.” Dr. Ceros–Livingston stated that Sochor may have been “malingering.”
Dr. Ricardo Castillo, a psychiatrist, testified for the state of Florida at trial. Dr. Castillo testified that Sochor was being medicated with lithium, which Dr. Castillo described as a medicine used mostly to treat manic depressive illness. Dr. Castillo described manic depression as a condition that affected mood and behavior, but he testified that he did not believe that Sochor suffered from that condition. Dr. Castillo stated that he did not believe that Sochor blacked out the night of the murder. He stated that Sochor had a “a type of selective amnesia” and an antisocial personality disorder.
After the jury convicted Sochor of kidnapping and first-degree murder, the prosecution presented damaging evidence during the penalty phase that Sochor was a serial rapist.
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