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Sean Bush Florida Death Row

Sean Bush was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of his estranged wife. According to court documents Sean Bush would murder Nicole Bush by beating the woman with a baseball bat and shooting her multiple times. Sean Bush would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Florida Death Row Inmate List

Sean Bush 2021 Information

DC Number:	D24647
Name:	BUSH, SEAN A
Race:	BLACK
Sex:	MALE
Birth Date:	02/05/1969
Initial Receipt Date:	01/11/2018
Current Facility:	UNION C.I.
Current Custody:	MAXIMUM
Current Release Date:	DEATH SENTENCE

Sean Bush More News

Sean Alonzo Bush was sentenced to death Thursday by Circuit Court Judge Howard Maltz in a St. Johns County courtroom following his conviction on a first-degree murder charge earlier this year.

Maltz soberly read the decision from an abbreviated version of his 49-page sentencing order. He made no personal comments and provided no lecture nor further condemnation of the defendant.

Bush, who had little reason to be surprised by the ultimate sentence, showed little reaction to the order.

Bush was found guilty Aug. 2 at the conclusion of a jury trial for the murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Bush, 35, of Julington Creek. On the morning of May 31, 2011, Nicole Bush was found shot six times, stabbed and beaten with an aluminum baseball bat but still living. She died later at a Jacksonville hospital.

Following the verdict, jurors went through arguments during the penalty phase. On. Aug. 18, they voted to recommend the death penalty for Bush.

Maltz was not required by law to follow the jury’s recommendation. He could have opted for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“The death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst,” State Attorney RJ Larizza said in a release. “The exceptionally deranged and brutal murder committed by Sean Bush absolutely fits within this category. A sentence of death was the only reasonable and appropriate punishment for this crime.”

Bush is the first defendant in St. Johns County for whom a jury has recommended death since the state Legislature, earlier this year, passed a new law in the wake of higher court decisions requiring all 12 jurors to vote for the sentence. Prior to a January 2016 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, and subsequent rulings from the Florida Supreme Court, judges could sentence a defendant to death with only a majority of jurors voting for a recommendation of the death penalty.

In his sentencing order, Maltz wrote that he considered five aggravating factors, including the fact that Bush had been convicted of aggravated assault against his second wife in 2000. He also gave great weight to the brutality of the murder.

“The jury unanimously found the aggravating factors are sufficient to warrant a death sentence,” Maltz wrote. “This Court agrees with the jury’s finding.”

The defense presented several mitigating circumstances during the August penalty phase hearing, including testimony that Bush was abused by a mother who was mentally ill.

“While this Court recognizes, as did the jury, the existence of mitigating circumstances, they pale in comparison to the aggravating factors present here,” Maltz wrote.

Representing Nicole Bush’s family were close friends Lenora Billington and Tracie Walker. They both thanked the attorneys and investigators for the prosecution, law enforcement officers and the judge for getting the maximum penalty for Sean Bush.

“We just want to say thank you for helping us through this process,” Billington said. “We know it’s been a long process through these years. We thank (them) for all of the manpower they put into everything. We’re pleased with the verdict.”

https://www.staugustine.com/news/local-news/2017-12-21/bush-sentenced-death-2011-murder

Benjamin Smiley Florida Death Row

Benjamin Smiley was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for a robbery murder. According to court documents Benjamin Smiley would break into a home and shoot and kill the owner Clifford Drake before robbing the home. Benjamin Smiley would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Florida Death Row Inmate List

Benjamin Smiley 2021 Information

DC Number:	T72309
Name:	SMILEY, BENJAMIN D JR
Race:	BLACK
Sex:	MALE
Birth Date:	07/23/1992
Initial Receipt Date:	03/01/2018
Current Facility:	UNION C.I.
Current Custody:	MAXIMUM
Current Release Date:	DEATH SENTENCE

Benjamin Smiley More News

Benjamin Davis Smiley Jr. sat motionless Friday as Circuit Judge Jalal Harb sentenced him to die.

“For the murder of Clifford Drake,” Harb said, “you are sentenced to be put to death in a manner prescribed by law.”

He said the reasons argued by Smiley’s lawyers for granting him mercy, including two brain aneurysms that left him with permanent damage, paled in comparison to those presented by prosecutors for imposing the death penalty, including Smiley’s violent past and the cruelty of his actions.

Shelia Drake, the victim’s widow, cheered Friday upon learning of Smiley’s death sentence.

“Oh my God, that’s a blessing,” she said. “My husband can rest, and I can rest now. My husband will be gone five years this year, on April 16, and I think about him every day. We would have been together 23 years in January if he was still living.”

Clifford Drake, 58, was awakened in the bedroom of his Lakeland home in April 2013 by Smiley tapping him on the forehead with a chrome revolver, according to court testimony. He demanded to know where the safe was hidden, and when Drake said he didn’t have one, Smiley shot him in the leg to encourage him to reveal the location. When Drake continued his denials, according to court testimony, Smiley fired a fatal shot into his chest.

Smiley of Tampa also held Drake’s stepson, Mark Wilkerson, at gunpoint during the attack. He ran from the home after firing the shots that killed Drake.

Lakeland police detectives investigated the case for two years before arresting Smiley in July 2015. Their break came when Hillsborough County deputies arrested him for armed robbery, and his DNA in that case was linked with DNA found at the Drake murder scene.

A Polk County jury deliberated more than six hours in October 2016 before convicting Smiley of Drake’s murder. Smiley had testified during the trial that he wasn’t involved with the robbery or shooting, but prosecutors presented eyewitness testimony from Wilkerson and DNA evidence that placed Smiley at the scene.

In an unrelated case, Harb sentenced Smiley to life imprisonment Friday for killing Carmen Riley, 46, who was gunned down during an attempted robbery at her Lakeland home in March 2013. He was convicted of her first-degree murder following a jury trial in November 2015, and prosecutors initially were seeking the death penalty in that case. They later withdrew the death penalty, leaving life imprisonment as the only option.

Friday’s death sentence was the first in Polk County since 2012, when Robert McLeod was condemned to die, and the first since the state Legislature overhauled the death-penalty process last year. It also marked the first time Harb, a former assistant state attorney who prosecuted murder cases, has imposed a death sentence on a defendant.

Sentencing in the Drake murder had been delayed while the state revamped its death-penalty process in response to U.S. Supreme Court mandate. With new guidelines in place, a Polk County jury heard testimony in April and recommended unanimously that Smiley should die for Drake’s murder. Harb followed that recommendation Friday in imposing the death penalty.

https://www.theledger.com/news/20180223/judge-condemns-tampa-man-to-death-for-2013-lakeland-murder

Donald Smith Florida Death Row

Donald Smith was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of a eight year old girl. According to court documents Donald Smith would abduct Cherish Lily Perrywinkle from a store. Cherish Perrywinkle body would be found the next day, the eight year old had been sexually assaulted. Donald Smith would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Florida Death Row Inmate List

Donald Smith 2021 Information

DC Number:	986205
Name:	SMITH, DONALD J
Race:	WHITE
Sex:	MALE
Birth Date:	09/04/1956
Initial Receipt Date:	05/03/2018
Current Facility:	UNION C.I.
Current Custody:	MAXIMUM
Current Release Date:	DEATH SENTENCE

Donald Smith More News

More than seven years after an 8-year-old girl was abducted from a Jacksonville Walmart, raped and murdered, the Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments this week about whether a man sentenced to death in the slaying should receive a new trial.

The June 2013 murder of Cherish Perrywinkle drew huge amounts of news coverage and public attention in Jacksonville, with a jury in 2018 finding Donald James Smith guilty and a judge sending him to Death Row.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in an appeal by Smith, whose attorney contends, in part, that the trial should have been moved out of Duval County because of the heavy pretrial publicity. Attorney H. Kate Bedell wrote in a brief this year at the Supreme Court that Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper erred in denying a change of venue.

“Specifically, the pretrial publicity was so expansive that it saturated the community for years, provided a one-sided and continuous narrative leading to one conclusion at trial, Mr. Smith’s inevitable conviction, and death sentence,” the brief said.

But Senior Assistant Attorney General Charmaine Millsaps argued in a brief that Smith’s trial attorneys did not meet legal tests for a change of venue. Also, Millsaps pointed to the long period of time between the murder and the trial.

“There was over four years between this crime and jury selection,” Millsaps wrote. “Furthermore, Duval County is a large diverse county with hundreds of thousands of eligible jurors of which it is difficult to believe that twelve unbiased jurors, uninfluenced by the publicity and indifferent to, or even totally unaware of, social media posts, could not be found.”

Smith, now 64, was accused of murdering Cherish Perrywinkle after a series of events that began when he met her mother, Rayne Perrywinkle, at a Dollar General store. Smith told Rayne Perrywinkle that he would take her and her daughters shopping at a Walmart.

While at Walmart, Smith said he would buy the family cheeseburgers at a McDonald’s at the store but left with Cherish Perrywinkle in a van. He was convicted of raping and strangling the child and leaving her body in a creek.

Smith was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping of a victim under age 13 and sexual battery on a victim under age 12. In addition to the death sentence for the murder, he received life sentences on the kidnapping and sexual battery charges.

Smith’s appeal to the Supreme Court seeks a new trial and raises a series of issues, including arguing that the circuit judge erred by allowing autopsy photos of Cherish Perrywinkle to be used during the trial.

“Specifically, Mr. Smith argued that it would be error to admit these photographs because each was so graphic,” the brief on behalf of Smith said. “These photographs depicted a naked child with severe injuries to her vagina and anus, as well as skin removed from the front of her throat to show deep bruising around the trachea. The probative value was substantially outweighed by the prejudicial effect because, to show these images to the jury, would ‘shock’ them and ‘inflame their passions.’”

But Millsaps, in her brief to the Supreme Court, wrote that the circuit judge “properly admitted the autopsy photographs, which were relevant to establish both premeditated murder and sexual battery.” Also, she indicated any error by the circuit judge in allowing the photos to be used would have been “harmless error.”

“Smith’s DNA profile matched the DNA found on the victim’s neck and anus at one in 35 quintillion which is 35,000,000,000,000,000,000. And Smith’s DNA profile matched the semen from the victim’s vagina at one in 12 quadrillion, which is 12,000,000,000,000,000,” the senior assistant attorney general wrote. ”Furthermore, there is a videotape of the beginning of the kidnapping from Walmart’s surveillance cameras showing Smith leaving the store with Cherish and walking through the parking lot with her toward his white van. Any rational jury would have convicted Smith of kidnapping, sexual battery, and murder based on the DNA evidence and the videotape without being shown a single photograph.”

Supreme Court Justices Take Up Donald Smith’s Death Sentence Appeal in Murder of Cherish Perrywinkle

Peter Avsenew Florida Death Row

Peter Avsenew was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for a double murder. According to court documents Peter Avsenew would murder Kevin Powell, 52, and Stephen Adams, 47 before stealing their car. Peter Avsenew would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Florida Death Row Inmate List

Peter Avsenew 2021 Information

DC Number:	K05966
Name:	AVSENEW, PETER
Race:	WHITE
Sex:	MALE
Birth Date:	11/12/1984
Initial Receipt Date:	09/04/2018
Current Facility:	UNION C.I.
Current Custody:	MAXIMUM
Current Release Date:	DEATH SENTENCE

Peter Avsenew More News

A Florida man has been sentenced to death for the “cold, calculated and premeditated” murder of a married gay couple in South Florida.

Peter Avsenew, 33, was found guilty last November on two counts of first-degree murder for the 2010 deaths of Kevin Powell, 52, and Stephen Adams, 47. A jury voted unanimously in January for the death penalty, and a judge earlier this week granted their recommendation.

Avsenew bludgeoned and shot Powell and Adams on Dec. 23, 2010.

“Nothing about Defendant’s age, physical condition, background or mental status, suggests that the ultimate sentence of death for such conduct is disproportionate,” Circuit Judge Ilona M. Holmes wrote in her Aug. 28 sentencing order.

Avsenew is the first defendant in Broward, the state’s second-most populous county, to receive a death sentence since a state law was passed last year requiring juries to be unanimous in deciding an execution is warranted.

In her sentencing order, the judge gave weight to a number of “aggravating circumstances,” including finding that the murders were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel” and were “committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner.”

According to court documents, both victims had cuts on their heads and had been shot several times. Adams, who is thought to have died while trying to stop the murder of Powell, his partner of nearly 30 years, was shot eight times.

The judge found that Avsenew, who was allegedly staying with the couple after meeting them through a solicitation ad on Craigslist, showed no remorse during the court proceedings. After the verdicts were read, he gave the victims’ families the middle finger in front of the jurors, and prior to his sentencing he sent a chilling letter to the judge.

“What ever you decide to do with me, just remember that you will never be able to stop me. It is my duty as a white man to cull the weak and timid from existence,” he wrote in the letter, which was received by the judge in March of this year. “Homosexuals are a disease to mankind and must be put down.”

He went on to say he “regret[s] nothing” and hinted that he’s responsible for a number of other murders.

“These weren’t the first and won’t be the last,” he said of the 2010 killings. “If you only knew how many there really are you would faint.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/florida-man-be-executed-execution-style-killings-gay-couple-n905566

James Colley Florida Death Row

James Colley was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for a double murder. According to court documents James Colley would murder his wife Amanda Colley and her friends Lindy Dobbins. James Colley would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Florida Death Row Inmate List

James Colley 2021 Information

DC Number:	Y80029
Name:	COLLEY, JAMES T JR
Race:	WHITE
Sex:	MALE
Birth Date:	04/23/1980
Initial Receipt Date:	12/03/2018
Current Facility:	UNION C.I.
Current Custody:	MAXIMUM
Current Release Date:	DEATH SENTENCE

James Colley More News

The morning of Aug. 27, 2015, James Terry Colley Jr., 35 at the time, had to report to court regarding an injunction his wife had asked for against him. He’d been required to sign an affidavit days earlier saying he had no guns. The court date made him furious. His father told him not to do anything foolish.

At 10:38 that morning, Colley walked out of the woods behind the house at 260 South Bellagio Drive in St. Johns County, armed with a handgun. He started shooting as he reached the rear sliding backdoor. Three women and a man were in the house: Colley’s estranged wife Amanda Colley and her friends Lindy Dobbins and Rachel Hendricks, along with Lamar Douberly.

Dobbins and Hendricks hid in a closet. Amanda hid in a bathroom. As James Colley approached the closet door, he yelled, asking for Douberly. Hendricks told him he wasn’t there. She then watched Colley enter the closet and gun down Dobbins as Hendricks ran from the scene and called 911. Douberly had managed to run out the garage as he heard gunshots. Moments later James Colley’s father reported to police that his son had just called him and told him that he’d shot to death his wife and her friend.

This morning in St. Johns Circuit Court, Judge Howard Maltz sentenced Colley to death.

A jury in July convicted Colley on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and three other felonies in what the State Attorney’s Office described today as “one of the worst crimes in recent memory in St. Augustine. Colley’s shooting of his estranged wife Amanda and her friend Lindy Dobbins sent shock waves through the community. He shot both victims to death as they begged for their lives.”

Pronouncing sentence, Maltz told Colley his crime was cold, calculated, heinous, and atrocious. State Attorney R.J. Larizza attended this morning’s hearing, sitting with the victims’ families. “For those who believe the death penalty to be barbaric,” he was quoted as saying in a release issued by his office, “how would they feel if they were there to witness the cold and barbaric murders of Amanda and Lindy? It is our hope that the family will find some peace and comfort now that the defendant was held accountable for his actions.”

Colley will remain in the custody of St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office until he is taken to death row by the Department of Corrections. Homicide Investigative Unit prosecutors Jennifer Dunton was the lead prosecutor, with Mark Johnson also trying the case. Colley was represented by Terry Shoemaker, among other defense attorneys.

Colley joins five other individuals from St. Johns on Florida’s death row. The last sentencing to death from St. Johns was more than seven years ago.

James Colley Jr. Sentenced to Death in Murders of Ex-Wife Amanda Colley and Lindy Dobbins