Cathy Lynn Sarinana and her husband Raul Sarinana are evil people who should have never been let around children. According to police documents Cathy Lynn Sarinana and her husband are responsible for two deaths, both young boys. The pair were suppose to be looking after a pair of nephews but one of the nephews would be murdered and a few months later his brother was beaten to death. The pair would be arrested and both would be sentenced to death.
Cathy Lynn Sarinana 2019 Information
Inmate Name
SARINANA, CATHY LYNN
CDCR Number
X37697
Age
43
Admission Date
07/09/2009
Current Location
Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link
Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)
CONDEMNED
Cathy Lynn Sarinana Other News
RIVERSIDE, Cal. – In front of a tearful courtroom, two juries recommended the death penalty for Raul Ricardo Sarinana and his wife Cathy Lynn Sarinana for the brutal murder of their 11-year-old nephew Ricky Morales.
It’s believed they also killed his 13-year-old brother Conrad.
“I’m very happy with the verdict, very happy, they deserve it,” said the boys’ mother, Rosa Sarinana outside the courtroom.
The couple lived with the boys for about a year in Randle, Washington, which is where authorities believe Conrad was killed.
“We have evidence the 13-year-old may have been tragically killed here in Lewis County,†said Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield.
On October 8, 2005, the couple reported 13-year-old Conrad missing, possibly a runaway. The next day, the couple moved with the younger brother to Corona, California. On December 26, the 11-year-old was found in the home tortured to death. The next day, 13-year-old Conrad’s body was found murdered as well. He was found encased in concrete in a carport.
Both boys were abused and tortured. Blood was found all over the Corona home.
The boys’ mother says her brother asked if the boys could stay with them.
“My boys didn’t deserve that. They were good boys. They were very good boys,” Rosa Sarinana said.
Defense attorneys argued Raul had anger problems and that Cathy was also a victim of Raul’s abuse, but they did not convince the jurors.
Lewis County authorities say they were awaiting the outcome of the trial in Riverside County before deciding whether to prosecute the couple for the older boy’s murder.
Cathy Lynn Sarinana More News
The two young boys found dead at a Corona home this week may have been brothers, and authorities believe that at least one of the boys was beaten to death by his uncle, police said Wednesday.
Charges were filed against Raul Ricardo Sarinana and Cathy Lynn Sarinana on Wednesday in connection with the death of their 11-year-old nephew, Ricky Morales.
Detectives suspect that a second body found in the carport of their duplex was the boy’s missing 13-year-old brother, officials said. Relatives Wednesday identified the brother as Conrad Morales.
On Oct. 8, Cathy Sarinana had reported a 13-year-old runaway child to the Lewis County, Wash., Sheriff’s Department, officials said. She was living in a Winlock, Wash., trailer park at the time.
Police have requested dental records for the older boy, whom officials did not identify, and two Corona police investigators flew to Washington on Wednesday afternoon to continue their investigation.
Raul Sarinana had been taking care of the two boys for his older sister, Rosa Morales, after she was sent to prison, according to a relative from El Monte and police officials.
“They were good little boys who just wanted attention,” said the relative, who asked not to be identified because she said she feared retaliation from other family members. “We’re in shock. We’re trying to put it all together.”
The relative, who took care of the boys for almost a year, said they had been bouncing from relative to relative for at least five years. Morales also has two older daughters, who are being cared for by other relatives, she said.
The sisters were among about a dozen weeping relatives and friends of the boys who gathered at the La Puente home of another of the boys’ aunts late Wednesday, but were too emotional to speak. The family had set up a memorial to the boys consisting of candles and photographs depicting Conrad and Ricky as babies, and as young children in Halloween costumes.
The boys had grown up in La Puente and West Covina, relatives said.
Rosa’s sister Bertha Cevallos, 43, said Conrad had gone to live with the Sarinanas about a year and a half ago, and Ricky joined him about six months later. Their mother, Cevallos said, was concerned about them living in Southern California through their rebellious teenage years and thought they would be less likely to get into trouble in Washington state.
Raul Sarinana and his wife sent back reports saying the boys were doing well in school and were involved in numerous activities, the family said.
Some family members worried that Conrad and Ricky seemed unhappy, and that their phone calls had a rote, practiced tone as if they were reading from a script. But they chalked this up to shyness, and did not suspect they were in danger, said Martin Cevallos, 22, of Downey, cousin to Conrad and Ricky.
He said he knew Raul Sarinana from childhood, and called him a favorite uncle. “The thought never crossed my mind that he would hurt them.”
Once, a sister had requested that police make a welfare check on the boys in Washington, but never heard back, he said. The last time any of the relatives talked to Ricky was on Christmas, they said, when he told them that he missed his mother and wanted to come home.
Charges of murder and a special circumstance of inflicting torture have been filed against Raul Sarinana, 38, which could make him subject to the death penalty.
The prosecutor, John Aki, did not say whether the Riverside County district attorney’s office would seek the death penalty.
Charges of murder and felony child endangerment have been filed against Cathy Sarinana, 28. She could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
On Wednesday, the couple’s arraignment was postponed to Jan. 5 at a hearing in Riverside County Superior Court that lasted less than a minute. The pair are being held without bail at Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.
Charges have not been filed in connection with the second body; officials said the death may have occurred in Washington. The child protection agency in Lewis County confirmed that it had been asked to assist the investigation.
The cause of Ricky Morales’ death might be determined by an autopsy to be performed today; the second boy’s autopsy is scheduled Friday.
State birth records show that in addition to her two sons, Rosa Morales had two older daughters. All the children were born in Los Angeles County.
Relatives said Rosa Morales was devastated. “She is taking it bad,” said Martin Cevallos. “She is feeling really guilty.”
Police found Ricky’s battered body Monday at the Sarinanas’ Corona duplex in the 1100 block of Belle Avenue after Raul Sarinana called police and said he had hurt his nephew and that he might be dead. Ricky had suffered blunt trauma injuries, though officials declined to say what caused them.
The Sarinanas’ children, a 2-year-old girl and a 13-month-old boy, were taken into protective custody.
A relative tipped off police later that day that there had been another boy living with the Sarinanas, said Corona police Sgt. Jerry Rodriguez. Police contacted the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday and returned to the residential neighborhood to search again.
Using X-ray equipment, they discovered the second boy’s remains in the carport. Neighbors said they saw teams break concrete with jackhammers and roll out several green metal barrels.
The Sarinanas have ived in the rented front unit of a duplex since mid-October, police said. Raul Sarinana said he was a self-employed handyman, and Cathy Sarinana said she was unemployed, Rodriguez said.
Rosa Morales had recently completed parole, Rodriguez said. Police have not reached Ricky’s father, who is thought to be in Mexico, police said.
Neighbors said the Sarinanas kept to themselves except for the occasional yard sale, though several children said they had noticed bruises on Ricky’s face and arms.
Corona police had been called to the duplex once, but did not disclose the circumstances.
The family has set up a memorial fund in care of Bank of America in Alhambra, the Fund for Conrad and Ricky Morales.
Manling Tsang Williams in one night managed to kill her entire family and for it she will now sit on California death row for decades to come. According to court documents Manling Tsang Williams would fatally stab her husband with a samurai sword before smothering her two small children. Manling Tsang Williams apparently murdered her family to be with her lover was sentenced to death
Manling Tsang Williams 2021 Information
Inmate Name
WILLIAMS, MANLING TSANG
CDCR Number
WE3786
Age
40
Admission Date
01/26/2012
Current Location
Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link
Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)
CONDEMNED
Manling Tsang Williams Other News
A 32-year-old Rowland Heights woman has been sentenced to death for the brutal 2007 murders of her husband and two young sons. Manling Tsang Williams was convicted in 2010 on three counts of first-degree murder for taking the lives of her family members while they slept so that she could be free to be with her lover, according to City News Service.
The details of the killings are grim: Manling Tsang Williams, 29 at the time, “put on a pair of gloves, took a pillow and held it over her 3-year-old son’s mouth and nose until he lost consciousness,” described prosecutors. She “then climbed the bunk bed stairs to her oldest son’s bed and put the pillow over his nose and mouth” and ended the 7-year-old’s life.
Before killing her husband, however, Manling Tsang Williams took the time to pause to sign on to MySpace to check her boyfriend’s profile page, then went out with friends, and returned home and “chose the heaviest, sharpest sword in the house to attack her sleeping husband.” During Manling Tsang Williams’ trial, testimony from the medical examiner indicated her husband, Neal, “had been slashed and stabbed more than 90 times with a Samurai sword.”
The next morning, she called police to tell them she’d come home from grocery shopping to find her family dead. Manling Tsang Williams was taken into custody the next day.
Manling Tsang Williams’ lover had told her he would end their relationship because she was burdened with a husband and kids. The woman had reportedly been “infatuated with” her boyfriend since their high school days.
Today, Pomona Superior Court Judge Robert Martinez rejected a motion for a new trial before handing down Manling Tsang Williams’ death sentence.
Manling Tsang Williams More News
A judge sentenced Manling Tsang Williams to death Thursday for smothering her two young children with a pillow and slashing her husband to death with a sword in the family’s Rowland Heights home in 2007.
The 32-year-old woman sobbed and shook as Pomona Superior Court Judge Robert Martinez handed down the sentence for the Aug. 7, 2007 murders of her husband, Neal Williams, 27, and their sons Devon, 7, and Ian, 3, at the family’s condominium in the 18200 block of Camino Bello.
A jury convicted Manling Williams of three counts of first-degree murder in 2010, along with the special allegations of using weapons and lying in wait. After one jury was unable to agree on whether to sentence her to death or life imprisonment, a second penalty phase jury recommended last year that she be put to death.
Judge Martinez followed that recommendation.
“It is the order of this court that you should suffer the penalty of death,” he told Williams.
Williams, who was dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and glasses and had her hands shackled at the waist during the proceeding, kept her eyes fixed on the table in front of her throughout.
Jan Williams of Whittier, mother of Neal Williams and grandmother to Devon and Ian Williams, said she was glad to see the trial, now in its fourth year, draw to a close at last.
“I’m relieved that this chapter is over,” she said. “I couldn’t take another trial.”
She added, “This has had a terrible impact, not just on me and my family, on the Tsang family, but everyone involved.”
The judge reflected on the crime at the sentencing hearing.
“The evidence is compelling that the defendant, for selfish reasons, murdered her own two children,” Martinez said.
Her motivation, Martinez said, was a “narcissistic, selfish and adolescent” desire to start a new life with another man, free from the hindrances of family life.
In the months before the murders, Manling Williams had reconnected through the Internet with an old friend and began a relationship with him.
The judge pointed out that Manling Williams had numerous family members who would have taken in the children, should she have decided to abandon them.
After smothering Devon and Ian in their bunk bed, “The defendant savagely, brutally and viciously attacked her husband with a katana sword,” Martinez said.
Neal Williams was stabbed and slashed more than 97 times in the attack, investigators said.
“In the final moments of life, Neal begged the defendant for help,” the judge said.
The case was prosecuted by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorneys Stacy Okun-Wiese and Pak Kouch.
Defense attorneys Tom Althaus and Haydeh Takasugi argued for their client’s life to be spared.
Althaus told the court that the killings were not calculated executions, but a “sudden mistake.”
“There’s no basis for the prosecution’s contention that these murders were planned,” Althaus said, adding that Manling Williams was in a state of “extreme mental and emotional disturbance” when she killed her husband and sons.
Mitigating factors also included a difficult upbringing and no previous history of violence, he said.
Althaus acknowledged that his client had had an extra-marital affair, but disputed the prosecution’s assertion that the affair formed a motive for the crime.
“There’s no good explanation why it happened,” Althaus said.
Prior to the killings, Manling Williams was “a kind, generous, troubled woman who loved her husband and children,” he said.
Manling Williams’ sister, Shun Ling Tsang, also urged the judge to spare her sister’s life and sentence her instead to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Both families involved in this case have asked the prosecution not to pursue a second penalty phase,” Tsang said.
Following the announcement that the first jury had hung in the penalty phase of the trial, both Williams and Tsang family members said they would rather see the prosecution accept a defense plea deal for a life sentence without the possibility of parole that included waiving rights to future appeals.
The prosecution elected to re-try the penalty phase, resulting in a jury recommendation of the death penalty in August of last year.
The ongoing court proceedings entailed in a death penalty case are only serving to cause more pain for family members already devastated by tragedy, Tsang said, adding that she believed the prosecution’s pursuit of the death penalty was “ego-driven” and “politically motivated.”
“Today will not bring about closure or healing,” Tsang said.
Jan Williams said she had mixed feelings about the sentence.
“I have some reservations, because it can be hard on the families. It can take decades to resolve,” she said.
She said she hoped the appeals process, which begins automatically when a convict is sentenced to death in California, will not require her to continue attending court hearings regularly.
The judge said he himself had concerns over the way the death penalty is administered in California.
“This penalty is precariously close to becoming a hypothetical,” Martinez said.
The judge expressed sympathy to both the Williams and Tsang families and spoke of his own concerns of the inefficient way in which the death penalty is carried out in California, but ruled that the death penalty was appropriate, considering the law and the facts of the case.
Out of more than 700 California death row inmates, fewer than two dozen of them are women, and none has been among the 13 prisoners executed since the death penalty was restored in 1976.
“Ms. Williams, I will probably never see you again,” the judge added. “I will be long gone when this case and judgement is finalized.”
Each of the three killings, Martinez said, were “deliberate, premeditated and committed by lying in wait.”
Martinez said that the evidence showed that Manling Williams had planned the killings two months in advance, and immediately began trying to conceal her guilt afterward.
She wore latex gloves as she attacked her husband, he said.
Testimony indicated it takes five to 10 minutes for a person to die by suffocation, meaning that Manling Williams had at least five minutes to contemplate her actions while killing one of her children before killing her other son in the same manner, Martinez said.
“She clearly had time to reflect on what she was doing,” he said.
Following the killings, the judge said, Manling Williams typed up a note indicating that Neal Williams had killed the children and himself, she disposed of bloody clothing and returned home before screaming to neighbors that someone had killed her family.
While being interviewed by detectives after the discovery of the bodies, “For hours, she feigned grief, sadness and bewilderment,” Martinez said.
It was only after being confronted by investigators with a bloody cigarette box that was found in her car that Manling Williams broke down and admitted the murders, Martinez said.
“It is not for me to forgive, because the ones in the position to forgive are not with us,” Martinez told Manling Williams. “I hope your families find peace.”
After years of hearings in which the judge remained intentionally stoic, “It was rather chilling to have the judge pronounce his opinion so frankly,” Jan Williams said.
Manling Williams sentenced to death for murder of husband, sons in Rowland Heights
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Manling Tsang Williams 2021
Manling Tsang Williams is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women
Why Is Manling Tsang Williams On Death Row
Manling Tsang Williams was convicted of three murders, her husband and two children
Margaret Allen is currently on Florida death row for the murder of her housekeeper. According to court documents Margaret Allen suspected the woman of stealing from her and instead of firing the woman she proceeded to murder her after torturing the woman for hours. Margaret Allen was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death in Florida
Margaret Allen 2021 Information
ID Photo
DC Number:
699575
Name:
ALLEN, MARGARET A
Race:
BLACK
Sex:
FEMALE
Birth Date:
01/23/1966
Initial Receipt Date:
05/19/2011
Current Facility:
LOWELL ANNEX
Current Custody:
MAXIMUM
Current Release Date:
DEATH SENTENCE
Margaret Allen Other News
Housekeeper Wanda Wright died a horrible death. She was beaten, had bleach poured down her throat and her mouth duct-taped before she was strangled with a belt.
The 39-year-old Titusville woman was killed, police said Friday, because Margaret Allen, whose house she cleaned, was convinced that Wright had stolen a purse containing $2,000.
As Margaret Allen, her 18-year-old son, Quintin, and her boyfriend, James Terry Martin of Titusville, went to court Friday to face charges in the case, investigators collected evidence from Wright’s shallow grave west of Mims.
“I cannot imagine what she went through, having to ingest cleaning fluids and having a belt tied around her throat,” said Cmdr. John Lau of the Titusville Police Department. “This is just pure torture.”
According to police, Wright was cleaning the house Tuesday when Margaret Allen, who has a long criminal history, accused her of stealing the purse.
After failing to elicit a confession by beating her, Margaret Allen, 39, poured bleach and other household chemicals down Wright’s throat as Quintin Allen held her down, police spokesman Warren Van Vuren said.
After the mother and son covered Wright’s mouth with duct tape, Margaret Allen wrapped a belt around her neck and strangled her, Van Vuren said.
The two then enlisted Martin, 54, to help dispose of the heavyset woman’s body on the following night, he said.
“They hauled her out on plywood and drove on State Road 46 to the middle of the woods,” Van Vuren said. There, the three dug a shallow hole and buried her, he said.
On Thursday, Wright’s husband, Johnny Dublin, reported her missing.
But it wasn’t until later that same day when a tipster walked into the police station that investigators realized she might have been killed.
“This [investigation] all started with somebody coming in the lobby and saying, ‘I think there may have been a murder,’ ” Lau said.
The informant, whose name was withheld, learned about the crime from one of the three suspects, Van Vuren said.
After arresting Quintin Allen late Thursday on an unrelated warrant, the teen led investigators to Wright’s grave, police said. Margaret Allen and Martin were arrested a short time later.
Both mother and son were arrested on charges of first-degree murder and false imprisonment, and Martin has been charged with accessory after the fact. All three were being held late Friday at the Brevard County Jail in Sharpes.
It was not Margaret Allen’s first brush with the law. Police and court records indicate she has been arrested at least 28 times since 1988. Charges have included everything from shoplifting to aggravated battery, drug possession and child abuse.
Her son pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession, according to court files.
Dublin could not be reached for comment Friday.
Despite Margaret Allen’s extensive criminal history, relatives said they were surprised by her arrest.
“Oh, Lord, was I shocked,” said Floyd Strozier, 84, who lives three houses away from Allen, his stepgranddaughter. “All I knew was that she was fooling around with some dope and stuff.
“Margaret always treated me with respect,” he added. “That’s all I can say for her.”
Margaret Allen More News
A jury trial commenced on September 13, 2010. Johnny Dublin testified for the State. Dublin testified that on the day Wright went missing, Allen came to Dublin and Wright’s house and whispered something into Wright’s ear. In response, Wright and Allen left the house together. A little while later, Allen returned to Dublin’s house and told Dublin that Wright stole about $2000 of Allen’s money and Allen asked Dublin if she could search his house. Dublin obliged and Allen searched Dublin’s house. Dublin testified that he noticed that Allen had scratches on her when she came back to his house. Dublin asked Allen where Wright was, and Allen responded that she was still at Allen’s house. Dublin testified that the next day, Allen came back to his house and asked him where Wright was. Dublin testified that Quintin was with Allen.
Quintin Allen testified for the State. He acknowledged that he was serving a fifteen-year sentence of incarceration followed by five years’ probation for his guilty plea for second-degree murder based on his involvement in Wright’s murder. Quintin testified that he was at Allen’s house on the day of the murder when Margaret Allen noticed that her purse was missing. Allen left her house and told Quintin to stay with her children. Allen returned to her house with Wright and asked Quintin to come inside. Allen told Quintin that Wright must have stolen Allen’s purse because Wright was the only person at Allen’s house before the purse went missing. Allen and Quintin searched for the purse. Allen left the house again and told Quintin not to let Wright leave if she tried. At one point while Allen was gone, Wright tried to leave; Quintin told Wright that Allen wanted her to stay, and Wright obliged.
Upon Allen’s return, Quintin plaited Allen’s hair. Quintin testified that at one point Wright started crying and begged Allen to let her go home. Wright attempted to leave Allen’s house and Allen hit Wright on the head; Wright fell to the ground. Quintin testified that Allen had a gun and told him that if he did not help her with Wright, she would shoot him, so Quintin held Wright down on the floor. While he held Wright down, Allen found chemicals including bleach, fingernail polish remover, rubbing alcohol and hair spritz and poured them all onto Wright’s face. At one point, one of Allen’s children walked into the room in which this was taking place, and Allen told the child to rip off a piece of duct tape for Allen. Allen attempted to put the duct tape over Wright’s mouth, but because Wright’s face was wet from the chemicals that were poured on her face, the duct tape would not stick to her skin. Allen retrieved belts from her closet and beat Wright with them. Quintin then tied Wright’s feet together with one of the belts. Quintin testified that at that point Wright was not struggling. Allen then put one of the belts around Wright’s neck and pulled. At one point, Wright said, “Please, stop. Please stop. I am going to piss myself.” Wright’s body started shaking and after about three minutes, Wright did not move. Allen then told Quintin to get some sheets to tie Wright’s hands together in case Wright woke up.
Quintin left soon after the incident. Allen called Quintin throughout the night, but he did not answer her calls. The next day, Allen found Quintin at the barbershop. Quintin testified that Allen still had the gun. Quintin got into the truck that Allen was driving; James Martin was also in the truck. Allen told Quintin that Wright was dead. Allen then told Quintin that he had to help her get rid of the body.
Allen, Quintin, and Martin drove to Lowe’s to buy plywood to help move Wright’s body from inside the house into the truck. They also borrowed a dolly hand truck from a local shop to help move the body. Quintin testified that upon returning to Allen’s house, Wright’s body had been moved from where he had last seen her and had been wrapped in Allen’s carpet. They were eventually able to get Wright’s body into the truck. Then, all three took shovels from Allen’s mother’s tool shed and drove to an area off of the highway to dump Wright’s body. Quintin and Martin dug a hole while Allen stood as a lookout. They placed Wright’s body in the hole, covered the hole with debris, and took the carpet with them. They threw the carpet into a dumpster outside of a truck stop and picked up Allen’s daughter from school. Quintin went to the police and turned himself in. Quintin also took the police to the place where Wright’s body had been buried.
James Martin testified that he was sentenced to sixty months’ incarceration for his participation in hiding Wright’s body. Martin testified that on the day of the murder, he was at Allen’s house helping her repair a car. Allen asked Martin to help her search for her purse, and Martin did. He testified that he left Allen’s house around 10 p.m. to get a starter belt for the car. Martin finished repairing the car and asked Allen if she had any cocaine. She did not, so Martin left Allen’s house, found cocaine, came back to Allen’s house, and smoked it. Martin testified that when he got back from finding the cocaine, Wright was the only one at Allen’s house. Martin testified that the timing of the events of the day was unclear because he had been high. Martin testified that he slept at Allen’s house until the morning and got a ride from Allen when she took her children to school. At that point, Allen told Martin that she needed help. Allen and Martin went back to Allen’s house, and Martin saw Wright’s body. Martin testified that Allen told him, “He must have hit her too hard.” Martin testified that he noticed a bandana tied around Wright’s hands.
Allen told Martin that they had to bury Wright’s body. Allen sent Martin to Allen’s brother’s house to borrow a truck. Martin testified that the truck was never found by police. Martin testified that the entire plan, including getting the plywood at Lowe’s was Allen’s idea. Martin testified that he was the only smoker of the group, and he dumped all of the ashtrays out of the car after they buried the body. When they got back to Allen’s house, Quintin left, and Martin cleaned the nylon strap that had been used to secure the carpet around Wright’s body. Martin also washed the truck but testified that he did not know what became of the vehicle. Martin was at Allen’s house when the police came to Allen’s house with a search warrant.
On cross-examination, Martin testified that it was Quintin who first told Wright that she could not leave. Martin also testified that Quintin gave directions to bury the body. The defense elicited that Martin told Allen’s sister that Quintin “did this.” On redirect, the State elicited from Martin that he was asleep and did not see who killed Wright.
Denise Fitzgerald, a crime scene technician, testified that she exhumed Wright’s body and located a cigarette butt in the vicinity. The State and defense stipulated that the DNA found on the cigarette butt was consistent with Martin’s DNA.
Dr. Sajid Qaiser, a forensic pathologist and chief medical examiner for Brevard County, testified that while he did not perform the autopsy on Wright, he had reviewed the autopsy report. He testified that Dr. Robert Whitmore,1 the medical examiner who had performed the autopsy on Wright was no longer the chief medical examiner. Dr. Qaiser testified that a body cannot bruise once dead and that Wright had bruising in the following places: upper and lower eye lid, front and back of her ear, left torso, all over the left side, trunk, right hand, thigh, knee, left eyebrow, forehead, upper arm and shoulder area. Additionally, Wright’s chest, hands, torso, face, and lower lip had contusions. Wright’s wrist showed signs of ligation, meaning her hands were tied. Wright’s neck showed signs of ligation, meaning that she was either hung or something was tied tightly around her neck. Dr. Qaiser testified that his medical conclusion was that Wright’s death was the result of homicidal violence, and strangulation and ligature were an important cause of death. Dr. Qaiser testified that Wright was morbidly obese, with an enlarged heart, which contributed to her death. He testified that it would take from four to six minutes of strangulation to die. He could not tell whether she was rendered unconscious during the beating.
The State rested, and the defense filed a motion for judgment of acquittal asserting that the State had not proven the underlying charge of kidnapping for felony murder. The trial court denied the motion, and the defense rested without calling any witnesses. The jury found Margaret Allen guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping.
Tina Brown is currently on Florida death row for the murder of a young woman. According to court documents Tina Lasonya Brown and the victim were involved in an argument that quickly turned deadly. The victim was hit with a stun gun and a crowbar before being kidnapped and brought to a wooded area where she was then set on fire. The victim would die two weeks later in hospital. Tina Lasonya Brown would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Tina Lasonya Brown 2021 Information
ID Photo
DC Number:
155917
Name:
BROWN, TINA L
Race:
BLACK
Sex:
FEMALE
Birth Date:
07/19/1970
Initial Receipt Date:
10/03/2012
Current Facility:
LOWELL ANNEX
Current Custody:
MAXIMUM
Current Release Date:
DEATH SENTENCE
Tina Lasonya Brown Other News
A Pensacola woman on death row for the fatal assault, kidnapping and burning of her neighbor had her most recent appeal denied last week.
Tina Lasonya Brown, 48, was one of three people who in 2010 ambushed 19-year-old Audreanna Zimmerman, attacked her repeatedly with a stun gun, gagged her, stuffed her in the trunk of a car, drove her into the woods, beat her with a crowbar, doused her with gasoline, set her on fire and left her to die.
In 2017, Tina Lasonya Brown filed a motion for post-conviction relief that raised numerous arguments for vacating her conviction and sentence. Among them were claims that her attorneys were ineffective, that multiple jurors should have been dismissed from the trial because of their biases and that “new evidence” implicated one of her co-defendants was more culpable in the murder than jurors were led to believe.
In a 110-page order filed Friday, Circuit Judge Gary L. Bergosh reviewed all of Tina Lasonya Brown’s arguments and found them insufficient. In most instances, the accusations failed to provide supporting evidence or demonstrate how they had impacted the outcome of the trial.
Tina Lasonya Brown was the only one of the three co-defendants who received the death penalty in the case. Tina Lasonya Brown’s daughter Britnee Miller, who was 16 when she participated in the vicious attack, was sentenced to life in prison for her role in the murder.
Heather Lee, a friend and neighbor of Tina Lasonya Brown and Miller, was the third accomplice in the killing, and she was sentenced to 25 years in prison after making a plea agreement with the state.
Much of Tina Lasonya Brown’s appeal was dedicated to a claim that Lee had actually been the party most responsible for Zimmerman’s killing.
The appeal claimed Lee wanted revenge against Zimmerman because she had an affair with Lee’s husband. It said all the weapons used in the attack — the stun gun, crowbar and gas can — came from Lee’s house, and that Lee later admitted to associates she had been the one to set Zimmerman on fire.
Tina Lasonya Brown’s appeal said multiple witnesses could have testified to these facts, but Bergosh noted that none of that testimony would have affected the case against Brown. He said there was evidence Brown had been the one to use the stun gun against Zimmerman, to kidnap her and to beat her with the crowbar.
“The evidence is simply too strong against (Tina Lasonya Brown) that she played a substantial role in the victim’s murder,” the judge wrote. “… Regardless of whether (Brown) actually poured the gasoline and lit the victim on fire, the evidence at trial shows (Brown) was not being dominated or under extreme duress when she launched the fatal attack against the victim.”
Tina Lasonya Brown was sentenced to death because of the brutality of Zimmerman’s murder, and she is currently one of only three Florida women on death row.
Tina Brown More News
In March 2010, Tina Brown, Brown’s sixteen-year-old daughter Britnee Miller, Heather Lee, and Audreanna Zimmerman lived in neighboring trailers in an Escambia County mobile home park. The four women were initially good friends, but their relationships—particularly between Miller, Brown, and Zimmerman— were volatile and often escalated to violence. Brown had previously accused Zimmerman of slashing her tires. Zimmerman had accused Brown of shattering a window in her car, having her boyfriend arrested, and reporting to the Florida Department of Children and Families that she was providing inadequate care to her children. Lee testified that she had intervened on multiple occasions to stop physical altercations between Miller and Zimmerman. On one occasion, Miller, who had recently discovered that Zimmerman was sexually involved with her boyfriend, attempted to strike Zimmerman. Zimmerman, however, defended herself by attempting to disable Miller with a stun gun. Later that day, Lee informed Brown that Zimmerman had used a stun gun on Brown’s daughter, to which Brown responded that she was “going to get” Zimmerman. 1 Several days later, on March 24, 2010, Brown invited Zimmerman to her home under the guise of rekindling their friendship. Before Zimmerman arrived, Brown, Miller, Lee, and Miller’s thirteen-year-old friend, were inside the trailer. Brown and Lee were in the kitchen, where Lee instructed Brown on the proper use of a stun gun. Miller then pulled her friend aside and told her, “we’re fixing to kill Audreanna [Zimmerman].” Shortly after 9 p.m., Zimmerman entered the trailer. 1. Lee’s testimony regarding Brown’s state of mind following the altercation was corroborated during trial by Corey Doyle, an inmate housed with Brown at the Escambia County jail. Doyle testified that Brown told her when she heard Zimmerman had used a stun gun on Miller, Brown informed Miller, “don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” -2- Brown waited several minutes and then used the stun gun on Zimmerman multiple times. When Zimmerman lost muscular control and fell to the floor, Brown continued to use the stun gun on Zimmerman, who was screaming and crying for help. Eventually, Brown pulled Zimmerman across the trailer into the bathroom. Zimmerman continued to scream and cry for help, so Miller struck Zimmerman in the face and Lee stuffed a sock into Zimmerman’s mouth. Zimmerman was then forcibly escorted outside and forced into the trunk of Brown’s vehicle.2 Brown, Miller, and Lee then entered the vehicle and drove away. The women drove to a clearing in the woods about a mile and a half from the trailer park. Brown exited the car and pulled Zimmerman out of the trunk. Zimmerman attempted to flee, but stumbled in the darkness and was caught by Brown and Miller. The two women wrestled Zimmerman to the ground and simultaneously attacked her. Brown used the stun gun again on Zimmerman as Miller beat her with a crowbar. Brown and Miller then switched weapons and continued to torture and beat Zimmerman. Miller eventually dropped the stun gun and repeatedly punched Zimmerman. Brown returned to the car, retrieved a can of gasoline from the trunk, and walked back toward the beaten and prone, but still 2. During trial, Lee disputed this summation of what occurred in the trailer after Brown began to attack Zimmerman. The veracity of Lee’s testimony concerning her involvement in this crime, however, was significantly challenged during trial, particularly because Lee, who claimed that she was a victim and was not involved in Zimmerman’s murder, pled guilty to second-degree murder based on her involvement in Zimmerman’s death. -3- conscious, Zimmerman. Brown poured gasoline on Zimmerman, retrieved a lighter from her pocket, set Zimmerman on fire, and stood nearby to watch the screaming Zimmerman burn. Lee testified that she was standing beside Miller, who exuberantly jumped up and down and screamed, “Burn, bitch! Burn!” After a few minutes, the three women returned to the car and drove away. During the ride home, Miller said, “Mom, you’ve got to turn around. I left my shoes and the taser.” Brown, however, refused to return to the location of the event. Shortly thereafter, Terrance Hendrick was outside his home which was located approximately one third of a mile away from the location of the attack. Hendrick heard a faint female voice asking for help, but he could not see anyone in the darkness. Eventually, Hendrick saw Zimmerman walking slowly toward his house. When Zimmerman reached Hendrick’s house, she asked for assistance and sat on the front steps. As he waited on the porch with Zimmerman, Hendrick noticed that she had suffered a significant head injury, did not appear to be wearing clothes, and had a strong odor of gasoline. He testified that her skin was black and he could not identify her race. At 9:24 p.m., an emergency medical technician (EMT) arrived at the scene. When the EMT approached Zimmerman, he observed her sitting on the porch, rocking back and forth with her arms straight out. Due to the extensive nature of Zimmerman’s burns, the EMT testified that he could not initially identify whether -4- she was wearing clothing. The EMT noticed that Zimmerman’s skin was falling off her body, and he believed that over ninety percent of her body was burned. She had severe head trauma, and her jaw was either broken or severely dislocated. The EMT explained that the extent and severity of the burns prevented him from providing Zimmerman medical assistance. He testified that while he generally placed sterile gauze and oxygen on burns, he did not have enough gauze to cover her entire body. He attempted to stabilize her neck, but her skin was charred to such an extent that he could not touch Zimmerman without her skin rubbing off onto his gloves. Despite her injuries, Zimmerman was conscious and alert. She identified Brown and Lee as her attackers and told the EMT that she was “drug out of the house, tased, beaten in the head with a crowbar, and then set on fire.” She also provided her address as well as the addresses of her attackers, and asked the EMT to protect her children. The ambulance arrived within a few minutes and transported Zimmerman to the hospital. Inside the ambulance, Zimmerman repeatedly asked if she was going to recover. She told the paramedic that Brown, Miller, and Lee poured gasoline on her and set her on fire. She also stated that she “thought they had made up.” Zimmerman was stabilized at a local hospital and then transferred to the Burn Center at the University of South Alabama Hospital in Mobile, Alabama, where she died sixteen days later. -5- When Brown, Miller, and Lee returned to Brown’s trailer, Brown and Miller removed their bloodstained clothing and placed it in a garbage bag. Lee removed her shoes, which were also stained with blood, and placed them in the bag. Miller informed her friend, who had remained at the trailer during the attack, that she had injured her hand striking Zimmerman, and that the three women had set Zimmerman on fire. Miller and her friend then used Brown’s car to drive to the hospital to get medical care for Miller. Before returning from the hospital early the next morning, Miller discarded the bag of bloodstained clothing in a dumpster and attempted to remove the bloodstains from the inside of Brown’s car. With the information provided by Zimmerman, law enforcement officers apprehended Brown and Lee shortly after the attack and Miller was arrested after she returned from the hospital the next day. The three women were, however, released while Zimmerman was in the hospital. During that time, Brown informed her friend Pamela Valley that she, Miller, and Lee had beaten Zimmerman, forced her into a car, driven her to an open field and “lit her on fire and didn’t look back.” A few days later, Brown informed Valley that Zimmerman was still alive and requested Valley to finish her off. Valley declined and later reported the conversation to law enforcement. Brown, Miller, and Lee were re-arrested on April 9, 2010, the date of Zimmerman’s death. -6- At the scene of the burning, law enforcement officers discovered several pieces of evidence including a pair of white shoes; a stun gun with blood on the handle; paper stained with blood; an orange, gold, and black hairweave 3; a crowbar; and a pool of blood. Additional blood was discovered on the passenger seat headrest in Brown’s vehicle. During trial, a DNA expert testified that the blood on the headrest matched the known DNA profile of Zimmerman. Another DNA expert testified that the blood on the stun gun matched the known DNA profile of Brown. Finally, the medical examiner testified that the cause of Zimmerman’s death was multiple thermal injuries, and the manner of death was homicide. On June 21, 2012, a jury convicted Brown of the first-degree murder of Audreanna Zimmerman. During the penalty phase, the defense presented the testimony of several family members, including Brown’s two sons, her brother, her aunt, and two of her uncles. The defense also presented the testimony of Dr. Elaine Bailey, a psychologist, and introduced several family photos. The State presented one witness, Dr. John Bingham, a licensed mental health counselor, and also entered a photograph of Zimmerman into evidence.
Tiffany Cole is currently on Florida death row for the murders of her elderly neighbors. According to court documents Tiffany Cole , Alan Wade and her then boyfriend Michael Jackson planned to kidnap and rob the elderly couple before murdering them. The group predug a grave in Georgia two days before the double murder took place.
Tiffany Cole 2022 Information
ID Photo
DC Number:
J35212
Name:
COLE, TIFFANY
Race:
WHITE
Sex:
FEMALE
Birth Date:
12/03/1981
Initial Receipt Date:
03/07/2008
Current Facility:
LOWELL ANNEX
Current Custody:
MAXIMUM
Current Release Date:
PENDING
Tiffany Cole Other News
The Florida Supreme Court is ordering new sentencing hearings for four inmates currently on the state’s Death Row, including one of three women residing there.
The high court on Thursday threw out the sentences because a jury did not unanimously recommend the death penalty in the cases. The Court ruled last year that death sentences have to be unanimous, and anyone sentenced after a 2002 ruling could be eligible for a new sentence.
Among those getting a new hearing is Tiffany Cole. She was convicted for her role in the 2005 murders of a Jacksonville couple that was buried alive.
The court also ordered a new sentencing hearing for Michael Bargo, who was convicted for taking part in 2011 the murder and torture of a Marion County teenager.
Tiffany Cole More News
In 2007, “Cole was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and two counts of robbery for the 2005 murders of James and Carol Sumner.” Cole v. State, 36 So. 3d 597, 599 (Fla. 2010). On appeal, this Court set out the facts of the crimes:
The evidence presented at trial established that on the night of July 8, 2005, Cole and codefendants Michael James Jackson, Bruce Kent Nixon, Jr., and Alan Lyndell Wade robbed, kidnapped, and murdered the victims. At trial, the evidence primarily consisted of codefendant Nixon’s testimony, Cole’s taped interview with Homicide Detective David Meacham of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO), and Cole’s in-court testimony.
Cole was the only codefendant who knew the victims. The victims were friends with and previous neighbors of Cole’s father before the victims moved from the Charleston, South Carolina, area to Jacksonville, Florida. The victims also had recently sold Cole a vehicle and informed her that she was welcome at their home if she was ever in Jacksonville. The plan to rob and murder the victims evolved from knowledge that Cole already had about the victims and that she obtained from the victims in the weeks prior to the crimes.
Cole and Jackson met and became involved in a personal relationship two months before the crimes. During that two-month period, Cole and Jackson often traveled together. In June 2005, Cole and Jackson went to Jacksonville, Florida, to visit Jackson’s friend Wade. During this visit, Cole contacted the victims, and Cole and Jackson stayed one night at the victims’ home. During the visit, Mrs. Sumner informed Cole that she and Mr. Sumner had recently sold their home near Charleston, South Carolina, and had profited $99,000. Following the initial trip to Jacksonville and additional trips between Charleston and Jacksonville, Cole, Jackson, Wade, and Wade’s friend Nixon developed a plan to rob the victims. At the time of the crimes, Cole and Jackson were twenty-three years old and Wade and Nixon were eighteen years old. The victims were in their early sixties but were both in poor health and especially frail.
In preparation for the robbery, Nixon stole four shovels to dig a hole. From a rental agency in South Carolina, Cole had previously rented a Mazda RX–8, which she used to transport the group. Two days before the murders, Cole, Jackson, and Wade picked Nixon up in the Mazda. The group drove around until they selected a remote location—in Georgia, just across the Florida state line—to dig a large hole. While Cole held a flashlight, Jackson, Wade, and Nixon dug the hole, which was approximately four feet deep and six feet square. The group left the shovels at the hole when they completed the excavation. Nixon testified that in the two days after digging the hole, the foursome drove around discussing “what [they] were going to do” and “how [they] were going to do it.” He stated that the foursome planned the robbery together and that Cole was the one who knew the victims and who “set everything up.” The group initially did not know whether they would enter the Sumners’ home while the victims were home and kidnap the victims or wait until the victims were away from their home. Nixon testified that Cole knew when the victims would be away from their home for a doctor’s appointment. The foursome ultimately decided that they would kill the victims. Nixon testified that Jackson informed the others that he would kill the victims at the grave site by injecting them with a lethal dose of medication.
On the night of the crimes, July 8, 2005, Cole and her codefendants purchased duct tape and plastic wrap. Cole wrote a personal check for these items. Later that night, Cole drove the foursome to the victims’ home. Initially, Cole and Jackson remained outside in the rented Mazda. Wade and Nixon knocked on the door, and when Mrs. Sumner responded, Wade asked to use her telephone. After Mrs. Sumner allowed Wade and Nixon into her home, Wade ripped the telephone cord from the wall. Nixon held the victims at gunpoint with a toy gun, took the victims to a bedroom, and bound them with duct tape. After Wade and Nixon contacted Jackson through Nextel two-way radio phones—which the group used to communicate throughout the course of the crimes—Jackson entered the victims’ home. Jackson and Wade then searched the victims’ home for bank account records. Cole drove down the street and waited in the Mazda. Eventually, the victims were taken to their garage and forced into the trunk of their Lincoln Town Car. Cole drove back to the victims’ home in the Mazda after Jackson called her. Jackson placed a trash bag containing some of the victims’ belongings in the Mazda’s trunk and got into the Mazda. Wade and Nixon then drove the victims’ Lincoln to a gas station to refuel it, and Cole and Jackson followed in the Mazda.
The foursome, with the victims in the Lincoln’s trunk, then drove to the remote Georgia location where they had previously dug the large hole. Upon arrival, Cole remained with the Mazda at the edge of the road, while her codefendants drove the Lincoln into the woods to the hole. At some point, Nixon joined Cole at the road. The evidence shows that only Jackson and Wade were present at the hole when the victims were put into the hole and buried alive. When Jackson returned from the woods to the Mazda, Jackson had the personal identification number (PIN) for the victims’ automated teller machine (ATM) card. The foursome drove both cars from the grave site to Sanderson, Florida, where they wiped down the Lincoln and abandoned it. The foursome then left in the Mazda, with Cole driving.
The group next stopped at an ATM in Jacksonville, from which Jackson withdrew money from the victims’ bank account. The group then retired to a motel. Later that night, after purchasing Clorox and gloves, Cole and Wade returned to the victims’ home. The evidence shows that at that time Cole and Wade took the victims’ computer from the home. Subsequently, Cole pawned Mrs. Sumner’s rings and the victims’ computer.
On July 10, 2005, Rhonda Alford, Mrs. Sumner’s daughter, reported to the JSO that she had been unable to contact the victims for several days. That same day, Officer Vindell Williams of JSO spotted a Lincoln Town Car in Sanderson that was later determined to be the victims’ Lincoln. On July 12, 2005, Homicide Detective David Meacham of the JSO responded to the victims’ home to investigate. In their home, he saw a bank statement that showed a large sum of money in the victims’ bank account. After contacting the bank, he learned that during the past few days there had been an unusually large amount of ATM withdrawals—totaling several thousand dollars—from the victims’ account.
Later on July 12, Detective Meacham learned that someone claiming to be Mr. Sumner had contacted the JSO. Detective Meacham returned the call. The person claiming to be Mr. Sumner was later identified as codefendant Jackson. As Mr. Sumner, Jackson asked Detective Meacham to assist him in accessing his bank account; by that time Jackson was apparently having trouble accessing the account. As Mr. Sumner, Jackson explained that he and Mrs. Sumner had left town quickly to attend Mrs. Sumner’s sister’s funeral in Delaware. When Detective Meacham asked to speak to Mrs. Sumner, Cole posed as Mrs. Sumner and pretended to be tired and ailing. Detective Meacham contacted the bank and requested that it continue to allow access to the victims’ account so that Detective Meacham could continue his investigation.
Since Detective Meacham suspected that he was not actually speaking to the Sumners, he contacted United States Marshal David Alred to assist in tracking the cellular telephone number used by the callers. The cell phone was registered to Jackson and had been used near the victims’ home around the time of the victims’ abduction. The cell phone records also showed calls to a South Carolina rental car company. Detective Meacham contacted the company, which indicated that it had rented a silver Mazda RX–8 to Cole and that the car was overdue. Using the rental car global positioning system, law enforcement officers determined that the Mazda had been within blocks of the victims’ home on the night of the murders.
As Detective Meacham continued to investigate the victims’ disappearance, Jackson continued to withdraw money from the victims’ bank account. Jackson made multiple ATM withdrawals from the victims’ bank account between the early hours of July 9 and the night of July 13, 2005. Photo surveillance captured Jackson making several of these withdrawals. Cole drove Jackson to the ATM machines in the rented Mazda; the Mazda could be seen in some of the surveillance photographs.
Detective James Rowan of the North Charleston Police Department testified that he found the rented Mazda in the parking lot of an abandoned office building near the rental company. Detective Rowan went to Cole’s residence near Charleston, South Carolina, and David Duncan, Cole’s brother, led Detective Rowan and other officers to the nearby Best Western Hotel where Cole, Jackson, and Wade were staying. Two rooms were rented to Cole. At the motel, officers found and arrested Cole, Jackson, and Wade. The police obtained a search warrant for the motel rooms. In the motel room where Cole and Jackson were staying, police found the victims’ South Carolina driver licenses, credit cards, checkbook, mail, and papers indicating the victims’ America Online account and passwords, social security numbers, and birthdates. In the same room, police found what appeared to be a new laptop computer and bags of new merchandise. Additionally, officers found photographs showing Cole, Jackson, Wade, and another female, who was uninvolved in the crimes, “partying” in Myrtle Beach before the crimes. The victims’ ATM card was found in Jackson’s back pocket. In the motel room where Wade was staying, police found a key ring that belonged to the victims. The victims’ coin collection was found in the trunk of Cole’s car.
Detective Meacham testified that he drove to Charleston immediately after learning that Cole, Jackson, and Wade were apprehended. A recording of Detective Meacham’s July 14, 2005, interview of Cole was played for the jury. In it, Cole admitted that before the crimes she had gone to Myrtle Beach with Jackson, Wade, and another female uninvolved in the crimes. Cole stated that the group stayed in a hotel room, “[s]pending money up there, partying up there.” She stated also that on the return trip from Myrtle Beach, the group stopped at a flea market, where Wade and Jackson purchased pocketknives and BB guns that appeared to be real firearms. Cole admitted that she knew that Jackson, Wade, and Nixon were going to the victims’ home to steal things such as credit cards. Cole also admitted that she spent the victims’ money after the murders and impersonated Mrs. Sumner during the telephone call with Detective Meacham.
Codefendant Nixon was also arrested. Nixon revealed to law enforcement officers the location where the victims were buried, and on July 16, 2005, the victims’ bodies were discovered. Nixon testified that he understood that because of his guilty plea that he could receive a sentence between fifty-two years and life imprisonment without parole. Nixon understood that he would not be sentenced until after testifying against Wade. (Nixon had previously testified against Jackson.)
Dr. Anthony J. Clark, Medical Examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, performed autopsies on the bodies and testified that both of the victims died as a result of mechanical obstruction of the airways by dirt. Essentially, the victims were buried alive and asphyxiated from the dirt particles smothering their airway passages.
The only white woman on Florida’s Death Row will ask the Florida Supreme Court to throw out her conviction and death sentence this week for robbing, kidnapping and burying a disabled Jacksonville couple alive.
Lawyers for Tiffany Cole, 33, will argue the attorneys who represented her during her criminal trial in Jacksonville were ineffective. Cole was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, armed robbery and kidnapping. A jury recommended death by a 9-3 vote and Circuit Judge Michael Weatherby concurred.
Tiffany Cole was one of four people who kidnapped Carol and Reggie Sumner, both 61, from their St. Nicholas home in 2005 and drove them to Charlton County, Ga., where they were buried alive.
Michael James Jackson, 27, the mastermind of the murder plot, and Cole’s boyfriend, Alan Lyndell Wade, 27, are also on Death Row. A fourth participant, 27-year-old Bruce Nixon, testified against the others and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for second-degree murder
They were arrested in Charleston, S.C., a week after the Sumners disappeared. Police found Jackson with the couple’s ATM cards and personal information.
In court filings attorney Wayne Henderson, who’s representing Cole on appeal, argues that defense lawyers Quentin Till and Greg Messore did a poor job during both the criminal trial and the sentencing phase of Cole’s case. Oral arguments in Cole’s appeal will occur Thursday.
Henderson argued that Till, the lead lawyer, expected to reach a plea deal for Cole and was unprepared for trial when Cole rejected the state’s offer.
Tiffany Cole didn’t believe she was guilty of first-degree murder because she didn’t personally kill the Sumners, saying that she did not “bury the bodies and therefore was not guilty.” But under Florida law someone who participates in a crime can be found equally culpable for a murder even if they didn’t pull the trigger or directly cause the death.
Henderson also argues that Messore, who handled the penalty phase, was unprepared because he didn’t join the case until a month before Cole’s trial began and was only properly certified to be a lawyer in death-penalty cases days before Cole’s trial began.
“Cole’s appointed trial counsel was ineffective in both the guilt and penalty phases for failing to adequately investigate her background and psychological deficiency in order to show that she was under extreme duress and effectively under the control of her co-defendants during the time of the offense,” Henderson said. “Had trial counsel sufficiently investigated Cole’s psychological makeup and history, they would have discovered that Cole does not interact well with men and is generally fearful, intimidated and willing to please.”
Till and Messore never investigated Cole’s mental-health or dysfunctional family history and substance-abuse problems. During the penalty phase, the jury heard nothing about Cole’s low intelligence level and mental health.
Tiffany Cole was an abused child who started running away at 12. She left home as a teenager and turned to drugs and prostitution, Henderson said.
Cole’s lawyers also didn’t object to evidence that had been seized in the case or make a motion to suppress statements Cole made after she was arrested. Till has acknowledged that he made a tactical decision to use Cole’s statements because he believed they supported their contention that she was a minor participant in the crime and a good person who got caught up with bad men.
But a large amount of the information introduced at trial, including that the Sumners’ strongbox was found in Cole’s car, hurt Cole and letting it in had no strategic benefit, Henderson said.
But prosecutors respond by saying that Till and Messore put on a solid defense.
Assistant Deputy Attorney General Carolyn Snurkowski, in filings to the Supreme Court, argues that Till did look into Cole’s mental health but decided the best defense would be to portray Cole as a non-violent good person who exhibited aberrant behavior after getting involved with Jackson.
Till believed that bringing out the bad parts of Cole’s life would not help her with the jury and preferred they not know that she’d been a prostitute and dealt drugs, Snurkowski said.
During a hearing to throw out the conviction, Till also testified that the strategy in the guilt phase was to show that Cole’s participation was marginal, she was not involved in the killings and didn’t know that the Sumners were going to be killed.
Till also said during that hearing that Cole had admitted to him that she had a bigger role in the kidnapping and murder than she’d previously said, Snurkowski said.
Till and Messore could not be reached for comment.
The Florida Supreme Court previously affirmed Cole’s death sentence in 2010. It did disagree with Weatherby’s finding that Cole’s behavior in the killing was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel because Cole didn’t bury them alive herself, but the court found that error didn’t justify setting aside the conviction or death sentence.
This second appeal occurred after Henderson moved to throw out the original conviction, and Weatherby denied the motion.
Tiffany Cole was the only one of the four who knew the Sumners. At one point the couple were friends and neighbors with Cole’s father in South Carolina, and they had sold a car to Cole and told her she was welcome at their house if she was ever in Jacksonville.
The plan to rob and murder the Sumners evolved from knowledge Cole had about the couple.
There are 394 people on Death Row and five of them are women. Two women are black and the other two are Hispanic.
It is unclear how long it will take the Supreme Court to rule on Cole’s appeal. But death-penalty appeals usually take months to decide after oral arguments occur.
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