Wright v. Sec'y, Dep't of Corr.

TAVARES J. WRIGHT, Petitioner, v. SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Respondent.

Case. No: 8:17-cv-974-T-02TGW

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TAMPA DIVISION

August 19, 2020

ORDER DENYING AMENDED PETITION

Tavares Wright received two death sentences for two murders during a crime spree in Polk County in 2000. He files this petition for relief from those sentences under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The Court has before it Wright's amended petition and memorandum in support, Docs. 36, 37, and 38, the State's response, Doc. 42, and Wright's reply, Doc. 46. With the benefit of full briefing on both sides, the Court finds that a hearing is unnecessary and denies the amended petition.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The underlying events took place over a period of several days. The Florida Supreme Court¹ provided the factual details accurately here based upon the undersigned's reading of the trial transcript:

With the aid of codefendant Samuel Pitts, Wright carjacked, kidnapped, robbed, and murdered David Green and James Felker while engaged in a three-day crime spree that spanned several areas in Central Florida.² During the crime spree, Wright was connected multiple times to a stolen pistol that matched the caliber of casings discovered at the scene of the murders. The trial court allowed the State to present evidence of these collateral acts to demonstrate the context in which the murders occurred and to explain Wright's possession of the murder weapon.

² Wright and Pitts were tried separately for the murders. Pitts was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and other offenses related to this incident. He received sentences of life imprisonment for the murders.

The spree began when Wright stole a pistol and a shotgun from the Shank family's residence in Lakeland on Thursday, April 20, 2000. On the Friday morning following the burglary, Wright used the pistol to commit a drive-by shooting in a neighborhood near the Shank residence.³ That evening, Wright and Samuel Pitts abducted Green and Felker in Lakeland, drove Green's vehicle approximately fifteen miles to Polk City, and murdered the victims in a remote orange grove. Wright shot one victim with a shotgun, which was never recovered, and the other victim with a pistol that used the same caliber bullets as the gun stolen from the Shank residence. Wright then abandoned the victim's vehicle in a different orange grove in Auburndale. In nearby Winter Haven, Wright used the Shank pistol in a carjacking that occurred during the morning hours on Saturday, April 21, 2000. That afternoon, law enforcement responded to a Lakeland apartmentcomplex based on reports of a man matching Wright's description brandishing a firearm.

³ For the drive-by shooting, Wright was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of attempted felony murder.

When an officer approached, Wright fled, but he was eventually arrested in the neighboring mobile home park. Ammunition matching the characteristics of the ammunition stolen from the Shank residence was found in his pocket. The stolen pistol was also recovered near the location where Wright was arrested. Almost a week later, the bodies of the victims were discovered. Thus, the following facts are presented in chronological order to demonstrate the geographical nexus of the offenses and to provide a complete picture of the interwoven events surrounding the double murders.

The Crime Spree

The Shank Burglary: Thursday, April 20, 2000

On Thursday, April 20, 2000, Wright unlawfully entered a Lakeland home with two accomplices. Wright testified that they separated to search the house for items to steal. In one bedroom, Wright found and handled a plastic bank filled with money. One of his accomplices discovered a 12-gauge, bolt-action Mossberg shotgun and a loaded Bryco Arms .380 semi-automatic pistol with a nine-round clip in another bedroom.⁴ The accomplice also found four shells for the shotgun in a dresser drawer. In exchange for marijuana, Wright obtained possession of the pistol from the accomplice.

⁴ The stolen shotgun was never recovered. References to the firearm stolen from the Shank residence relate to the automatic pistol.

When Mark Shank returned home after work to discover his firearms missing, he notified the Polk County Sheriff's Office of the burglary. The Sheriff's Office lifted latent prints from the house, including several from the plastic bank. An identification technician with the Sheriff's Office matched the latent palm print lifted from the plastic bank to Wright's palm print, confirming that Wright was inside thehouse where the Shank firearms were stolen. The following day, Wright used the stolen pistol during a drive-by shooting in a nearby Lakeland neighborhood.

The Longfellow Boulevard Drive-By Shooting: Friday, April 21, 2000

At approximately 9 a.m. on Friday, April 21, 2000, Carlos Coney and Bennie Joiner observed a black Toyota Corolla approaching slowly on Longfellow Boulevard as they were standing outside a nearby house. Wright and Coney had been embroiled in a continuing dispute since their high school days. Joiner made eye contact with Wright, who was sitting on the passenger side. The car made a U-turn and slowly approached the house again. Wright leaned out the passenger side window and fired multiple shots. One bullet struck Coney in his right leg. Coney's neighbor carried the wounded man to a car and drove Coney and Joiner to a Lakeland hospital where a .380 caliber projectile was removed from Coney's leg.

While Coney was being treated at the hospital, crime-scene technicians collected cartridge casings and projectiles from the Longfellow Boulevard scene. Two projectiles had entered the house and lodged in the living room wall and table. One spent .25 caliber casing and three spent Winchester .380 caliber casings were recovered from the driveway and the street. The projectile recovered from Coney's leg and the one removed from the living room table were fired from the .380 pistol stolen from the Shank residence.⁵ The recovered casings definitely had been loaded in the stolen pistol, but the firearms analyst could not state with precision that they had been fired from the pistol because the casings lacked the necessary identifying characteristics.

⁵ However, a .380 handgun could not have fired the .25 caliber bullet. No explanation for the different shell casing was presented at trial, though it was implied by the defense that an exchange of gunfire occurred between Wright and the victims. Coney and Joiner denied having a firearm at the Longfellow Boulevard residence.

Approximately one hour after the drive-by shooting, Wright unexpectedly visited James Hogan at a house in Lake Alfred, Florida.

Lake Alfred is approximately fourteen miles away from the Longfellow Boulevard location. Wright testified that he and an accomplice from the Shank burglary and Samuel Pitts traveled to see Hogan because the accomplice wanted to sell the stolen shotgun. When they arrived, the accomplice attempted to show Hogan the shotgun, but Hogan was not interested. At that point, Wright pulled a small pistol from under the floor mat in the front seat of the vehicle. This placed Wright in possession of the possible murder weapon on the day of the murders.

The Double Murders in the Orange Grove: Friday, April 21, 2000

The trio remained with Hogan for approximately twenty minutes and then left together to return to the Providence Reserve Apartments on the north side of Lakeland. Wright and Samuel Pitts lived at that apartment complex with Pitts' family and girlfriend, Latasha Jackson. To support his theory of defense that he did not possess the pistol during the time the murders likely occurred, Wright testified that following the drive-by shooting, he informed Samuel Pitts of the details of the shooting. Wright explained that he had an obligation to disclose his actions to Pitts, who was the leader of a gang of which Wright was a member. According to Wright, the drive-by shooting upset Pitts, and Pitts demanded that Wright surrender the pistol. Wright asserted that he complied with Pitts' demand.

According to Wright's testimony, around twilight that Friday evening, a customer messaged Wright to inquire about procuring marijuana. Wright agreed to meet the customer at a supermarket parking lot and started walking toward the store. Shortly after 7:15 that evening, a female friend saw Wright walking down the street and offered him a ride, which Wright accepted. Then, without provocation, Wright said, "I ain't even going to lie, I did shoot the boy in the leg yesterday," more likely than not referring to the Longfellow Boulevard drive-by shooting. When they arrived at the store, Wright exited the vehicle in the supermarket parking lot without further elaboration of the statement.

Some time that night, James Felker and his cousin, David Green, were abducted from that parking lot and murdered. The cousins left Felker'shouse at approximately 8 p.m. in Green's white Chrysler Cirrus for a night of bowling. Both men were carrying at least $100 at that time.

Several witnesses testified that Wright had willingly described the details of the abduction. Wright had informed the witnesses that he approached Felker and Green in the supermarket parking lot and requested a cigarette. When they refused, Wright pulled out a pistol and forced his way into the backseat of Green's vehicle. Wright then ordered Green to drive to the Providence Reserve Apartments, where Pitts entered the vehicle.

As this group left the apartments between 10 and 10:45 p.m., Wright ran a stop sign in the victim's car. A detective observed the traffic infraction and conducted a tag check as he followed the vehicle. The tag check reported that the license plate was registered to an unassigned Virginia plate for a blue, 1988, two-door Mercury, which did not match the vehicle to which it was attached.

After receiving this report, the detective activated his emergency lights and

...