Saying the case seemed to be treated “as if it was a simple grand-theft auto,” attorneys for Death Row inmate Curtis Windom argued Monday that he should not be executed Aug. 28 because of incompetent legal representation during his 1992 trial for murdering three people in Orange County.
The attorneys filed a 67-page brief at the Florida Supreme Court that said Windom’s convictions and death sentence should be overturned because a lawyer during the trial was not qualified to represent defendants in death-penalty cases.
“The trial record indicates counsel was out of his league,” the brief said. “He did not have the slightest notion how to handle complicated mental health investigation and presentation at either the trial or the penalty phase stages of a capital trial. Today standards have evolved and the rules in place now would have prevented this injustice.”
The attorneys appealed Friday to the Supreme Court after Orange County Circuit Judge Michael Kraynick refused to halt the scheduled execution. Windom, now 59, was convicted of killing Johnnie Lee, Valerie Davis and Mary Lubin on Feb. 7, 1992.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on July 29 signed a death warrant for Windom, who could become the 11th Florida inmate put to death by lethal injection this year. The state is scheduled to execute Kayle Bates on Aug. 19 for the 1982 murder of a woman in Bay County. Bates’ attorneys also have appealed to the Supreme Court.
The brief filed Monday said the state did not have standards for death-penalty attorneys in 1992. It said the Supreme Court adopted such standards in 1999 and that the standards have evolved over the years.
It said Windom’s lead lawyer during the 1992 trial would not have met the standards. The brief said “evolving standards of decency” should lead to overturning the convictions and death sentence.
“Mr. Windom has sought justice time and time again to redress the injustice of being represented by incompetent counsel,” the brief said.
“The concept of ‘evolving standards of decency’ was first applied to the (U.S. Constitution’s) Eighth Amendment and what should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. However, the concept of decency in a civilized society should not be limited to punishment, but must apply to all constitutional principles, most especially, the fundamental right to counsel. It is about time, literally the eleventh hour, to acknowledge that Mr. Windom never received the right to competent counsel as we recognize that right today.”
But in refusing to halt the execution last week, Kraynick rejected such arguments, which involve the Constitution’s 6th Amendment right to legal counsel.
“Defendant fails to establish that there is an established fundamental right,” the circuit judge wrote.
“He argues that the ‘evolving standards of decency’ test should be extended to the Sixth Amendment; however, as he admits … no court has extended the application beyond the Eighth Amendment. Instead of arguing that there is now a fundamental constitutional right that had not been previously established, he is asking the court to create a fundamental right.”
Information posted on the Supreme Court website when DeSantis signed the death warrant included a document from Attorney General James Uthmeier that outlined details of the murders.
The document said Windom claimed that Lee owed him $2,000. After finding out that Lee had won $114 at a greyhound track, Windom bought a .38-caliber revolver and ammunition.
“Minutes later, Windom drove his car next to where Lee was standing and shot Lee twice in the back,” the document said. “He then got out of the car and shot Lee two more times at close range as Lee lay on the ground.”
It said Windom then ran toward the apartment of Davis, who the document described as his “on-again-off-again girlfriend,” and fatally shot her. Lubin, who was Davis’ mother, left work and drove down a street after finding out her daughter had been shot.
“When she stopped at a stop sign, Windom approached her car, said something to her, and then shot her twice, killing her,” the Uthmeier document said. Another man, Kenneth Williams, was wounded in the shooting spree but survived.
