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High court upholds 2 death sentencesBILL KACZORAssociated PressTALLAHASSEE* — The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence of a Mariel boatlift refugee despite his complaints that his trial lawyer failed to go to Cuba to look for evidence.Omar Blanco, 36, had been convicted of shooting to death John Ryan on Jan, 14, 1982 after breaking into the Broward County man’s home.The justices also upheld the death sentence of a second Broward County murderer, James Franklin Rose, 41. Rose on Oct. 22, 1976 abducted his girlfriend’s 8-year-old daughter from a Fort Lauderdale bowling alley and then beat herdeath.In a third murder case, the justices upheld the conviction of Billy Ray Nibert, 34, for the stabbing death of a Hillsborough County man, but vacated his death sentence and sent the case back to the trial judge for resentencing.In Blanco s case, then-Gov. Bob Graham signed a death warrant last year and his execution in Florida’s electric chair was set for Feb, 3,1986. But the Supreme Court granted a stay to hear a postconviction appeal.The justices in their 7-0 opiniondenied that appeal and lifted the stay, clearing the way for another death warrant to be signed.Larry Spalding, Florida's death-appeals representative, had gone to Cuba and found friends and relatives who gave him written testimonials that Blanco came from a good family, had a good character, was nonviolent and suffered from fits of mental derangement when he was a child.Spalding argued that Blancos trial defense was ineffective because his lawyer at that time failed to obtain the information Spalding found, which could have been cited as factors to mitigate against the death sentence.But the justices rejected that argument, pointing out Blanco never made his trial lawyer aware of such potential character witnesses or urged him to seek mitigating evidence in Cuba.They also said such a trip would have turned up adverse evidence that Blanco had been a Cuban soldier but was forced to cut sugar cane in lieu of military service because of disciplinary problems and then was imprisoned for the non-political criminal offenses of theft and black marketing.rCOURT RECORDS“Such evidence would ha\e been directly contrary to trial counsel’s adopted trial strategy of deemphasizing or avoiding the Mariel background,” wrote Justice Leander Shaw.The high court also rejected arguments that bootlift refugees cannot get a fair trial in the United States because of “Mariel prejudice,” that Blanco was incompetent to stand trial in part because of culture shock and that he should be sent back to Cuba rather thanexecuted.“We reject the bald assertion that Mariel refugees cannot receive a fair trial in the United States or South Florida,” Shaw wrote, citing safeguards taken to assure an impartial jury is selected.Two Cuban-born professors had testified at an appeal hearing the public had a false view that most boatlift refugees were criminal prisoners in Cuba, one saying he didn't believe Mariel refugees could get a fair trial in South Florida and the other saying a fairtrial anywhere in the United States %/was impossible.Shaw wrote that a so-called treaty for the return of Mariel refugees declared inelighe to enter the United States was actually a press communique from the State Department and cannot be used to override a criminal sentence.The high court previously had upheld Rose's conviction for the murder of Lisa Berry, but ordered a new sentencing hearing. He was again sentenced to death, but this time the high court upheld the sentence in a 5-1 opinion.Justice Rosemary Barkett dissented, saying she would haveordered a factual hearing by the trial court on an allegation that an off-the-record conversation between the trial judge and the jury violated the defendant’s rights.In the Hillsborough case, Nibert had been convicted of murdering Eugene Snavely, 57, in the victim's home, stabbing him 17 times.The high court was unanimous in upholding Nibert’s murder conviction, but split 5-1 in ordering a resentencing. Retired Justice James Adkins wrote that he would have upheld the death sentence.The majority ruled Circuit Judge Harry Lee Coe erred in finding the crime was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner. That ruling left only one aggravating circumstance, that the murder was particularly heinous, atrocious and cruel. The justices sent the case back to Coe to determine whether it would be sufficient by itself to justify death.
Newspaper Details
Panama News Herald
Panama City, Florida, US
Fri, May 08, 1987
Page 12
Full Page
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USA 02 Jan 2021
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