House Bill hb1483

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.




    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HB 1483

        By Representative Harper






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act for the relief of the estate of Frank

  3         Lee Smith; providing an appropriation to

  4         compensate that estate for Mr. Smith's having

  5         been the victim of a miscarriage of justice;

  6         providing for a waiver of any claims by the

  7         estate of Frank Lee Smith; providing an

  8         effective date.

  9

10         WHEREAS, on April 14, 1985, 8-year-old Shandra

11  Whitehead was the victim of a brutal rape and murder in

12  Broward County, Florida, and

13         WHEREAS, on May 9, 1985, Frank Lee Smith was indicted

14  for first-degree murder, burglary, and sexual battery in

15  connection with the Shandra Whitehead case, and

16         WHEREAS, Frank Lee Smith maintained his innocence

17  during interrogation by sheriff's deputies assigned to the

18  case, and

19         WHEREAS, Frank Lee Smith was tried and convicted on all

20  counts and received a sentence of death on the conviction for

21  first-degree murder, and

22         WHEREAS, there were no fingerprints, hair fibers,

23  blood, semen, or other physical evidence linking Frank Lee

24  Smith to the crime or the crime scene, and

25         WHEREAS, Mr. Smith was convicted primarily upon the

26  basis of testimony provided by a witness who stated at trial

27  that she recognized Frank Lee Smith as the person who

28  approached her car on the night of Shandra Whitehead's murder

29  in the vicinity of the victim's residence, and

30         WHEREAS, prior to trial, this key state witness

31  provided the sheriff's detective with a description of the man

                                  1

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HB 1483

    766-114-01






  1  she saw in the vicinity of the murder victim's home which did

  2  not match Frank Lee Smith's physical appearance, and

  3         WHEREAS, the key state witness subsequently recanted

  4  her trial testimony in a 1989 affidavit, stating that she felt

  5  pressured by the sheriff's detectives into providing her trial

  6  testimony and was certain that Frank Lee Smith was not the

  7  person she saw on the night of Shandra Whitehead's murder, and

  8         WHEREAS, Mr. Smith remained incarcerated on Florida's

  9  death row for 14 years, including 11 years after the state's

10  key witness recanted her trial testimony, and

11         WHEREAS, the state prosecutors or local sheriff's

12  detectives, or both, through negligence or design, continued

13  to maintain that Frank Lee Smith was the perpetrator of the

14  murder even after the recantation of the state's key witness,

15  and

16         WHEREAS, the state prosecutors or local sheriff's

17  office, or both, through negligence or design, failed to

18  investigate evidence implicating another likely suspect as the

19  perpetrator of the crime, and

20         WHEREAS, the other suspect is a relative of the

21  victim's mother who would have been familiar with the family's

22  routines and would have had opportunity to commit the crime,

23  and

24         WHEREAS, the other suspect matches the physical

25  description provided to police by the state's key witness

26  before the arrest and trial of Mr. Smith, for example, with

27  respect to his having a distinctive "droopy eye," and

28         WHEREAS, the other suspect was also under suspicion in

29  a series of other sexual assaults and murders which occurred

30  in Broward County, and Mr. Smith had no criminal history of

31  sexual assaults, and

                                  2

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HB 1483

    766-114-01






  1         WHEREAS, the other suspect was known to the police at

  2  the time of Mr. Smith's arrest in 1985, and

  3         WHEREAS, at the time of the recantation by the state's

  4  key witness, the other suspect was confined to a state mental

  5  institution because he had been found to be incompetent to

  6  stand trial for other crimes, and

  7         WHEREAS, Mr. Smith died of cancer on January 30, 2000,

  8  while in state custody in a facility far from his family and

  9  friends, and

10         WHEREAS, Mr. Smith was deprived of having medical care

11  of his own choosing and was without the comfort and support of

12  his family and friends while he suffered through a terminal

13  illness, and

14         WHEREAS, Mr. Smith's sister is a registered nurse who

15  has experience in hospice care and could have provided both

16  medical and spiritual support to Mr. Smith at the end of his

17  life had Mr. Smith not been wrongfully incarcerated for a

18  crime he did not commit, and

19         WHEREAS, DNA evidence was tested by the Federal Bureau

20  of Investigation laboratory, and the FBI report dated December

21  13, 2000, confirms that Frank Lee Smith was not the

22  perpetrator of the rape and murder of Shandra Whitehead, and

23         WHEREAS, the trial court has now set aside the

24  convictions and sentences of Frank Lee Smith in the Shandra

25  Whitehead case, and

26         WHEREAS, Mr. Smith suffered physical, mental, and

27  emotional harm while incarcerated on death row, and

28         WHEREAS, Mr. Smith and his family suffered shame,

29  humiliation, and mortification from being associated with a

30  heinous crime committed against an innocent child, and

31

                                  3

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HB 1483

    766-114-01






  1         WHEREAS, considering the totality of the circumstances,

  2  a gross miscarriage of justice occurred, and agents of the

  3  state and local law enforcement officials cooperated in that

  4  miscarriage, either negligently or deliberately, NOW,

  5  THEREFORE,

  6

  7  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  8

  9         Section 1.  The sum of $3.5 million is appropriated

10  from the General Revenue Fund to be paid to the estate of

11  Frank Lee Smith as full and complete compensation for Mr.

12  Smith's having been the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

13         Section 2.  Acceptance of payment of this claim by the

14  estate of Frank Lee Smith constitutes a waiver of any cause of

15  action that the estate of Mr. Smith has against the State of

16  Florida or any of its political subdivisions, officials,

17  employees, or agents, or against the Broward County Sheriff's

18  Office or any of its officials, employees, or agents, arising

19  from the conviction, sentence, and incarceration of Frank Lee

20  Smith in the Shandra Whitehead case.

21         Section 3.  The Comptroller is directed to draw his

22  warrant in favor of the estate of Frank Lee Smith in the sum

23  of $3.5 million out of funds in the General Revenue Fund not

24  otherwise appropriated, and the Treasurer is directed to pay

25  the same out of such funds.

26         Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2001.

27

28

29

30

31

                                  4

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HB 1483

    766-114-01






  1            *****************************************

  2                          SENATE SUMMARY

  3    Provides an appropriation to compensate the estate of
      Frank Lee Smith for Mr. Smith's having been the victim of
  4    a miscarriage of justice. Provides for a waiver of any
      claims by the estate against the state or the Broward
  5    County Sheriff's Office or any subdivisions, agents, or
      employees of either entity.
  6

  7

  8

  9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

                                  5

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.