TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Court Grants Hearing In Leon County Death Penalty Case

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: September 26, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a new evidentiary hearing in a 22-year-old Leon County murder case and said it must be sent outside the 2nd Judicial Circuit to avoid any appearance of judicial bias.

The court ordered the hearing on behalf of death-row inmate Jerry Wickham, who was convicted of a 1986 murder and robbery.

Wickham raised numerous ineffective assistance claims against his trial attorney, Philip Padovano, who went on to become a judge in the 2nd Circuit, where his wife is also a judge.

Wickham claimed Padovano, now an appellate judge on the 1st District court of Appeal, could bias all the judges in the 2nd Circuit. The high court agreed.

"Wickham's motion demonstrated a well-founded fear of judicial bias ... and should have been granted," the court wrote.

Wickham was convicted of robbing and murdering Morris "Rick" Fleming in March 1986. Fleming had about $4 in his pockets, court records said.

In a separate reversal, the justices upheld a defense claim of gender prejudice in the 2000 murders of a Brevard County couple and sent the case back to a lower court for a new penalty phase.

The court said the state failed to provide unbiased ground for defendant Anthony Welch when he objected to the state's rejection of a female juror without cause.

Welch, who is also facing the death penalty, was convicted of killing Rufus and Kyoko Johnson in December 2000. The victims were beaten to death during a robbery, and their bodies were found later by their children.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT