Deceased: Jerry Haliburton

DOC records show that Jerry Haliburton died Monday after almost 40 years on Florida's death row.

According to Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) records, Florida death row prisoner Jerry Haliburton died Monday while in DOC custody after serving close to 40 years on death row.

Haliburton was 69 at the time of his death. He was sentenced to death for crimes that occurred in 1981.

The cause of Haliburton’s death is unclear. State policy requires that an autopsy be performed for all deaths; however, those records would only be accessible through a public records request.

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Background on Haliburton’s Sentence of Death

Haliburton was originally tried and sentenced to death, but the Florida Supreme Court reversed his conviction and remanded for a new trial finding that “the trial court erred in refusing to suppress the statements appellant gave subsequent to the time the attorney arrived at the police station and requested access to him.”¹

Haliburton was retried in 1988 and again convicted and sentenced to death following a jury’s recommendation for death by a vote of 9-3.² The trial judge found four aggravating factors and no mitigating circumstances.³

On direct appeal in 1990, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed Haliburton’s conviction and sentence of death. He argued in part that Florida’s capital sentencing statute was unconstitutional.⁴ On petition for certiorari, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the reversal and remanded for reconsideration. On remand, the Florida Supreme Court “held that police officers' failure to inform the defendant that an attorney was in the stationhouse and had asked to speak with him violated the due process provision of the Florida Constitution so as to vitiate the defendant's otherwise valid waiver of his right to an attorney and to require suppression of the statement made subsequent to the attorney's arrival.”⁵

His sentence of death became final June 28, 1991.

“In January 1992, Governor Chiles signed a death warrant scheduling Haliburton's execution for March 1992. In February 1992, Haliburton filed a rule 3.850 motion to vacate the judgment and sentence and a motion for a stay of execution. On March 12, 1992, a stay was granted.”⁶

In May 1993, Haliburton filed an amended motion for post-conviction relief. In December 1993, the circuit court conducted an evidentiary hearing. Later, the court denied Haliburton’s motion. Haliburton appealed, raising nine claims:

(1) whether the successor judge properly ruled on Haliburton's motion for rehearing; (2) whether the state withheld exculpatory evidence and whether counsel's performance was deficient during the guilt phase; (3) whether counsel's performance was deficient at the penalty phase; (4) whether the jury instructions and aggravating circumstances were unconstitutionally vague and overbroad; (5) whether the state complied with Haliburton's chapter 119 requests; (6) whether counsel was ineffective in advising Haliburton to waive speedy trial rights on the burglary charge; (7) whether counsel was ineffective regarding prosecutorial misconduct; (8) whether the jury instructions improperly shifted the burden to Haliburton; and (9) whether Haliburton was denied due process when the governor signed his death warrant before the two-year time limit for filing a motion for post-conviction relief expired.⁷

He also filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus raising five claims:

(1) whether appellate counsel's ineffectiveness precluded reliable adversarial testing; (2) whether appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise a claim that the sentencing court precluded him from presenting mitigating witnesses; (3) whether appellate counsel failed to argue that the evidence was insufficient to prove guilt; (4) whether counsel was ineffective for not raising on appeal the court's refusal to permit counsel to argue that the grand jury would not indict Haliburton solely on physical evidence; and (5) whether inadequate limiting instructions on aggravating factors violated Haliburton's right to a reliable capital sentence.⁸

The Florida Supreme Court denied relief on all claims on January 9, 1997.

Haliburton filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal district court, and the original judge denied all but two claims.⁹ After that, the new judge held an evidentiary hearing on the two remaining claims.¹⁰ On September 10, 2001, the federal court issued an Order denying Haliburton’s claims but granting a certificate of appealability on all issues. On appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Haliburton argued:

1) the State withheld evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); 2) he did not receive a full and fair evidentiary hearing on his Brady claim regarding Freddie Haliburton's March 15, 1982 statement; and 3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase of his trial.¹¹

On review, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of relief.¹²

After the U.S. Supreme Court decided Atkins v. Virginia in 2002, Haliburton filed a successive motion for postconviction relief “seeking to vacate his death sentence on the ground that he was intellectually disabled.”¹³ After related litigation, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing on the claim. Before the trial court’s ruling, Haliburton amended his motion to seek relief under Hurst.¹⁴ On September 2019, the trial court denied Haliburton’s claims.¹⁵

On appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, Haliburton raised three claims: (1) “that the trial court erred in failing to find that he is intellectually disabled”; (2) “that section 921.137(4), Florida Statutes, which requires a defendant to prove his intellectual disability by clear and convincing evidence, is unconstitutional”; and (3) “that his death sentence imposed following a nonunanimous jury recommendation of death violates the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments.”¹⁶ On June 17, 2021, the Court denied relief on all claims.¹⁷

1. Haliburton v. State, 476 So. 2d 192, 193 (Fla. 1985).

2. Haliburton v. State, 561 So. 2d 248, 249 (Fla. 1990).

3. Id.

4. Id. at 251.

5. Haliburton v. Singletary, 691 So. 2d 466, 468 (Fla. 1997).

6. Id.

7. Id. at 468-69.

8. Id. at 472.

9. Haliburton v. Sec’y for Dep’t of Corrs., 160 F. Supp. 2d 1382, 1384 (S.D. Fla. 2001).

10. Id.

11. Haliburton v. Sec’y for Dep’t of Corrs., 342 F.3d 1233, 1234 (11th Cir. 2003).

12. Id. at 1245.

13. Haliburton v. State, 331 So. 3d 640, 642 (Fla. 2021).

14. Id. at 645.

15. Id.

16. Id.

17. Id. at 653.