Prison Tour, Preface; Litigation Updates
Before the series about the Judge Marvin Mounts Prison Tour a note on preparing for the tour. Also, the AG seeks to reincarcerate former Florida death row inmate, and Parker resentenced to life.
Florida + capital punishment = never-ending updates. Today:
I plan to write a three-part series about the Judge Marvin Mounts Prison Tour. Before that, this post includes a preface to the series about preparing for the tour.
Attorney General Ashley Moody seeks to reincarcerate Crosley Green, former Florida death row inmate who was released in 2018.
J.B. Parker has been resentenced to life after he received a new sentencing phase due to Hurst v. Florida.
*Yes, I updated the colors of the blog to include orange. I struggled for a while with the colors for the blog and ultimately used black and gray because adding color to anything death penalty-related feels wrong. I learned on the prison tour that the only inmates in Florida’s prison system that wear orange are those on death row. Walking down death row was dark and gray other than the inmates and their orange outfits, so the color scheme feels appropriate.
Preparing for the Prison Tour
Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Judge Marvin Mounts Prison Tour.1 In two days, we visited six institutions within the Florida Department of Corrections prison system.2
Over the next week or so, depending on updates in the meantime, I will post a three-part series about the tour and each of the institutions we visited.
Please feel free to post questions.
Preparing for Prison
Before we go into the details, I thought I’d share how I prepared for the tour. Before the tour, I had never been in a prison other than one time to visit a client on Florida’s death row.
Note that this is not my first case representing someone on death row, which makes me think: Isn’t it a little odd that you can represent someone on death row without ever visiting them?
Even when you visit a client on death row, you don’t see where they live. At least in Florida, you go to a separate building (that has A/C) and a specific area for attorney visits.
What to Wear
From my one time visiting a client on death row, I knew that prisons have certain rules. For example, you can’t wear camo. When I originally heard that rule, I assumed it was gang-related. On the tour, I asked the reason for the rule. The answer I got was that if a visitor were to give their clothing to an inmate, they would have an easier time blending in upon escaping.
Also for my prior client visit, I had been told to wear low key clothing—baggy jeans and a top that’s not flashy and not too revealing. I learned for that client visit that I was wholly unprepared. Even my baggiest jeans felt too tight, and the guard who escorted me to the prison noted that prisoners (not death row) were making comments that I had apparently tuned out.
I spent a few weeks searching for jeans for the tour. (On the first day, I apparently left a tag on that marketed my size to everyone. Fortunately, I think my shirt covered it most of the time.) When I first arrived for the tour, I felt underdressed when I saw some of the others in dress clothes. By the end of the tour, I was very glad I had listened to the prior advice.
Finally, I wore walking shoes because I knew we would be walking a lot. I was a bit caught off guard when I saw others on the tour wearing name brand flats and the like. I was very glad I left mine at home with my jewelry and other luxuries.
Mental Preparation
It’s not easy to prepare for something that’s wholly foreign to you and a bit intimidating. It’s a bit like traveling to a foreign country. Even though I have researched capital punishment for years, I’ve never been in prison. I had only been to a visitation room.
I thought a lot about it for a long time. But you can’t really imagine what you will see or how it will feel to be there—or even what you’ll say. Even in the moment, when you’re standing in front of someone who’s in prison for decades or on death row, you’re unsure what to say.
On the tour, I was struck by how naturally some of the guards/wardens spoke to the inmates and the relationships they had. Some had known each other for years.
I can only imagine what it’s like to be dropped off at the reception center, just transported from the county jail, imagining where you’re headed and what it’s going to be like for the duration of your sentence.
A Few Notes About the Tour
Also before we dive in, a few notes about the tour overall…
Wardens
At each stop, we were greeted by the warden of the institution and the administration, all of whom escorted us through the facilities. Everyone was very kind and accommodating and open to answering all of the tour member’s questions. We also had an opportunity to speak with inmates at various parts of the tours.
No Pictures
No pictures are allowed inside the prisons. In fact, cellphones aren’t even allowed inside. So for the rest of the posts about the tour, I only have photos taken from outside each prison at the public entrance.
Attorney General Ashley Moody Seeks to Reincarcerate Crosley Green
Crosley Green was sentenced to death and served 19 years on Florida’s death row after being convicted of first-degree murder by an all-white jury for a crime that occurred in 1989. The jury voted 8-4 to sentence him to death.
NOTE: It is worth noting that the jury’s vote to recommend death in Green’s case—one fraught with error—is the same as the new standard the Legislature is on its way to adopting.
In 2009, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida commuted his sentence to life in prison without parole.
In 2018, after serving decades in person, Green was released to home confinement after the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled in an Order dated July 20, 2018, that he was entitled to habeas relief based on a Brady violation—that the State hid exculpatory evidence from the defense during his prosecution and knowingly relied on false testimony.
Attorney General Ashley Moody appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which overturned the District Court’s decision in an opinion dated March 14, 2022. The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari from the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion in early 2023. The Washington Post reported that the AG’s office “is now pushing for him to be sent back to prison for life.”
Green is now 65, and his attorneys hope to avoid his being sent back to prison. He is represented pro bono by Crowell and Moring in Washington, D.C. An article on Crowell’s website gives the full history of Green’s case. As to the latest update, the article states:
On February 27, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will not hear the case of Crowell & Moring pro bono client Crosley Green, a 65-year-old Florida man who has steadfastly fought for more than three decades to prove his innocence following his wrongful conviction by an all-white jury for a 1989 murder in Titusville, Florida. With no physical evidence linking him to the crime and key witness notes withheld by prosecutors pointing to another suspect, Green may now be ordered to return to state prison despite having spent the past two years working and living as a model citizen surrounded by family in a Florida community.
J.B. Parker Resentenced to Life
J.B. Parker was originally sentenced to death in 1983 for crimes committed in 1982 after a jury voted 8-4 to recommend death. In 1998, he was granted a second sentencing phase. In 2000, he was again sentenced to death after a jury voted 11-1 to recommend death.
After Hurst v. Florida in 2016, Parker was granted a third sentencing phase because the jury’s recommendation for death had not been unanimous. On Friday, Parker was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The state did not seek death in the latest proceedings due to the unavailability of evidence as a result of the passage of time.
NOTE: Florida’s current statute does not provide for parole. However, Florida’s older statute that did provide for parole would apply to Parker’s case due to when the crimes occurred.
Parker’s Codefendants
Parker had three codefendants: Alphonso Cave, John Earl Bush, and Terry Wayne Johnson. Each of them were tried independently. Cave and Bush were also sentenced to death. The original jury’s votes to recommend death were 7-5, 7-5, and 8-4.
John Earl Bush
Bush was executed on October 21, 1996, by electrocution.
The jury voted 7-5 to recommend death in Bush’s case. His sentence became final in 1986.
The day before his scheduled execution, Bush filed a motion for relief and a motion for stay of execution in the circuit court, as well as a petition for writ of habeas corpus and stay of execution in the Supreme Court of Florida. The trial court denied all relief without a hearing. The Supreme Court granted a stay “to allow a careful review and consideration of certain claims raised” by Bush. Ultimately, the Court denied all relief, and Bush was executed.
Alphonso Cave
Cave remains on death row.
The original jury voted 7-5 to recommend death in Cave’s case. He was granted a new penalty phase and resented to death in 1993 after a jury voted 10-2 to recommend death. He received a third penalty phase and was again sentenced to death in 1997 after a jury voted 11-1 to recommend death. Unlike Parker, Cave was denied Hurst relief in 2020 based on the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Poole. (More on that coming soon in the Hurst series, of which Parts I and II can be found here. However, even despite Poole, Cave would not have been eligible for Hurst relief because his sentence was final in 1999. More on that in Part III of the Hurst series coming soon.)
Terry Wayne Johnson
Johnson was sentenced to life in prison and “was released in 2008 . . . under community supervision before being arrest[ed] in November on drug possession charges in St. Lucie County,” according to a news article.
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The late Judge Marvin Mounts was a judge in Palm Beach County, who started this tour several years ago. He passed away in 2004.
The tour visited seven institutions. I missed the first stop.