Dominic Culpepper

Case record: Dominic Culpepper

Background

Dominic Culpepper was 14 years old when he fatally beat 16-year-old Frank Wesley McCool with a baseball bat in retaliation for stealing marijuana in Sarasota County. Dominic Culpepper was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole on May 10, 2002.

The offence

Dominic Culpepper was accused of masterminding a plan to lure Wesley McCool, 16, to his Sarasota County condo on June 25 so he could beat him up and retrieve a half-pound of marijuana that McCool reportedly stole from him.

In June 2001, Dominic Culpepper believed that another teenage boy had stolen a pound of marijuana from him. With the help of some friends, Dominic Culpepper devised several plots to revenge this theft. Ultimately, he tricked the victim into returning to Dominic Culpepper's house to steal more marijuana. When the victim came to the house, Dominic Culpepper hit him fifty times with a baseball bat and dumped his body in the woods.

Investigation

A grand jury decided that Dominic Culpepper would be tried for first-degree murder. The grand jury increased the charge from second-degree to first-degree murder after seeing the evidence and listening to testimony from state witnesses.

The grand jury also indicted Frank Tritschler, 15, on a second-degree murder charge.

Another 14-year-old, Vincent Norcia, received an 18-month to seven-year sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in August. Vincent Norcia, who was charged as a juvenile, also agreed to testify against Dominic Culpepper and Frank Tritschler.

Trial

A grand jury increased Dominic Culpepper's charge from second-degree to first-degree murder. Dominic Culpepper's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Adam Tebrugge, declined to comment on the indictment. The matter was to be tried in December after the indictment.

Sentencing

The trial court had no option except to sentence Dominic Culpepper to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Appeals

Direct appeal

Dominic Culpepper appealed his judgment and sentence to this court. On direct appeal, he argued that his life sentence was cruel and unusual punishment. The appellate court affirmed his judgment and sentence without a written opinion.

The appellate court noted that its mandate issued in the direct appeal in April 2003. The appellate court cited Culpepper v. State, 846 So.2d 515 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003).

Postconviction proceedings

Dominic Culpepper filed a prior postconviction motion pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 in 2005. That motion was denied, and the appellate court affirmed the order denying that motion. State, 928 So.2d 344 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006) (table decision).

Dominic Culpepper filed a motion for postconviction relief pursuant to rule 3.850 in the circuit court in April 2007. He argued, as he did on direct appeal, that his sentence of life without possibility of parole was cruel and unusual punishment because of his age at the time of the offense.

The appellate court concluded that Dominic Culpepper's motion was untimely. The appellate court also concluded that even if the motion were timely, case law did not support his legal theory.

The appellate court described Dominic Culpepper's argument that the issue could be raised by postconviction motion at that time because of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005). The appellate court described Roper as affirming State ex rel. Simmons v. Roper, 112 S.W.3d 397 (Mo.2003), which held that the death penalty was unconstitutional as applied to Simmons, who committed a first-degree murder when he was seventeen. The appellate court noted that the remedy provided to Simmons when Missouri held his death sentence to be unconstitutional was life without possibility of parole.

The appellate court stated that the case did not involve the death penalty. The appellate court said that neither the United States Supreme Court nor the Supreme Court of Florida had held that a sentence of life without possibility of parole was unconstitutional when applied to a person under the age of eighteen. The appellate court concluded that Dominic Culpepper did not have an issue raising a “fundamental constitutional right” that could be raised at that time, citing Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850(b)(2); Witt v. State, 387 So.2d 922, 930 (Fla.1980); Margarejo v. State, No. 2D07-700, ---So.2d ----, 2007 WL 4404602 (Fla. 2d DCA Dec. 19, 2007); and Sims v. Commonwealth, 233 S.W.3d 731, 733 (Ky.App.2007).

The appellate court noted that Dominic Culpepper's motion for postconviction relief in the trial court disclosed that he was filing a federal habeas petition at the same time he filed for relief in state court. The appellate court stated that in a brief filed on September 18, 2007, counsel did not disclose the extensive written decision of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued on July 13, 2007, denying the petition as untimely and without merit. McDonough, 2007 WL 2050970 (M.D.Fla. July 13, 2007).

The appellate court concluded: Affirmed. The appellate court stated that ALTENBERND, Judge; and FULMER and SALCINES, JJ., concur.

Court information

The appellate case was styled Dominic CULPEPPER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. It had the number 2D07-4230. The decision date was January 04, 2008.

Outcome

The appellate court affirmed the circuit court's order denying Dominic Culpepper's motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850.

Other details

Dominic Culpepper was 14 when he fatally beat 16-year-old Frank Wesley McCool with a baseball bat.

The appellate court included comparisons to other cases involving fourteen-year-old defendants and life without parole being held constitutional, including Phillips v. State, 807 So.2d 713 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002), and Tate v. State, 864 So.2d 44 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003).

The appellate court also discussed Lionel Tate, stating that he was the only child 16 or younger currently serving a life sentence without the hope of parole in Florida at the time. The appellate court stated that a Broward County jury convicted Lionel Tate of killing a 6-year-old girl in 1999. The appellate court stated that Tate, who was then 12, stomped and beat Tiffany Eunick and flung her against a wall, and that he said the slaying was an accident that occurred when he tried professional wrestling moves upon the girl. The appellate court stated that Tate was serving his sentence at the Okeechobee Juvenile Offender Correction Center.

In the indictment coverage, Dominic Culpepper was described as a 14-year-old boy who allegedly beat another teen-ager to death with a baseball bat over stolen drugs. It was stated that if convicted at a trial in December, Dominic Culpepper would become one of only two children under 16 sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in Florida prisons.

Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama; and Lynn Overmann, Miami, were listed for Appellant.