Patrick Charles Hannon

Case details

Name: Patrick Charles Hannon Date of birth: 10/24/64 Judicial circuit: Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County Case number: 91-1927 Sentencing judge: The Honorable M. William Graybill Trial attorney: Joe Episcopo – Private Attorney Direct appeal attorney: Robert F. Moeller – Assistant Public Defender Attorney Collateral appeal attorneys: Suzanne Keffer & Leor Veleanu – CCRC-S

Background

In December of 1990, Brandon Snider, while visiting his relatives in Indiana, vandalized the bedroom of a former girlfriend, Toni Acker.

The offence

On 01/10/91, Patrick Hannon, Ron Richardson, and Jim Acker (Toni Acker’s brother) went to the apartment of Brandon Snider and roommate Robert Carter. When Snider came to the door, Jim Acker stabbed Snider multiple times and Hannon cut Snider’s throat.

When Robert Carter came downstairs to investigate, he witnessed the murder and fled upstairs, hiding under his bed. Hannon and Acker followed Carter upstairs and Hannon shot Carter six times.

Investigation

Codefendant information described the following outcomes:

• Ron Richardson pled guilty to being an accessory after the fact and testified against Hannon.
• Jim Acker, in a separate proceeding, was convicted and sentenced to two life sentences.

Trial

02/18/91 — Entered not guilty plea 03/27/91 — Indicted on two counts of First-Degree Murder 07/23/91 — Jury returned guilty verdicts 07/24/91 — By a vote of 12-0, jury recommended death sentences 08/05/91 — Sentenced to death on both counts of the indictment

Sentencing

Hannon was sentenced to death on 08/05/91 on both counts of the indictment.

Appeals

Direct appeal

09/27/91 — Hannon filed a Direct Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court, citing the following errors:

• striking two jurors for cause;
• admitting statements by a prosecution witness;
• admitting victim forensic evidence and testimony;
• improper jury instruction regarding the heinous, atrocious, and cruel (HAC) aggravating circumstance;
• insufficient evidence to support a finding of the HAC aggravating circumstance;
• the HAC factor is vague, arbitrarily applied, and does not narrow the class of persons eligible for the death penalty;
• insufficient evidence to support a finding of the avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest aggravating circumstance;
• disproportionate sentencing compared to accomplices;
• evidence does not support the prior violent felony aggravating circumstance; and
• the sentencing order was insufficient.

06/02/94 — The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence.

U.S. Supreme Court petition

12/07/94 — Hannon filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court 02/21/95 — The petition was denied

State post-conviction proceedings (3.850)

03/20/97 — Hannon filed a 3.850 Motion with the Circuit Court and amended on 04/10/00 02/04/03 — The Circuit Court denied the Motion

05/09/03 — Hannon filed a 3.850 Motion Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court, raising the following issues:

• ineffective assistance of counsel at the guilt and penalty phases and summary denial of claims by the Circuit Court.

08/31/06 — The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial of the motion.

08/23/04 — Hannon filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus with the Florida Supreme Court, raising the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel. 08/31/06 — The Florida Supreme Court denied the petition.

Outcome

Hannon received a death sentence on 08/05/91 and the conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court on 06/02/94. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition on 02/21/95. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial of the 3.850 motion on 08/31/06 and denied the habeas petition on 08/31/06.

Other details

Hannon had an extensive criminal record at the time of the offense.

As part of the materials provided, Patrick Charles Hannon wrote an essay about death row confinement, prison conditions, and interactions with other prisoners, including discussion of cell conditions, institutional routines, and activities available on death row. The essay included the following verbatim passage segments:

“As men and women alike await the ultimate punishment for the crimes alleged against them, days turn into months, months into years and years into decades. Most of America's condemned are securely locked away in one state's or another maximum - security prison.”
“This is not a debate of any individual's guilt or innocence; rather it is but a mere glimpse into a day in the life of the condemned.”
“Contrary to the mainstream media hype, today's prisons, especially maximum security facilities are far from being country clubs; but remain as some of the most outdated, rundown and dilapidated dungeons that might well shock the good conscious of any decent, compassionate individual.”
“At the death row facility where I am housed, prisoners are confined to one-man cells 24 hours a day, thats all day every day unless the prisoner has a lawyer visit or occasionally recieves a visit from a family member or friend.”
“Once a law maker told a prison official he should take all the TVs from us vermin; the warden told him, you take them, this place could not exist without them.”
“TV is the only thing that makes death row manageable. Prison staff call the TVs the electronic tranquilizers, we call them idiot boxes.”
“Over time, you can come to know, like, and even have genuine friendships with a fellow prisoner, sure in the back of one's mind, he or she may never know whether their friend was once a murderer, but at the present time he or she is simply another human being that reciprocates ones friendship.”
“The light goes out at 11 pm but only the cell light go out, the corridor lights always stay on.”
“The TVs stay on 24 hours a day. The prison is never completely quiet, gates are always clanging, there's the tread of guards feet, nightmare ravings of the insane, muffled sobs of despair.”
“The night eases into morning and another day begins on death row.”

The provided text also included: “Patrick Charles Hannon home last updates contact”.