Daniel Lugo

Case record

Daniel Lugo DC# M16321 DOB: 04/06/63 Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Dade County, Case# 95-17381C

Other details

Affiliated persons and roles mentioned

• Noel Doorbal (codefendant)
• Carl Weekes (mentioned in the plan to kidnap Marc Schiller)
• Stephenson Pierre (mentioned in the plan to kidnap Marc Schiller)
• Marc Schiller (victim; kidnapped and later survived)
• Jorge Delgado (Sun Gym member; associated with the scheme)
• Linda Delgado (Delgado’s wife; worked in Schiller’s accounting office)
• Diana (Schiller’s acquaintance; part of his family)
• David and Stephanie (Schiller’s children)
• John Mese (Sun Gym owner; notarized documents transferring Schiller’s assets)
• Mario Sanchez (recruited by Doorbal and Weekes)
• Frank Griga (victim; murdered)
• Krisztina Furton (victim; murdered)
• John Raimondo (corrections officer; hired by Lugo)
• Ed Du Bois (private investigator)
• Gene Rosen (lawyer)
• Al Harper (Metro-Dade homicide Captain contacted by Du Bois)
• Gary Porterfield (SID Sergeant)
• Jim Maier (Sergeant; interviewed Schiller)
• Iris Deegan (Detective; interviewed and investigated Schiller)
• Joel Greenberg (lawyer who drew up a contract)
• Metro-Dade police (investigating authority)
• Strategic Investigations Division (SID)
• Metro-Dade homicide (investigating unit)
• Metro-Dade prosecutor Gail Levine (lead prosecutor mentioned in sentencing and trial accounts)
• Circuit Judge Alex Ferrer (Circuit Judge; sentencing and appeal mentions)
• Ronald S. Guralnick (private attorney; trial attorney)
• Rafael Rodriguez (private attorney; direct appeal)
• Roy D. Wasson (registry/collateral appeals)
• Katherine Fernandez Rundle (Miami-Dade State Attorney mentioned)
• Felix Jimenez (retired Miami-Dade homicide Sgt. mentioned)
• Sam Garafalo (retired; worked the case for Felix Jimenez)
• Troy Roberts (interviewer mentioned)
• Katherine Fernandez Rundle (quoted State Attorney)
• Sabina Petrescu (girlfriend mentioned in CBS account; testimony role mentioned)

Victims and counts explicitly described

• Frank Griga (murder victim)
• Krisztina Furton (murder victim)
• Marc Schiller (kidnapping and attempted murder victim; survived)

Timeline

• 11/15/94 — Daniel Lugo proposed to Noel Doorbal, Carl Weekes, and Stephenson Pierre that they kidnap Marc Schiller.
• 12/15/94 — Lugo’s group forced Schiller to drink and attempted to kill him by staged crash; Schiller survived.
• 12/16/94 — Schiller called private investigator Ed Du Bois.
• 02/13/95 — Lugo did not attend Mese’s office meeting; Delgado visited Mese’s office and stated: “This is all over a business deal.”
• 05/24/95 — Lugo and Doorbal planned an abduction of Frank Griga and Krisztina Furton; Lugo aborted the plan and later returned and invited them to dinner.
• 05/25/95 — Delgado visited Lugo and Doorbal at Doorbal’s apartment; he was informed that Griga was killed during a fight with Doorbal.
• 05/27/95 — Lugo made a trip to the Bahamas to try to gain access to Griga’s bank account.
• 05/28/95 — Lugo, Doorbal, and a third man disposed of body parts; Lugo then traveled to the Bahamas.
• 06/11/98 — Upon advisory sentencing, the jury voted, by an 11 to 1 majority, for the death sentence.
• 07/17/98 — Daniel Lugo was sentenced to death; sentencing lists convictions and terms for multiple counts.
• 09/28/98 — Lugo filed his Direct Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.
• 02/20/03 — The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences.
• 07/28/03 — Lugo filed a Petition for Writ Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.
• 10/06/03 — The Petition for Writ Certiorari was denied.
• 04/21/05 — Lugo filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court.
• 03/29/06 — The 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court was denied.
• 07/31/06 — Lugo filed a 3.850 Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, currently pending.

Background

Daniel Lugo was convicted in connection with the crimes of kidnapping, extortion, and the attempted murder of Marc Schiller as well as the murders of Frank Griga and Krisztina Furton.

The offence

Kidnapping, Extortion and Attempted Murder of Marc Schiller

In 1994, Lugo proposed to Noel Doorbal, Carl Weekes, and Stephenson Pierre that they kidnap Marc Schiller. The group agreed to kidnap Schiller, with Lugo claiming Schiller had stolen from him and gym member Jorge Delgado.

Schiller became acquainted with Lugo through Jorge Delgado. Schiller disliked Lugo. Schiller later recalled Lugo “of frauds he had committed and started making comments insinuating that we should do something similar.”

On November 15, 1994, Doorbal, Weekes, and Mario Sanchez grabbed Schiller as he walked to his car. Schiller asked, “What do you want?” and someone replied, “You.” The captors hustled Schiller into a van, shackled his ankles, handcuffed him, and wound duct tape around his head. A captor asked, “How come you’re allowed to have so much money while we have so little?” Schiller was bound to a chair at Delgado’s rented warehouse. A captor asked if he wanted water; Schiller answered, “Yes.” Someone threw water in his face and laughed. Schiller was buzzed with tasers, slugged, and burned with a lighter. He was left alone bound and in a box, and his bladder filled with no way to reach a restroom. Schiller “I urinated as I lay there on the box, soaking my pants in the process and adding to the misery I already felt.”

Schiller’s captors threatened to bring his wife and children to the warehouse. His captors ordered him to call his wife and tell her to take the kids with her to her native Colombia. She complied. When captors demanded Schiller confirm his house alarm code and the locations of his money, Schiller realized Delgado was involved. A captor demanded he sign over assets, and Schiller repeatedly signed papers he could not see. The documents were notarized by Sun Gym owner John Mese.

Schiller had been captive three weeks when the gang decided to murder him by faking a drunk driving crash. On December 15, 1994, the group forced Schiller to drink. Lugo drove Schiller’s car into a utility pole; gang members shoved Schiller into the driver’s seat, poured gasoline over the car, and set it ablaze. After the group backed away and got into another car, Schiller got up and ran from the burning vehicle. They ran him over twice. The group left, convinced he was dead. Schiller survived and was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where doctors operated to remove his spleen. When Schiller regained consciousness, a surgeon said he had been in an accident. Schiller replied he had been kidnapped and tortured. Schiller called lawyer Gene Rosen, and Rosen advised him to contact private investigator Ed Du Bois.

On December 16, 1994, Schiller called Du Bois, who asked Schiller to write down everything he remembered and send relevant documents. Schiller called his sister; he was taken to Staten Island University Hospital. On Christmas Eve 1994, he moved into his sister’s Long Island home.

In January 1995, the gang moved into Marc Schiller’s house that had been signed over to a Bahamian company Lugo set up called D&J International. Schiller flew to Colombia to join his wife and children. Du Bois received Schiller’s written account and copies of documents he had been forced to sign. Du Bois met with notary John Mese and showed him Schiller’s letter; Mese commented: “Sounds like this guy had a rough time.” Du Bois asked if Mese knew Delgado and Lugo; Mese said he did.

Du Bois asked if it was customary in business deals to kidnap someone, keep them hostage for a month, beat them, torture them, try to kill them, and blow them up; Delgado replied: “I’m not going to comment.”

A condition to give Schiller’s money back required Schiller sign a document stating he would never tell the story to anyone again—“including police.” Schiller and Du Bois discussed the offer with an attorney, who said such an agreement of silence would be legally unenforceable and would amount to a confession. Schiller and Du Bois decided to play along. Lawyer Joel Greenberg drew up a contract, and drafts were faxed between the two camps.

Schiller filed a challenge to the deed D&J International held to his house. The gang cleared everything they could out of the house, leaving it empty, and moved goods to the warehouse where Schiller had been held captive. Du Bois realized the offer to return Schiller’s money was a stalling tactic and contacted Metro-Dade homicide Captain Al Harper, who contacted Strategic Investigations Division (SID). SID Sergeant Gary Porterfield informed Du Bois and Schiller that the case had been referred to the robbery bureau. Porterfield escorted Schiller and Du Bois to that bureau.

Sergeant Jim Maier and Detective Iris Deegan interviewed Schiller. Schiller pleaded, “Follow up on Du Bois’s leads. These are dangerous people. Other people could be harmed.” Schiller later asked, “Do you think I’m making this whole thing up?” Deegan answered, “Yeah, we think you’re making it up.” Deegan nevertheless investigated. Deegan visited Schiller’s home in Old Cutler Cove, found it appeared abandoned because the Sun Gym gang had emptied it weeks before, and interviewed neighbors. Neighbors identified Lugo from a police photo line-up and said they accepted UPS deliveries for him addressed to Marc Schiller. The neighbors recalled Schiller and his family had disappeared sometime before the previous Thanksgiving. No arrests were made.

Second abduction and murders: Frank Griga and Krisztina Furton

Doorbal learned of phone-sex-line millionaire Frank Griga and his girlfriend, Krisztina Furton. Doorbal proposed that the couple be kidnapped and Griga’s money stolen. The couple accepted an invitation to Doorbal’s apartment ostensibly to sign for an investment, and Lugo was also there. Doorbal tried to subdue Griga, triggering a fistfight. Furton screamed; Lugo grabbed her and injected her with the horse tranquilizer Rompun. Doorbal put Griga in a headlock; Griga lost consciousness.

Lugo and Doorbal planned to haul Griga to the warehouse and threaten him into signing over his money, but realized Griga was dying. They interrogated Furton for the code to enter Griga’s home. After she answered, Furton fell silent. Corrections officer John Raimondo arrived. Lugo drove to Griga’s home and attempted to get inside with the code Furton had provided; it did not work. Lugo called Doorbal, and Doorbal said Furton was dead. Lugo returned to Doorbal’s apartment and asked Delgado to return with a truck. The next morning, the group loaded two corpses into the truck, drove to the warehouse, and dismembered the bodies using a hatchet and chainsaw.

On May 28, 1995, Lugo, Doorbal, and a third man disposed of body parts in a remote area in Dade County. Another drum containing heads, hands, and feet was deposited in the Everglades. Lugo then traveled to the Bahamas. Police arrested him there in June 1995. Doorbal, Raimondo, and Mese were also arrested.

Arrest

Lugo was arrested in the Bahamas in June 1995.

Trial

Indictment and counts

Daniel Lugo was indicted on 10/02/96 on the following counts:

• Count I — Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering
• Count II — Racketeering
• Count III — First-Degree Murder (Furton)
• Count IV — First-Degree Murder (Griga)
• Count V — Kidnapping
• Count VI — Kidnapping
• Count VIII — Attempted Extortion
• Count IX — Grand Theft Auto
• Count X — Attempted First-Degree Murder
• Count XI — Armed Kidnapping
• Count XII — Armed Robbery
• Count XIII — Burglary
• Count XIV — Grand Theft (Second-Degree)
• Count XV — Grand Theft Auto
• Count XVI — Possession of an Identification Plate
• Count XVII — Arson
• Count XVIII — Extortion
• Count XIX — Money Laundering (Counts XIX – XXVII)
• Count XXVIII — Forgery (Counts XXVIII, XXXI, XXXIV, XXVII, XL, XLIII)
• Count XXX — Uttering a Forged Instrument (Counts XXX, XXIII, XXXVI, IXL, XLII, XLV)
• Count XLVI — Conspiracy to Commit a First-Degree Felony

Verdicts

On 05/05/98, Lugo was found guilty on all the charges on the indictment.

Sentencing-related jury vote

On 06/11/98, upon advisory sentencing, the jury voted, by an 11 to 1 majority, for the death sentence.

Sentencing

On 07/17/98, Lugo was sentenced as follows:

• Count I — Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering — 30 years
• Count II — Racketeering — 30 years
• Count III — First-Degree Murder (Furton) — Death
• Count IV — First-Degree Murder (Griga) — Death
• Count V — Kidnapping — Life
• Count VI — Kidnapping — Life
• Count VIII — Attempted Extortion — 5 years
• Count IX — Grand Theft Auto — 5 years
• Count X — Attempted First-Degree Murder — Life
• Count XI — Armed Kidnapping — Life
• Count XII — Armed Robbery — 15 years
• Count XIII — Burglary — 15 years
• Count XIV — Grand Theft (Second-Degree) — 15 years
• Count XV — Grand Theft Auto — 5 years
• Count XVI — Possession of an Identification Plate — 5 years
• Count XVII — Arson — 30 years
• Count XVIII — Extortion — 30 years
• Count XIX — Money Laundering (Counts XIX – XXVII) — 15 years each
• Count XXVIII — Forgery (Counts XXVIII, XXXI, XXXIV, XXVII, XL, XLIII) — 5 years each
• Count XXX — Uttering a Forged Instrument (Counts XXX, XXIII, XXXVI, IXL, XLII, XLV) — 5 years each
• Count XLVI — Conspiracy to Commit a First-Degree Felony — 15 years

Appeals

Florida Supreme Court appeal and ruling

On 09/28/98, Lugo filed his Direct Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. Lugo claimed error in the trial court because separate trials were not granted for:

• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization counts
• the Schiller counts
• the Griga-Furton counts

The trial court separated Lugo’s trial from his codefendants but found he could be tried on all counts in one trial. The Florida Supreme Court agreed with the trial court that each count was connected and similar enough to try in one trial, and stated that even if tried separately, the charges could be introduced as evidence in each trial.

Lugo also contended there was insufficient evidence in the convictions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization counts. He also raised improper comments during opening and closing arguments, errors in the introduction of evidence from previous convictions, and Brady claims. The Florida Supreme Court found no reversible errors and affirmed the convictions and sentences on 02/20/03.

United States Supreme Court

On 07/28/03, Lugo filed a Petition for Writ Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court; it was denied on 10/06/03.

3.850 motions and appeals

On 04/21/05, Lugo filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court; it was denied on 03/29/06. On 07/31/06, Lugo filed a 3.850 Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, which was described as pending.

Outcome

Lugo was convicted of multiple counts including first-degree murder (Furton) and first-degree murder (Griga) and was sentenced to death on 07/17/98.

In the June 1998 reporting, Daniel Lugo was described as facing the electric chair after guilty verdicts reported across 40 counts ranging from murder to kidnapping to extortion. In the trial record and sentencing listing, Lugo received two death sentences: one for Furton and one for Griga.