Richard Lynch

Case identification

• Name: Richard Lynch
• Date of birth: 06/19/53
• Case citation: Florida Supreme Court opinion SC01-795 (opinion SC06-2233), DC# E08942
• Court/venue: Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, Seminole County
• Case number: 99-881-CFA
• Sentencing judge: The Honorable O.H. Eaton
• Trial attorney: James Figgat – Private Attorney
• Direct appeal attorney: Christopher S. Quarles – Assistant Public Defender Attorney
• Collateral appeals: Marie-Louise Parmer & Leslie Scalley – CCRC-M

Timeline

• 03/05/99 — Richard Lynch went to Roseanna Morgan’s apartment with 3 handguns; Roseanna Morgan and her 13-year-old daughter, Leah Caday, were killed.
• 04/03/01 — Lynch was sentenced: Counts I and II (first-degree murder) to death; Counts III and IV to life.
• 04/12/01 — Lynch filed his Direct Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.
• 01/09/03 — The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences.
• 03/21/03 — Lynch’s Motion for Rehearing was denied.
• 06/19/03 — Lynch filed for a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.
• 10/06/03 — The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari.
• 07/26/04 — Lynch filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court.
• 03/30/06 — The lower court issued an order denying Lynch’s 3.850 Motion.
• 04/03/06 — The lower court issued an amended order denying Lynch’s 3.850 Motion.

Background

Richard Lynch pled guilty to the 03/05/99 murders of Roseanna Morgan and her 13-year-old daughter, Leah Caday.

Lynch admitted to having an extramarital affair with Roseanna Morgan between August 1998 and February 1999. During that time, they ran up credit card bills. When Morgan ended the affair, Lynch asked her to assist in the credit card debt they had acquired together.

Lynch wrote a letter to his wife prior to the events on 03/05/99, admitting to the affair. In the letter, he directed his wife to letters and pictures Morgan had given Lynch during the affair, and asked his wife to send the letters and pictures to Morgan’s family. Lynch wrote: “I want them to have a sense of why it happened, some decent closure, a reason and understanding…”

A doctor for the State testified that this was evidence of a murder-suicide plot.

The offence

Charges and counts

On 03/23/99, Lynch was indicted as follows:

• Count I: First-Degree Murder
• Count II: First-Degree Murder
• Count III: Armed Burglary of a Dwelling
• Count IV: Kidnapping

Conduct on 03/05/99

On 03/05/99, Lynch went to Morgan’s apartment with 3 handguns with the intent of getting Morgan to pay off the credit card bills.

When Lynch arrived, Morgan was not there, but Caday was. Lynch showed Caday a gun and forced her to stay there with him until her mom returned.

Lynch told detectives that he planned on showing Morgan the guns to make her sit down and talk to him.

Lynch confessed that he:

• shot Morgan four or five times with one gun,
• brought her into the apartment,
• then shot her in the back of the head with a different gun,
• and shot Caday in her back.

Both Morgan and Caday died of their gunshot wounds.

911 call, phone calls, and witness evidence

Lynch called 911 and admitted to the operator the events above, saying he was going to kill himself.

Lynch also called his wife three times during the events. His wife testified that she could hear a woman screaming in the background. The second time he called, she testified that he admitted to shooting someone.

A few of Morgan’s neighbors testified to the events on 03/05/99 as well. One neighbor testified to:

• looking out a peephole after hearing the first gunshots,
• seeing Morgan being dragged into her apartment by Lynch,
• Morgan screaming,
• Morgan appearing to be bloody from the waist down,
• and, after Lynch closed the door, 3 more gunshots being heard.

Another neighbor testified to hearing 3 more shots 5 or 7 minutes after the first shots.

Investigation and arrest

After a standoff with the police, Lynch was arrested.

During the interview after his arrest, Lynch confessed to all the events described.

Trial

On 10/19/00, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the indictment and waived his right to a penalty phase jury.

On 04/03/01, the jury recommended death by a vote of 12-0 and the defendant was sentenced as follows:

• Count I: First-Degree Murder — Death
• Count II: First-Degree Murder — Death
• Count III: Armed Burglary of a Dwelling — Life
• Count IV: Kidnapping — Life

Sentencing

The sentencing proceedings included findings regarding aggravating factors in the murders of Caday and Morgan, including references to:

• HAC as an aggravating factor in Caday’s murder, and
• CCP as an aggravating factor in Morgan’s murder.

Appeals

Direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court

On 04/12/01, Lynch filed his Direct Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.

Lynch made several claims, including:

• The trial court erred in the finding of HAC as an aggravating factor in Caday’s murder.
• The trial court erred in the finding of CCP as an aggravating factor in Morgan’s murder.

The Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court did not err in finding either HAC or CCP as aggravating factors.

The Court found that the suffering and emotional strain placed on Caday by holding her hostage and watching her mother be murdered before her own death was enough to find the HAC aggravating factor.

The Court also found that Morgan’s murder was cold, calculated and premeditated, stating that Lynch shot her 4 or 5 times before switching guns and then shooting her execution style.

Lynch also claimed that the written sentencing order was not clear as to whether the judge found the mental health mitigators to be statutory or nonstatutory mitigators. The Court found that the sentencing order was not as clear as it could have been, but that it was not a reversible error.

On 01/09/03, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences.

Lynch’s Motion for Rehearing was denied on 03/21/03.

United States Supreme Court petition

Lynch filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court on 06/19/03. The petition was denied on 10/06/03.

3.850 collateral motion

On 07/26/04, Lynch filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court.

The lower court issued an order denying the 3.850 Motion on 03/30/06 and issued an amended order denying the 3.850 Motion on 04/03/06.

Other details

• The indictment included Count I and Count II as First-Degree Murder, plus Count III as Armed Burglary of a Dwelling and Count IV as Kidnapping.
• Lynch pled guilty to the 03/05/99 murders of Roseanna Morgan and Leah Caday.