Lenard Philmore

Defendant

Lenard Philmore

Timeline

• 11/14/1997 — Offence: Lenard Philmore was convicted in the murder of Kazue Perron and was involved in a carjacking and related crimes.
• 07/21/2000 — Sentencing: Lenard Philmore was sentenced to death.
• 08/21/2000 — Direct appeal filed in the Florida Supreme Court.
• 05/30/2002 — Florida Supreme Court affirmed Philmore’s conviction and sentence.
• 07/05/2002 — Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court filed.
• 10/07/2002 — Petition for Writ of Certiorari denied.
• 09/16/2003 — 3.850 Motion filed to the Circuit Court.
• 05/13/2004 — 3.850 Motion denied.
• 06/14/2004 — 3.850 Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court filed.
• 02/09/2005 — Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus filed to the Florida Supreme Court.
• 06/15/2006 — Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial of the 3.850 Motion and denied the habeas petition.
• 11/21/1997 — Philmore took the police to the spot they had left Perron’s body.
• 11/14/1997 — Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the indictment.
• 01/20/2000 — Plea entered: not guilty.
• 01/28/2000 — Jury recommended death by a vote of 12-0.
• 12/16/1997 — Defendant arrested.
• 02/24/1998 — Defendant entered a written plea of not guilty.
• 01/20/2000 — Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the indictment.

Background

Lenard Philmore was born on 10/25/76. The case was in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, Martin County, under Case# 97-1672. The sentencing judge was The Honorable Cynthia Angelos. The trial attorneys were Sherwood Bauer and Thomas Garland – Assistant Public Defenders. The direct appeal attorney was Patrick C. Rastatter – Assistant Public Defender. The collateral appeal attorneys were Richard E. Kiley and James V. Viggiano – CCRC-M.

Philmore and his codefendant, Anthony Spann, wanted to go to New York and decided to rob a store to obtain the money required to get there. Their first attempt to rob a pawnshop failed and, subsequently, they decided to rob a bank.

The offence

Lenard Philmore and Anthony Spann decided to rob a bank. Spann told Philmore that to rob a bank, they needed to steal a car to use as a getaway vehicle and that they had to kill the driver.

On 11/14/1997, Philmore and Spann started to search for a car to steal at the Palm Beach Mall. Using Spann’s Subaru, they followed a woman in her vehicle to another mall, but failed to steal her car. They then noticed Kazue Perron driving her Lexus in a nearby neighborhood and began to follow her. Philmore and Spann followed Perron until she pulled into a driveway.

Spann told Philmore to “get her.” Spann walked up to Perron, who was still in her car, and asked if he could use her phone. Perron told him she did not live in the house. Philmore then took out his gun and ordered Perron to move over to the passenger side of the car. Philmore drove Perron’s Lexus while Spann followed in his Subaru.

During the drive, Perron was crying and told Philmore she was scared. Spann flashed his lights at Philmore indicating that he wanted to pull over. Spann told Philmore to take Perron to the bank. Philmore asked Perron if she had any money in her account. Perron told him no but offered to give him the $40 she had with her.

Philmore took off Perron’s rings and stored them in the armrest of the Lexus. Perron asked if Philmore or Spann was going to kill her, and he replied that no one was going to kill her. After they continued to drive for a while, Spann flashed his lights again indicating that they should turn down a street. They were then in western Martin County.

Once they stopped, Philmore told Perron to get out of the car and to start to walk toward some high vegetation in the area. Perron began to resist and Philmore shot her once in the head. Philmore put the body in the vegetation.

Philmore and Spann then drove to Indiantown and stopped at a store where Spann pointed out a bank for them to rob. Philmore left the Lexus a distance from the bank and rode with Spann. While Spann was waiting in the car, Philmore went into the bank, grabbed $1100 from the teller, and returned to the Subaru. They drove to the Lexus, hid the Subaru, and drove away.

Afterwards, Philmore discarded his tank top out of the car window, which had Perron’s blood on it. They drove back to Palm Beach County to pick up their girlfriends and eat. Philmore then wanted to go to a house because he had left his shoes there.

Upon driving to the house, they spotted an undercover police vehicle near the house. The officer in the vehicle recognized Spann because of an outstanding warrant. Spann, with Philmore and the two girls in the car, sped away and the officer followed, beginning a high-speed chase on Interstate 95. The chase led them back to Martin County, where a tire blew out on the Lexus. All four of them hid in a nearby orange grove, but were discovered by the manager of the grove. The manager told authorities where to find them and they were arrested.

During the police interviews, Philmore confessed to the robbery, stealing the car, and shooting Perron. On 11/21/97, Philmore took the police to the spot they had left Perron’s body.

Investigation and arrest

Philmore was arrested on 12/16/97. During police interviews, he confessed to the robbery, stealing the car, and shooting Perron.

Authorities were alerted by the orange grove manager, who told them where to find Philmore and the others after they hid in the orange grove.

Charges

Philmore was indicted with the following counts:

• Count I: First-Degree Murder (Perron)
• Count II: Conspiracy to Commit Robbery with a Deadly Weapon
• Count III: Carjacking with a Deadly Weapon
• Count IV: Kidnapping
• Count V: Robbery with a Deadly Weapon
• Count VI: Grand Theft

Trial

The trial took place with the following sequence of events:

• 01/20/00 — Plea: not guilty (also described as a written plea of not guilty on 02/24/98).
• 01/28/00 — Jury recommended death by a vote of 12-0.
• 07/21/00 — Sentencing.

The jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the indictment. The trial summary reflects:

• 11/14/97 — Defendant was arrested.
• 12/16/97 — Defendant arrested.
• 02/24/98 — Defendant entered a written plea of not guilty.

Sentencing

On 07/21/00, Philmore was sentenced as follows:

• Count I: First-Degree Murder (Perron) — Death
• Count II: Conspiracy to Commit Robbery with a Deadly Weapon — 15 years
• Count III: Carjacking with a Deadly Weapon — Life
• Count IV: Kidnapping — Life
• Count V: Robbery with a Deadly Weapon — Life
• Count VI: Grand Theft — 5 years

Codefendant

Anthony Spann (DC# 347463) was indicted by the same grand jury with the same charges as Philmore, but they were tried separately. Spann received a death sentence and was currently on death row appealing his conviction and sentence (CC# 97-3500).

Appeals

Direct appeal

On 08/21/00, Philmore filed a direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. Philmore contended that:

• the trial court erred in not suppressing his statements made to the officers while being questioned about the circumstances;
• the trial court erred in not finding error in the State’s peremptory challenge that was not race-neutral;
• the trial court wrongly dismissed his motion to exclude pictures of the victim’s body;
• the State made improper statements during both the guilt and penalty phase;
• the trial court improperly found the “avoid arrest” aggravator; and
• the trial court failed by rejecting the under extreme mental disturbance, substantial domination of another, and the impairment of capacity mitigators.

The Florida Supreme Court found no merit to any of Philmore’s arguments and affirmed his conviction and sentence on 05/30/02.

United States Supreme Court

On 07/05/02, Philmore filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, and it was denied on 10/07/02.

3.850 motion and appeal

On 09/16/03, Philmore filed a 3.850 Motion to the Circuit Court, which was denied on 05/13/04. On 06/14/04, Philmore filed a 3.850 Appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.

In the 3.850 appeal, Philmore asserted that the trial court erred in denying several claims of ineffective counsel (during pre-indictment trial, jury selection, penalty phase, and in conceding Philmore’s guilt). The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s denial of Philmore’s 3.850 Motion on 06/15/06.

Habeas petition

On 02/09/05, Philmore filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus to the Florida Supreme Court. Philmore raised claims that the trial failed to consider:

1. expert testimony,
2. the constitutionality of Florida’s death penalty statute,
3. ineffective assistance of trial counsel,
4. jury instructions, and
5. competency at the time of execution (violation of his Eighth Amendment rights).

The Petition was denied on 06/15/06.

Other details

• Philmore and Spann had picked up their girlfriends before the carjacking.
• Perron had offered to give Philmore $40 she had with her.
• Philmore took Perron’s rings and stored them in the armrest of the Lexus.
• The bank robbery involved $1100 taken from the teller.
• After the tire blew out on the Lexus, the group hid in a nearby orange grove.
• The undercover police vehicle led to a high-speed chase on Interstate 95.
• Philmore discarded a tank top with Perron’s blood on it out of the car window.
• Philmore wanted to go to a house because he had left his shoes there.
• The orange grove manager discovered them and directed authorities where to find them.
• Philmore took police to the spot they had left Perron’s body on 11/21/97.
• Case identifiers included: SC00-1706 opinion SC04-1036 & SC05-250, and DC# 314648.