State Supreme Court rejects motion for rehearing in Deltona death penalty case
In a 5-1 decision, the Florida Supreme Court denied a motion to rehear the case of a Volusia County man sentenced to death, according to a ruling released Thursday.
The state Supreme Court in a previous 5-1 ruling affirmed the death sentence for Christian Cruz for a 2013 Deltona kidnapping and murder.
Cruz and Justen Charles teamed up to kidnap and kill 25-year-old Christopher Jemery on Aug. 26, 2013.
The men were both convicted of first-degree murder and other charges in two separate trials by two separate juries.
Charles’ jury recommended life; Cruz’s jury recommended death.
Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano followed the jury recommendation and sentenced Cruz to death during a hearing at the S. James Foxman Justice Center.
But in Charles’ case, Zambrano by law had to follow the jury’s recommendation and sentence Charles to life.
Chief Justice Carlos G. Muniz, Justices Charles T. Canady, John D. Couriel, Jamie R. Grosshans and Renatha Francis concurred in the initial ruling affirming the death sentence and in rejecting the motion for rehearing. Justice Meredith Sasso did not participate.
Justice Jorge Labarga dissented in the initial ruling as he did in the motion for rehearing for the same reason, writing that he disagreed with the majority view that it was prohibited from reviewing “proportionality” in death penalty cases.
Cruz remains on death row and no execution is scheduled.
Deltona kidnapping and killing
According to prosecutors, Cruz and Charles planned to rob a small-time drug dealer. That's who they apparently expected to find on April 26, 2013, when they burst into a unit at the Belltower Apartments in Deltona. They instead found Jemery, who had been staying in the apartment but had nothing to do with illegal drugs.
Cruz and Charles beat Jemery, leaving a behind pool of blood in the apartment. They then bound Jemery with wire and duct tape, tossed him in the trunk of his car and drove him to an industrial park in Sanford. Next to some brush beyond a parking lot, someone used a .22-caliber pistol to shoot Jemery in the head.
Charles' girlfriend testified at his trial that she had seen Cruz with a .22-caliber gun.
Jemery was barely alive when he was found, and later died. Investigators also found one of Cruz's fingerprints on the duct tape used to bind Jemery.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida Supreme Court rejects rehearing in Deltona death penalty case
