TALLAHASSEE, FL - An inmate on Florida's death row has just a week left before his scheduled execution for his conviction in the heinous 1994 murder of Carmen Gayheart. The inmate, Anthony Floyd Wainwright, has filed an emergency motion for a stay of execution with the Florida Supreme Court, according to Tampa Free Press.
Wainwright was convicted of the 1994 kidnapping, rape, and murder of Gayheart. A 1995 sentencing order by Circuit Judge E. Vernon Douglas states that Gayheart was abducted at gunpoint from a Winn-Dixie parking lot in Lake City while loading groceries into her car. She was the driven to a wooded area in rural Hamilton County, where she was raped, strangled, and shot twice in the back of the head.
The motion, which was submitted by pro bono counsel Terri L. Backhus, seeks to halt the execution that is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on June 10, to allow for a comprehensive review of what his legal team claims are "pervasive constitutional errors" throughout the case.
Wainwright's death warrant was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on May 9th, just one day after the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Glen Rogers, who was executed on Thursday, May 15th after being convicted for the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs, a 34-year-old mother he had met at a bar, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Wainwright, who is 54-years-old, would be slated as the sixth inmate to be executed in Florida so far this year. The motion for a stay was filed simultaneously with a petition for writ of habeas corpus, urging the Supreme Court to reconsider its previous rulings. Backhus argues that a failure to grant a stay and review the new claims would render Wainwright's execution a "manifest injustice."
The motion states, in part, "Mr. Wainwright is entitled to a stay so that this Court can meaningfully consider the arguments he raises in support of his claim. The petition presents important issues which deserve to be fully addressed by this Court free from the time constraints imposed by the warrant."
Wainwright's counsel contends that there are "serious doubts as to the integrity of the judicial process that produced his death sentence and, as a result, the validity of the death sentence imposed." The filing highlights the alleged critical failings as: ineffective assistance of counsel, flawed DNA evidence, and erroneous jury instructions and arguments.
The motion alleges that there were multiple attorneys who "failed to safeguard Mr. Wainwright's constitutional rights and ability to fully litigate his case." The motion alleges that the DNA evidence used in the original trial has since "called into question the extent of Mr. Wainwright's involvement in the crimes." The motion also alleges that there was "erroneous jury instructions, combined with inflammatory and incorrect closing arguments by both sides that served to stoke the passions of the jury while falsely diminishing their sense of responsibility for the sentence they voted to impose."
Wainwright's legal team also argues that the 32-day period between the signing of the death warrant and the execution date is "inadequate for meaningful review of the meritorious issues presented." To emphasize the need for sufficient time for appellate review, the motion cited Jimenez v. State, where a stay was granted on a 27-day warrant.
The motion cited other cases as precedent, including Chavez v. State and Adbool v. Bondi, asserting that a stay is appropriate when there are "substantial grounds upon which relief might be granted" or when a challenge "casts doubt on his or her guilt, the integrity of the judicial process, or the validity of the death sentence imposed. The case of Johnson v. Singletary was also referenced. In that case, the stay was granted based on newly discovered evidence.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, as of May 30th, there are six executions slated for the month of June across the country. Wainwright is scheduled for June 10th and on June 24th, Thomas Lee Gudinas is scheduled to be executed. Other states that will be executing inmates on death row are Alabama, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
