JACKSONVILLE, FL - On Tuesday, June 24th, Duval County Circuit Judge Jeb Branham refused to grant a new trial or resentencing hearing for a Florida death row inmate that was convicted of murdering a husband and wife back in 1993.
Michael Bell, 54, is scheduled to be executed on July 15th, Jax Today reported, and according to the media outlet, Bell can appeal the decision to the Florida Supreme Court.
The judge's order follows an evidentiary hearing that took place on Monday, June 23rd, during which two witnesses who were expected to state that their decades-old trial testimony was based on lies forced on them by police, changed course, and suddenly refused to recant.
Judge Branham said that the witnesses' refusal to recant amounted to a "fatal" turnabout in Bell's defense, but his order did not mention that they were also told they could be charged with perjury had they recanted — a dilemma Bell's lawyers said amounted to a threat.
The two witnesses, Henry Edwards and Charles Jones, allegedly told investigators for Bell's legal team that their testimony in Bell's 1995 trial was false.
They allegedly said that they were coerced and threatened by JSO Detective William Bolena or prosecutor George Bateh to make the statements, according to sworn affidavits each of them signed as reported by the Tributary.
The two men were expected to testify to that on Monday, June 23rd, but abruptly reversed course after Branham refused to grant them immunity and instead appointed them attorneys to advise them on the consequences of committing perjury.
Edwards said he was confused when he signed an affidavit describing his prior testimony just one week before the evidentiary hearing, critical to the case against Bell, as false.
He said he thought the visitors to his home asking him questions about the man he helped put on death row were authors putting together a fictionalized movie script based on the 1993 murder.
He said this despite the visitors' later testifying that they clearly identified themselves as investigators for Bell's defense team. Jones also signed an affidavit the prior week recanting his trial testimony implicating Bell.
Both men claimed they had been coerced to lie 30 years earlier and that they were now wracked with guilt over Bell's impending execution.
The evidentiary hearing came two weeks after Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant scheduling Bell's execution.
Appellate attorney Bob Norgard argued that the witnesses should be granted immunity in the spirit of justice.
That argument was rejected and Jones repeatedly said "Fifth Amendment" when asked to confirm each sentence of his affidavit.
Norgard objected to Branham allowing the witnesses to use the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as a "blanket" protection.
During his testimony, Edwards told Norgard that he thought they were discussing a movie script.
"We developed evidence that witnesses were pressured, threatened to testify (in the 1995 trial) and now, when they want to come forward and tell the truth, they're threatened with perjury based on police misconduct and prosecutor misconduct," Norgard said.
In their closing statements, prosecutors pointed to Jones and Edwards's refusal in court to recant, saying Bell's defense had proved nothing that merited undoing Bell's conviction.
"It is disheartening that witnesses, whose testimony could save Michael Bell's life, appeared hesitant to give their full testimony and set the record straight after three decades due to fear of being prosecuted for perjury," Jacksonville attorney Melanie Kalmanson said in a statement.
"Effectively, the threat of perjury charges silenced the truth in Michael Bell's case today."
