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Slaying results in death penalty
By CHASE SQUIRES, Times Staff Writer DADE CITY -- Faunce Levon Pearce didn't flinch, speak or show the slightest emotion as Circuit Judge Maynard Swanson sentenced him to die Thursday for his role in a 1999 roadside murder. Usually defiant, known for slinging allegations and barbs at the court, Pearce sat quietly as Swanson read a 20-minute, 20-page sentencing document condemning the 39-year-old handyman to death for the September 1999 murder of 17-year-old Robert Crawford III. "The killing of Robert Crawford was a gangland execution emulating the exploits of the notorious killers of old," Swanson said. Pearce "was clearly the mastermind for the plan that resulted in the death of Crawford," he said. The death sentence is the third ordered by Swanson in less than a year. Crawford's family members, sitting in the front row of Swanson's courtroom, clenched their fists in victory when the judge pronounced the death sentence. The teen's father, Robert Jr., allowed himself a slight smile. "It's the culmination of 21/2 years," he said. "It's like a valentine." Crawford's grandfather, Robert Sr., said he would follow Pearce's case through the appeals process, "as long as I live." Pearce was convicted in July of first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in the shootings of Land O'Lakes High School students Stephen Tuttle, then 16, and Crawford. Tuttle survived the attack. Investigators say Pearce had enlisted the teens to buy $1,000 worth of the drug LSD for him. When the teens lost Pearce's money to deceptive acquaintances, Pearce summoned Lawrence Joey Smith, 24, and two other gunmen. The men ordered the boys into Pearce's car, and Pearce drove them to a remote State Road 54 location in the early hours of Sept. 14. Smith ordered Tuttle from the car, then shot him in the head. Left for dead, Tuttle survived to testify against the men. Pearce drove a couple of hundred yards down the road, where Crawford was ordered from the car. He pleaded briefly for his life before Smith shot him twice, killing him. A jury recommended Pearce's execution by a 10-2 vote. Although Pearce didn't pull the trigger, Swanson ruled he planned the shootings, handing Smith the murder weapon and orchestrated the events. "He might as well have pulled the trigger," prosecutor Phil Van Allen said. "Because if it weren't for him, none of this would have happened." Although Pearce didn't speak at his sentencing, he has been vocal throughout his case. Early on, he feuded with his appointed attorneys until a judge let them off the case. He told a judge that Smith deserved to die for the shootings. Pearce accused the courts of railroading him. He ridiculed his attorneys, A.J. Ivie and Mark Ware, the second set to represent him in this case. And in his latest letter -- revealed by Swanson after Thursday's sentencing but mailed to the judge in October -- Pearce wrote, "I am innocent of this crime." In the letter, he lambasted the judge even as Swanson pondered his fate. "You have railroaded me, now finish your job, or maybe I should be writing to your superior, Mr. Van Allen," Pearce wrote. "Please skip all the games and sentence me so I can get my appeals going." He signed the letter, "No respect intended: Faunce L. Pearce." Pearce is the third man sentenced to death in Swanson's courtroom over the past year. Last summer, Swanson sentenced to death Pearce's cohort, Smith, as well as Michael Peter Fitzpatrick, 39, convicted in a 1996 rape and murder. After the sentence was read Thursday and the judge pronounced, "May God have mercy on your soul," Pearce was fingerprinted. He nodded once to Ware and was led away. State law guarantees him an appeal.
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