State: High court puts man's execution on hold

High court puts man's execution on hold

Terry Sims' death is postponed while the state Supreme Court hears new evidence. A Wednesday execution also may be delayed.

By JO BECKER

TALLAHASSEE -- One scheduled execution was delayed Monday and another could be put off in last-minute legal wrangling over what would be the first use of Florida's electric chair since killer Tiny Davis was put to death in a bloody July spectacle.

Less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to die, the state Supreme Court on Monday delayed the execution of Terry Sims after his lawyers argued they have new evidence of his innocence and prosecutors' wrongdoing.

Sims, 57, was convicted for the 1977 murder of an off-duty reserve sheriff's deputy during an Orlando-area robbery. The justices delayed Sims' execution until Nov. 2 at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the original trial lawyer for Anthony Bryan, who is scheduled to die on Wednesday, made a last-minute confession to Bryan's current attorneys: For the first time, he admitted in an affidavit obtained Sunday night that he was an alcoholic who was drinking daily and made numerous errors during his representation of Bryan from 1983 to 1989.

"The information contained in this affidavit dealing with alcoholism is difficult to disclose," wrote attorney Ted Stokes, who still practices in Milton. "However, my longstanding abstinence from alcohol, the emphasis on honesty in my 12-step programs and my conscience dictate that I come forward before Tony Bryan is executed and tell the complete truth regarding my representation of him."

Bryan, 40, was sent to death row in 1986 for murdering a Mississippi night watchman who had loaned him some tools to fix a stolen boat. Bryan tied him up, threw him in the back of his own car, drove him to Santa Rosa and shot him in the head.

The state Supreme Court has scheduled arguments in both cases for today. Bryan and Sims also have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether the electric chair violates the U.S. Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

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The Florida Supreme Court ruled on that issue after Allen "Tiny" Davis suffered a nosebleed during his execution. In a 4-3 decision in September, the court ruled that the electric chair was constitutional, as it did in 1997.

Should Bryan's execution go forward, a lawyer representing 57 inmates on death row asked the state Supreme Court on Monday to ensure that photographs are taken, as they were in Davis' case, and that an independent doctor be present at the autopsy should anything go wrong.

Bryan's attorneys will argue today that new evidence suggests that he was insane at the time of the crime, that prosecutors did not disclose key evidence and that he was poorly represented by Stokes. They say that a lower court erred when it summarily dismissed Bryan's claims on Oct. 21.

Since that decision, Stokes has come forward. Stokes wrote that the night before he put Bryan on the stand, he was "anxious and nervous" about his participation in his first capital trial. He said he downed several drinks before meeting with his client to prepare him. He also said he failed to review a key tape made by law enforcement officials that was used at the trial, and should have more actively questioned the state's key witness, Sharon Cooper, about Bryan's state of mind.

Bryan's new lawyer, Andy Thomas, said he has located Cooper, who was with Bryan when he committed the crime, after years of searching.

"She told us he was suffering from major depression, not eating, drinking and constantly smoking marijuana," Thomas said. "He couldn't premeditate going outside, much less murdering someone."

Thomas said the jury, which voted for death by the margin of one juror, might have sentenced him to life instead, had they known that.

Bryan's four children, ranging in age from 16 to 23, his half-sister and uncle met with Gov. Jeb Bush's lawyers Monday to plead for clemency. Two of his children hugged General Counsel Carol Licko, while Bryan's half-sister spoke of how his belief in God has been an inspiration to his family.

Licko said she would advise the governor, who was out of town Monday, of the family's plea.

In Sims' case, lawyers are arguing that they presented undisputed new testimony to a lower court that the state's key witness admitted lying in court when he pointed the finger at Sims and later told witnesses that another man committed the murder. In addition, Sims' lawyers argue, the state improperly suppressed a police report that could have been used to help prove Sims' innocence.