Law Office of Steve Whitworth

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Almost all day, Crosley Green had remained upbeat.
Even as his final hours of freedom ticked away Sunday, the 65-year-old called his return to prison a “vacation” and reassured his teary-eyed fiancee that their wedding would still happen one day. He ate strawberry ice cream at midnight and vowed hours later, as he began a schedule packed with media interviews and visits from family and friends, to have his best day yet.
But when Green stood behind the lectern at the small church he’d attended weekly since his release, he stifled a cry and turned away. He wiped his eyes with a tissue handed to him by the 7-year-old nephew who followed him everywhere. Then he soldiered on — just as he always did.
“I’m okay,” he said. “I can do this; let me show y’all. Be strong with me. I’m in God’s hands.”
The Floridian had spent 32 years in prison after being convicted in the 1989 killing of 21-year-old Charles “Chip” Flynn, whose ex-girlfriend said “a Black guy” kidnapped the two of them and shot Flynn. In 2021, a federal judge ordered Green’s release after ruling that the prosecutor had withheld handwritten notes revealing deputies initially suspected someone else: the ex-girlfriend. Green, who always denied involvement in the killing, walked out of prison gray-haired, his children long since grown.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) appealed, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the conviction, saying the withheld evidence wouldn’t have been admissible in court. Just under two years after he was allowed out on house arrest, Green was ordered by a judge to turn himself in to the state Department of Corrections.
He’s scheduled to do so late Monday afternoon, the court-imposed deadline. Barring clemency or parole — two long-shot options his attorneys are still pursuing — he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
“I’ve never thought the system was perfect,” said Keith Harrison of Washington-based Crowell & Moring, who has represented Green pro bono since 2008. “I don’t think, though, I realized just how tough it is to correct the wrong.”
But while Green’s supporters rallied around him Sunday — joining him in prayer at church, attending a luncheon at a riverfront hotel and circulating a petition calling for him to be freed — a couple 10 miles away was adamant that the jury got it right all those years ago.
Kim Hallock Landers, the ex-girlfriend Flynn was with during the last hours of his life, said in some of her first public comments in years that she was “exhausted” after decades of re-litigating the case and having blame cast upon her.
“I’m tired of being beat down by the media,” she said at her home in Titusville. “I’m sick of it. I testified to the truth. [Green] needs to go back to where he belongs.”
She added: “I’ve been told I’m the one that did it. And I did not kill anybody.”
Jeff Landers, who described Green as a “coldblooded killer,” said his wife still wakes up screaming, reliving the night Flynn died.
According to the account the then-19-year-old woman gave police, she and Flynn spent the early morning hours of April 4, 1989, smoking ma*****na and discussing their relationship while sitting in his Chevy pickup truck in Holder Park. Suddenly, while Flynn was relieving himself outside, a stranger appeared wielding a handgun.
Hallock said she grabbed Flynn’s gun from the glove box and hid it under a pair of jeans. Meanwhile, the man ordered Flynn to his knees and demanded money, then tied his hands behind his back and forced him into the pickup. Still pointing the gun, he drove the couple to an orange grove.
As their assailant was yanking her out of the truck, Hallock said, she broke free. Flynn, hands still tied, got hold of the hidden gun. He fell to the ground while exiting the truck, then tried firing at the man. Seeing a chance to escape, Hallock jumped into the Chevy. She heard gunshots as she sped away, not stopping until she reached a friend’s house three miles away and called 911.
After a half-hour of searching, Brevard County deputies came upon the crime scene. Flynn lay bloodied and facedown in the grove, his hands tied, a revolver five feet away.
“Get me out of here. I want to go home” was Flynn’s only response when the deputies asked what had happened. By the time the ambulance arrived, he was dead, his killer unknown.
Investigators soon zeroed in on Green. Then 31, he had served time in prison after a 1977 armed robbery in New York. He’d taken on a fatherly role in his family after his parents’ deaths; everyone called him “Papa.”
A police dog picked up the scent of shoe prints in Holder Park and tracked it to a house where Green sometimes stayed, authorities said. Two tipsters reported that he resembled a police sketch. When Hallock picked Green out of a lineup of six Black men, he was arrested.
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At trial, three people who have since recanted testified that Green had confessed to the shooting. The all-white jury convicted Green of murder. A judge sentenced him to death.
“This is a case of a racial hoax: a situation where something bad happened, somebody said a Black guy did it, and they just went looking for a Black guy,” Harrison said.
From behind bars, Green challenged his conviction and sentence. In 2009, after 19 years on death row, he was resentenced to life in prison.
He took his fight to the federal level five years later, petitioning the U.S. Middle District of Florida to overturn his conviction on the grounds that his constitutional rights were violated. Green’s attorneys argued that prosecutor Chris White’s handwritten notes from a conversation with the initial on-scene investigators could have led to a different verdict.
“Mark & Diane suspect girl did it, she changed her story couple times … she 1st said she tied his hands behind his back,” the notes read.
In 2018, Judge Roy Dalton Jr. of the Middle District of Florida ruled that the notes were “clearly material,” adding that it was “difficult to conceive of information more material to the defense.” He ordered the state to release or retry Green.
Moody’s appeal kept him behind bars until 2021, when Dalton ordered that Green be let out on house arrest amid the coronavirus pandemic. Under a night sky, Green was released from prison and into the embraces of his family.
Their relief would be short-lived. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit put Green’s conviction back into effect in April last year, and when the U.S. Supreme Court in February declined to hear the case, Green was out of appeals. He learned last month that he would have to return to custody.
“I asked God, ‘How long this time?’ ” he said. “How long would it be for this time?”
The past two years have been Green’s closest brush with freedom in more than three decades. While on house arrest at his brother-in-law’s place, an ankle monitor tracked his every move, ensuring that he didn’t wander beyond approved locations: his full-time job in manufacturing, the grocery store, church.
Most of the time, Green couldn’t go beyond the mailbox, but his large circle of family and friends could still drop by; he grew close with the youngest generation of Greens, including the nephew everyone said looked just like him.
And he found “one of the things I prayed for if I ever got out: to meet someone I could share my life with.” Mutual acquaintances set him up with Katherine Spikes, a self-described “workaholic” who wasn’t looking for anyone until she met Green.
The second time he called, they talked for the duration of her drive across the country to see family. On their first date, he asked her to pull her car into the driveway so he could open the door. Later, he picked out a ring over the phone.
Spikes said Sunday that she was trying to look at her fiance’s return to prison the same way he was: a vacation with an unknown end date. But it wasn’t easy.
“I worry about 5 o’clock, because that’s the time he calls me,” she said, starting to cry. “We figure out what we’re going to eat for dinner, if ‘Monday Night Raw’ is coming on or ‘Smackdown.’ So it’s a lot I have adjusted myself to, because I love him so much.”
Green’s attorneys insist they won’t stop fighting until he’s free, with Harrison saying that “if you’re never going to give up, then any hurdle that you run into is just simply that. It’s just a hurdle.”
For now, Green said he will walk back into prison with “no tears in my eyes,” convinced that he can get through it again. And that, despite all the odds against him, it won’t be forever.
“I know one thing,” he said. “I believe I’m going to be free again. I got to believe that the good Lord is behind me and that I’m going to walk out those doors again.”

Gunshot residue (GSR) is a type of forensic evidence that can be collected from a suspect or a crime scene and analyzed to determine if the individual has fired a gun [ or been near gun that has been fired or touched by a person who has fired a gun... ]

The analysis involves testing for the presence of various particles, such as lead, barium, and antimony, that are typically found in gunshot residue.

While GSR evidence can be useful in some cases, its efficacy can be limited due to a number of factors.

For example, the presence of GSR on an individual's hands or clothing does not necessarily prove that they fired a gun, as the particles can be transferred through secondary contact with other objects or people.

Additionally, the presence of GSR can be affected by factors such as the type of firearm used, the distance between the shooter and the target, and the number of shots fired.

Furthermore, GSR analysis can be subject to human error and biases, and the interpretation of the results can be complex and require specialized expertise.

As a result, GSR evidence is typically used in conjunction with other forms of evidence, such as witness testimony, ballistics analysis, and DNA testing, to build a more comprehensive case.

GSR forensic evidence can be useful in some cases, its efficacy can be limited by various factors, and it is typically used in combination with other forms of evidence to build a stronger case.

Don't let the "mystique" of GSR be a factor in a case as serious a Gun case, Homicide case, or Attempted Homicide case involving a gun.

A primary tool in cross-examination of any witness or direct examination of your own witness is this underused part of the California Evidence code...

California Code, Evidence Code - EVID § 412

"If weaker and less satisfactory evidence is offered when it was within the power of the party to produce stronger and more satisfactory evidence, the evidence offered should be viewed with distrust."

Make the witness corroborate their testimony with documentation or other indicia of "proof."

"California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law a bill that provides death-row prisoners relief from convictions or death sentences obtained “on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin.”
The California Racial Justice Act for All applies the provisions of the state’s 2020 Racial Justice Act to people previously convicted of felonies. The original law applied only to criminal cases in which the trial court judgment was issued on or after January 1, 2021.
The expanded Racial Justice Act (AB 256) and a second bill that would remove from death row those individuals deemed permanently mentally incompetent (AB 2657) were among 118 bills Newsom signed without fanfare on September 29, 2022 at the close of the California legislation session.
The 2022 racial justice bill creates a staggered timeline for prisoners to apply for relief. Death-sentenced prisoners and people facing deportation will be eligible first, beginning on January 1, 2023. Separated by one-year intervals, eligibility will expand to people incarcerated for felonies, people convicted with a felony after 2015, and lastly people with older convictions, including those no longer incarcerated.
“When we passed the Racial Justice Act, we did so with a promise to not leave behind those with past criminal convictions and sentences that were tainted by systemic racial bias, both explicit and implicit, in our courts,” said Assemblymember Ash Kalra, the bill’s sponsor. “There is still much work to be done, but now AB 256 will provide a valuable tool to meaningfully address the stark racial disparities in our sentencing history,”
Natasha Minsker, Policy Advisor for Smart Justice California, praised the enactment of the bill. “AB 256 reaffirms that racism requires redress. No one should be on death row, deported, or in prison because of racism in our courts,” she said.
In his end of session actions, Newsom also vetoed 47 bills, including AB 2632, which would have limited the use of solitary confinement in California’s prisons. In his veto message, the governor noted “the deep need to reform California’s use of segregated confinement” but said the reform measure passed by the legislature went too far. “I am directing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to develop regulations that would restrict the use of segregated confinement except in limited situations, such as where the individual has been found to have engaged in violence in the prison,” Newsom said.
AB 2657 requires courts to vacate the death sentences of people who have become permanently incompetent to be executed. It classifies a person as “incompetent to be executed” if, “due to mental illness or disorder, an incarcerated person is unable to rationally understand either the punishment the incarcerated person is about to suffer or why the incarcerated person is to suffer it.” To qualify as permanently mentally incompetent, the death-sentenced prisoner must be both “presently incompetent to be executed” and “The nature of the mental illness or disorder giving rise to incompetence is such that the incarcerated person’s competence to be executed is unlikely to ever be restored.” "

In an imperfect world, with an imperfect system, run by imperfect beings... This appears to make sense....

Senate Bill 775 and What It Means for California Inmates

October 2021, California’s Governor, Governor Newsom, signed Senate Bill 775 (SB 775) into law.
SB 775 is directly related to Bill SB 1437. Which changes how felony Before the passage of SB 775, SB 1437 prevented prosecutors from charging someone with felony murder if they were “not the actual killer, did not act with the intent to kill, or was not a major participant in the underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference to human life."
However, SB 1437 left inmates convicted of attempted murder or manslaughter without any means to challenge their convictions. Even worse, SB 1437 left out individuals who were facing homicide convictions (first- or second-degree homicide) and opted to comply with prosecutors by taking a plea deal to a lesser offense.
SB 775 modifies SB 1437, potentially allowing relief to defendants charged with “Attempted Homicide” or “Manslaughter.”
What Is SB 775?
SB 775: The bill extends relief under SB 1437 when the prosecution proceeded on a theory of felony murder or murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine. SB 775 includes those convicted of attempted murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine as well as those convicted of manslaughter.
However, SB 1437 still allowed for someone tangentially involved in a crime resulting in a killing but wasn’t aware or actually involved in the killing to be prosecuted for murder based on their participation in the underlying crime that led to the killing.
Problems with SB 1437 is that it failed to consider the practical realities of facing a California homicide charge.
Defendants who were present / participated in a felony but whose conduct did not result in the loss of life may plead guilty to a lesser offense rather than facing charges of felony murder at trial.
However, by doing so, these defendants remove themselves from the class of people whom SB 1437 applies, effectively insulating their case from SB 1437 relief.
Under SB 775, anyone convicted of felony murder, attempted murder, or manslaughter but was not a “major participant who acted with reckless indifference to human life” may petition the court for a resentencing hearing.

Contact our office for more information about this important piece of relief under the umbrella of SB 1437 et seq.

Sacramento California: The Board, at its Dec. 8, 2022, meeting, directed staff to continue implementation of jail population reduction plans and new construction to address jail facility deficiencies, to continue Mays Consent Decree compliance.

The Mays Consent Decree requires a remedial plan in which the County focuses on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, mental health care and medical care, among other issues.

The Board recommended Option 1A, provided by County staff, to construct an Intake and Health Services Facility on the Main Jail’s Surface Lot. The facility will provide a building addition on adjacent, existing County property to accommodate the Consent Decree requirements that cannot be met in the Main Jail.

Plans for the facility include a new booking loop, medical clinic, and medical housing, as well as the housing units for patients requiring higher levels of mental health care (Acute Inpatient Unit and Intensive Outpatient Program).

As the design and construction of an Intake and Health Services Facility is estimated to take five years, compliance with the Consent Decree will be improved by two additional and related construction projects that can be completed more quickly.

First, the County will need to construct two control rooms at the Rio Cosumnes Correction Center (RCCC). These control rooms will provide higher-level security monitoring for barracks C, D, G, and H. Once completed, barracks C, D, G, and H at RCCC will be sufficiently secure to accommodate the inmates currently housed in the 3rd floor, 300 West Pod at the Main Jail.

The 3rd floor, 300 West Pod may then be converted to an acute psychiatric unit (known as the “3P Project”). Together, these projects are expected to take 32 months to complete.

The Board also directed staff to move forward with 33 jail population reduction plans, including 15 plans that will require additional partnerships and funding for full implementation. Over time, these plans are expected to reduce the average daily population of the jail system by 600-700.

The population reduction plans are focused on both prevention and intervention, ensuring that those interacting with the justice system are provided with the necessary supports and services at every step. These plans include the removal of federal detainees, expansion of pretrial release and support programs, reduced warrants and Probation violations, expanded collaborative and diversion court programs, improved reentry and jail release processes, expanded data-sharing, and a commitment to critical partnerships with local Law Enforcement Agencies and the Superior Court. All 33 Jail Population Reduction Plans can be viewed on the County’s Public Safety and Justice Agency website.

Cost estimates and timelines for planned jail population reduction efforts will come before the Board at a meeting in Spring 2023.

California’s death row — the largest in the country — will be dismantled within two years, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on January 31, 2022.
Under Newsom’s plan, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) will transfer the men on death row in San Quentin State Prison to other maximum security state prisons. San Quentin’s death row will be repurposed and transformed “into something innovative and anchored in rehabilitation,” corrections’ spokeswoman Vicky Waters told The Associated Press. Waters said CDCR has no plans to repurpose the $853,000 never-used ex*****on chamber located elsewhere in the prison.
The housing transfer implements a provision of Proposition 66, a 2016 voter initiative that was intended — but failed — to shorten the death penalty appeals process. A lesser-known portion of the proposition allowed CDCR to transfer death-row prisoners to other facilities “that provide[] the necessary level of security,” require those who are transferred to work prison jobs, and designate 70% of their wages as restitution to victims’ families. A pilot program for moving death-row prisoners out of San Quentin that began in early 2020 has already moved 116 death-sentenced men into other prisons in the state and has already raised $49,000 for victims’ families.
The 21 women on death row at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla will be provided the option to move to less restrictive housing within that prison and participate in rehabilitation and work programs. Eight have already done so, CDCR said.
Newsom imposed a moratorium on ex*****ons in California in March 2019, shut down the state’s ex*****on chamber, and ended efforts at creating a legally defensible ex*****on protocol. At a press conference announcing the decision to dismantle death row he said, “I think premeditated murder is wrong, in all its forms and manifestation, including government-sponsored premeditated murder. I don’t support the death penalty, never have.”
“The prospect of your ending up on death row has more to do with your wealth and race than it does your guilt or innocence,” Newsom said. “We talk about justice, we preach justice, but as a nation, we don’t practice it on death row.”
Stanford Law professor Robert Weisberg, the co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, called Newsom’s prisoner transfer plan “a matter of political symbolism — get into the voters’ mind the idea that we don’t need the death penalty anymore. He’s making a kind of cultural and moral statement,” Weisberg said.
State prosecutors attempted to downplay the significance of Newsom’s action. “This is an administrative decision,” Greg Totten, chief executive of the California District Attorneys Association, said. “It’s not a policy decision on capital punishment.”
The CDCR website reported that, as of January 5, 2022, there were 694 prisoners on California’s death row. The state has not executed anyone since 2006. Although California voters have twice narrowly defeated ballot initiatives to repeal the state’s death penalty, a 2021 UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies/Los Angeles Times poll of California voters found that 44% said they would vote to repeal the death penalty, with 35% opposed and 21% undecided. 48% said they supported Newsom’s moratorium on ex*****ons, with 33% opposed.
In November 2021, the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code, created by an act of the California state legislature to review the state’s criminal laws, issued a report unanimously recommending that the state repeal its death penalty.

San Francisco lawmaker proposes CAREN Act, making racially biased 911 calls illegal CAREN would designate discriminatory bogus police calls as hate crimes and provide civil remedy for victims, Supervisor Shamann Walton says.

Capitol riot suspect transferred to another jail so he can eat organic meals His lawyer said the so-called "QAnon Shaman," who is facing federal felony charges, had not eaten in more than nine days.

Former police officer Adam Coy charged with murder in death of Andre Hill Coy has been arrested and charged with one count of murder, one count of felonious assault, and two counts of dereliction duty.

Biden orders DOJ to end private prison contracts as part of racial equity push

Biden orders end of federally run private prisons President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered the Department of Justice to end its reliance on private prisons and acknowledge the central role government has played in implementing discriminatory...

Virginia moves toward banning capital punishment, in a shift for prolific death penalty state — The Washington Post A bill to end the practice has advanced in the state Senate and has backing from Gov. Ralph Northam.

Fatal Police Shootings Of Unarmed Black People Reveal Troubling Patterns — NPR Since 2015, police officers have fatally shot at least 135 unarmed Black people nationwide. The majority of officers were white, and for at least 15 of them, the shootings weren't their first or last.

"False reporting, failures to book evidence...the real work is just beginning." 👀

O.C. district attorney drops or reduces charges in 67 cases over mishandled evidence Mishandled evidence leads Orange County D.A. to drop or reduce charges in dozens of cases involving assault, drug possession and weapon smuggling.