Hertz, Looney case delayed
The Florida Supreme Court issues a stay on Monday just as jury selection is getting underway in the death penalty case
Guerry Wayne Hertz and Jason Looney
By WILLIAM SNOWDEN Editor
The Florida Supreme Court issued a stay in the death penalty phase of the Guerry Wayne Hertz and Jason Looney murder trial just as jury selection was about to get underway on Monday, June 19.
Defense attorneys for Hertz and Looney filed motions at the Supreme Court on Sunday, June 18, requesting an emergency stay on grounds that the case should not be moving forward under the 8-4 standard for a jury recommendation for death.
In 1999, Hertz and Looney were found guilty of the 1997 murders of Melanie King and Keith Spears. By a vote of 10-2, the jury recommended death, which was ordered by the court. Hertz and Looney have been on death row since 1999.
(A third man involved in the murders, Jimmy Dempsey, testified against Hertz and Looney at the trial in exchange for a sentence of life in prison.)
Since the conviction, the U.S. Supreme Court found that Florida’s death penalty statute was inadequate because it failed to have jurors make a unanimous finding that aggravating factors exist that would qualify the defendant for the death penalty.
The Florida Supreme Court weighed in that a unanimous jury recommendation for death is required. After a change in justices, the new Supreme Court contended that decision was wrong. Prompted by Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz not getting a 12-0 recommendation for death, the state Legislature weighed in during the recent lawmaking session and set the bar at an 8-4 jury recommendation for death.
Wakulla Circuit Court Judge Layne Smith had ruled the Hertz-Looney jury would face the 8-4 standard.
The Hertz-Looney attorneys asked the Supreme Court for direction on death cases going forward.
Assistant State Attorney Eddie Evans, who is heading the prosecution of Hertz and Looney, said that Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office did not object to the motion – in consultation with the state attorney’s office – in order to get clarity on the matter.
(As chief Wakulla prosecutor back in 1999, Evans prosecuted the case with then-State Attorney Willie Meggs.)
The clerk’s office had sent out jury summonses to 300 citizens, with 100 ordered to report on Monday morning, another 100 Monday afternoon, and 100 on Tuesday morning with the goal to seat 12 jurors and two alternates.
On July 26, 1997, Hertz, Looney, and Dempsey were bored and walking around looking for a way to get to Tallahassee. A woman who lived approximately 500 yards from the Spears-King home said that, at approximately 2 a.m., Hertz came to her home requesting to use her telephone because “his truck had broken down.” She refused and the three men resumed their walk up the road towards the home of King and Spears.
Acting as a decoy, Dempsey and Hertz knocked on the front door and asked if they could use a telephone. King gave them a cordless telephone and Dempsey pretended to make a call. When Dempsey started to hand the phone back to King, Hertz forced his way into the home at gunpoint.
Looney entered after him and targeted Spears with his rifle. King and Spears were forced face down on their bed after being bound and gagged with duct tape. After stealing various items and loading the stolen goods into the victims’ two vehicles, Hertz and Looney decided that they could not leave witnesses and then informed Dempsey of their plan.
King told the defendants that she would “rather die being burnt up than shot.”
She then stated, “Please, God, don’t shoot me in the head.” Hertz replied, “Sorry, can’t do that,” before he shot her. Looney started firing and was followed by Dempsey. Both King and Spears died as a result of the gunshot wounds.
After the shootings, the house was set afire. Looney drove away in the victims’ Ford Mustang with Dempsey as a passenger, while Hertz drove the victims’ white Ford Ranger.
Hertz, Looney, and Dempsey then drove to Daytona Beach where they were involved in a shootout after a police pursuit. Looney and Dempsey abandoned the Mustang and were arrested as they were fleeing the scene. Hertz suffered a gunshot wound to the head and paid $100 for a cab-ride to his aunt’s St. Augustine home. Hertz was arrested that day and police discovered Spears’ 9mm gun in Hertz’s bag.
