It's a decision that could prove controversial for opponents of the death penalty, but Warren said his office only considers the punishment in the most severe cases — and only after extensive analysis of the case. He said the process of getting to this point involved reviewing "a mountain of evidence," interviewing the victims' families, studying surveillance videos, investigating crime scenes and other intensive work.
"We did this work as part of the most serious and sobering decision that I make as the state attorney for this community: whether to seek the death penalty,” Warren said. “I've determined that for the murders of Benjamin Mitchell, Monica Hoffa, Anthony Naiboa and Ronald Felton, this office will seek the seek the penalty of death against Howell Donaldson III.”
Multiple times, Warren stressed the deep depravity of the crimes as his basis for even considering the death penalty; how the defendant allegedly shot four people, apparently at random, in October and November of last year.
It was a string of crimes that terrorized southeast Seminole Heights residents for weeks, and garnered national attention.
There was no evidence, Warren said, of a mental illness that would make Donaldson ineligible for the death penalty.
Donaldson was arrested in early December 2017 after a manager at the Ybor City McDonald's franchise at which he worked alerted authorities about a gun he brought into the store and asked that she hold for him.
Questions remain over whether Donaldson's parents will cooperate or continue to refuse to talk to police about their son, though they risk being held in contempt if they continue to decline testimony.
“They have a legal duty to provide that information," Warren said. "The community deserves that information that can shed light on him and his actions and his motives. And as much as I empathize with their terrible situation, they have a legal duty to provide information, the community deserves that information and frankly we owe it to the victims' families to seek it.”
Of course, the decision will likely be subject to politics.
Warren, a Democrat elected to his position in 2016, has been somewhat progressive in his role thus far. Other Democratic State Attorneys throughout Florida have seen political consequences for not seeking death in high-profile homicide cases. Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala, for example, was scorned by Governor Rick Scott and others in her March, 2017 announcement that she would not to seek the death penalty for anyone, even in the severest of cases. Scott then stripped her of her authority to ban the death penalty. She walked back that ban after the Florida Supreme Court sided with Scott on the issue.
Warren said he's aware that it's a controversial issue, but he doesn't want politics to get in the way of his application of laws.
“I understand that some in the community will agree with my decision, some will not. But the decision to seek death is not about what's popular or politically convenient,” Warren said. “My obligation is to thoroughly evaluate the evidence to determine whether there's a legal basis for death and to consider the wishes of the victims' families for how we best achieve justice for their loved ones, and that is exactly what we did.”
This article appears in Jan 18-25, 2018.
