Florida Support Europe
Postbox 3509 Mariero
N-4078 Stavanger
Norway
Florida Support
PO Box 63
Glandorf, OH 45848
USA
January 2005
People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine
when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true
beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old
son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he
said, "God is good, God is great. Thank you for the food, and
I would even thank you more if Mom gets us ice cream for
dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!"
Editor’s Comments……
When I was in high school, reading classics was a required
element. I will never forget the hours spent with a Cliff Notes
and a dictionary, trying to make heads or tails of Elizabethan
English and Julius Caesar. I mean…what 15 year old can
actually have enough life experience, to understand the subtle
nuances of a writer, philosopher, poet and observer of human
nature as skilled as William Shakespeare?
Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I
heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country.
Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for icecream! Why, I never!" Hearing this, my son burst into tears
and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"
As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job
and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman
approached the table. He winked at my son and said, "I
happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."
Shakespeare took reality and shaped it into words called plays
that left each audience member drawing their own conclusions
as to what they had just watched. Reality is 90% perception…
perception is based on individual experience…so our best
Spockian logic dictates, that our realities are ours alone.
"Really?" my son asked. "Cross my heart," the man replied.
Then in a theatrical whisper he added (indicating the woman
whose remark had started this whole thing), " Too bad she
never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the
soul sometimes." Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the
end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then
did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up
his sundae and without a word, walked over and placed it in
front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is
for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes; and my soul
is good already." Author Unknown
In “As You Like It”…Jaques, a libertine-turned-philosopher in
his quest for a new identity, questions much of what he sees
around him. "All the world's a stage, And all the men and
women merely players. They have their exits and their
entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts
being seven ages."
Of late, I have deliberately chosen to become audience…to the
stage around me. I am learning to recognize common body
language that I had ignored. I am beginning to understand the
self absorption that we have created in our technologically
dependent society. I have begun to sense the subconscious
emotions that script the roles we play….and I have to
wonder.....why do we accept these roles? Are we even aware
that we take on the roles? Why must there exist
subterfuge…bitterness… anger… or distrust? Why can we not
choose happiness…peace….trust…or openness? What is
it…that makes us criticize….gossip… ridicule or hurt ? Why
do we judge by our own standards, rather than accepting
another’s standards are right for them? Why…do we judge at
all? I mean…it is our free will choice right? To do or not to
do? To live and let live? Do we become so caught up in being
the player, that we can no longer see who we are, who we
were meant to be? Are we afraid to look into our selves and
find contentment by learning, growing, healing…rather than
focusing on the external theatrics and chaos?
“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next
step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will
find his right road.“ -- Dag Hammarskjold
January Book Drawing Selections: If you have requested a
book from our selections, please let us know when you have
received it. If you are interested in receiving one of the
selections listed, please send your name and the title to the
Florida Support address (Ohio) listed in the header on this
page.
Healing Mantras : Using Sound Affirmations for Personal
Power, Creativity, and Healing by Thom Ashley-Farrand;
Jurors´ Stories of Death by Benjamin Dov Fleury-Steiner
Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz
I have had my entrances and exits…played my parts…as have
we all. With experience under my belt, I have a vastly different
outlook on Shakespeare’s work than did the 15 year old
muddling through Caesar. . I hope…that my acts will be many
more than the seven ages…I hope that I learn with each age,
to look within and like who I am becoming. I hope…I always
remember that a little ice cream is good for the soul.
Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen
GQ Magazine
"To be aware of a single shortcoming within oneself is more useful
than to be aware of a thousand in somebody else." His Holiness The
Dalai Lama
Adonai
1
Florida Support
Pathways
Age Health, “the sleeping prophet”. When Edgar was young,
an angel told him that he would help many people during his
lifetime. At fifteen, he was hit in the spine with a ball. That
night he went into a coma, and when he came out of the coma,
he told his parents that an old monk had appeared to him and
told him how to cure the injury. His parents followed the
monk’s instructions, and Edgar was cured. In his early 20’s,
Cayce lost his voice, but discovered that he could speak in
trance. He induced his own trance to find a cure…his throat
turned bright red, he spat some blood, and when he awoke, he
could talk again.
The human mind is defined and functions in three separate
modes The conscious mind is the reasoning, analytical mind
and holds the critical factor. Will power is created in the
conscious mind. It is interesting to note, that the critical factor
begins forming around age 7 and does not finish forming until
age 11. Prior to age 7, the mind is a sponge, absorbing but
unable to discern by inductive/deductive reasoning. The
critical factor is the gate keeper between the conscious and
subconscious mind. Relaxation of the critical factor facilitates
communication between the conscious and subconscious
minds. The subconscious mind is the feeling, emotional,
biocomputer mind. In this portion of our mind, we store all the
input of the six senses, It has 200,000 times more storage
capacity than any computer. It stores all impressions received,
even under general anesthesia. Priority storage is related to
the emotional severity of an even. High priority memories are
fear and pain, love and joy are low. It is the inner creative
mind and influences the formless substance of the universe to
manifest in alignment with your beliefs. Subconscious takes
everything literally and is a picture consciousness. It is the
doer, and operates within the law of correspondence. The
superconscious is your spiritual center, and is the level of
awareness that connects you to the collective universal mind.
It is a conduit for divine energy/intelligence. It co-mingles with
the mind of God and knows no separation. It is pure
consciousness.
It is outside of time and is creative
intelligence. Superconscious knows how to solve any problem
and is pure potential.
To give a reading, Edgar Cayce would loosen his tie, lie down
on a couch and induce a self-hypnotic trance. When he
reached his deepest trance state, he would answer questions
regarding the condition of the subject.. Cayce could project
himself to a client not at his location. A stenographer recorded
these more than 12,000 of his reading. Cayce stated that his
information was derived from essentially two sources: 1) the
subconscious mind of the individual for whom he was giving
the reading; and, 2) an etheric source of information, called the
"Akashic Records," which is apparently some kind of universal
database for every thought, word, or deed that has ever
transpired in the earth.
Throughout his life, Edgar Cayce claimed no special abilities
nor did he ever consider himself to be some kind of twentiethcentury prophet. The readings never offered a set of beliefs
that had to be embraced, but instead focused on the fact that
each person should test in his or her own life the principles
presented. Though Cayce himself was a Christian and read the
Bible from cover to cover every year of his life, his work was
one that stressed the importance of comparative study among
belief systems all over the world. The underlying principle of
the readings is the oneness of all life, tolerance for all people,
and a compassion and understanding for every major religion
in the worldMore than half a century after his death, Cayce’s
predictions for the future and his readings on the lost continent
of Atlantis receive constant media attention.
Hypnosis is a natural (within everyone’s nature) yet altered
(other than waking consciousness) state of mind where the
critical factor of the mind is relaxed and selective thinking is
maintained. In Western hypnosis, the therapist gives the client
an instruction to enter trance and by following the instructions,
the client self entrances. In Eastern hypnosis, the therapist
wells up their own life force and fills the atmosphere with
trance state. The client then can entrain with that state.
Characterizations of the Hypnotic State
1. Willingness is an emotionalized desire to satisfy the
suggested behavior. It is not physically possible to
hypnotize someone who is unwilling to be hypnotized.
2. Homeostasis is an extraordinary quality of mental,
physical and emotional relaxation. This state is
similar to a deep meditative state and gives the
systems of the body time to balance their functions.
3. Hyper-suggestibility is a heightened responsiveness
to suggestion, direction and instruction.
The model for modern hypnosis was developed by psychiatrist
/psychologist Milton Erickson. Erickson had a natural ability to
bring about dramatic changes in his patients. Erickson was
color blind, dyslexic, tone-dear and arrhythmic. He contracted
polio at seventeen and the disease left him bedridden. Every
day,he would imagine getting out of bed and walking to the
window. His muscles began to respond, and eventually he
walked again. During his lifetime, Milton Erickson became
famous for his amazing 'miracle cures'. Since his death he has
become a legend. Unorthodox psychiatrist, congenial family
doctor, ingenious strategic psychotherapist and master
hypnotherapist, Milton Erickson's influence has revolutionized
Western psychotherapy. Thanks largely to Erickson, the
subject of hypnosis has shed its shackles of superstition and is
now widely recognized as one of the most powerful tools for
change.
The hypnotist has no mystical power over the client. After
almost 30 years of neuropsysiology research, R. Jana, PhD,
has found that hypnosis individuals undergoing hypnotherapy
actually gain greater control over their own body and mind.
Hypnosis is a not truth serum. Hypnosis is experienced as a
dual awareness of mind. In trance, you are aware of the
information held in the subconscious while simultaneously
maintaining connection with the conscious mind. You may edit
or with hold any information from the therapist, and an
individual in trance can lie. Information gained through
hypnosis is not admissible in court. Memories lost to the
conscious mind may be regained during hypnosis, however,
like all other memories, it is a mixture of fact and fiction. The
client is never unconscious and cannot lose control or be
brainwashed. No one can be forced to take a hypnotic
suggestion that is contrary to their moral beliefs. .
The popularity of hypnosis has been steadily increasing over
the last quarter of a century. It is now considered a valuable
tool to bring about positive changes in people’s lives. This
article, gives us a basic understand of the roots of every self
help program that has ever existed. Learning how to use selfhypnosis can enrich lives by habit changing, creating better
health, enhancing creative development and higher psychic
levels. Next month, we will begin offering specific exercises to
facilitate self hypnosis.
Some may know Edgar Cayce (1887-1945), the Father of New
2
Florida Support
Pathways
"Excellence can be attained if you Care more than others think is wise, Risk more
than others think is safe, Dream more than others think is practical, and Expect
more than others think is possible. " Author Unknown
observe yourself, the sky, the trees, and the entire universe as one object. You
no longer see the world as a multitude of parts and disconnected events.
Instead, you accurately perceive the observer and the observed as exactly the
same thing, with no artificial wall of separation blocking the limits of
consciousness. This singular entity becomes acutely aware of itself in all its
vastness. The one cosmic being, as Krishnamurti said, is "beyond time" and is
"untouched by thought." The revered sage Ramana Maharshi described it as
"infinite" and "bigger than the human race."
Monday, January 10, 2005
Researchers find meditation gives brain a super charge
The practice of mental discipline, concentration can change how
mind works, develop awareness.
Classic sitting meditation is a vital part of all meditation traditions Begin by
finding a relatively quiet place to meditate. All forms of classic sitting meditation
should be done in silence with no background music. You can sit cross legged
Asian style on a meditation pillow (never sit directly on the floor) Eyes may be
fully open, half open, or slightly open, letting in just two small slits of
light. Meditating with eyes fully closed is fine as long as the room remains
brightly lit so that enough light passes through the eyelids to keep your brain
alert. Meditating with eyes closed in a darkened room presents fundamental
physiological problems.
By Marc Kaufman / Washington Post
Brain research is beginning to produce concrete evidence for something that
Buddhist practitioners of meditation have maintained for centuries: Mental
discipline and meditative practice can change the workings of the brain and allow
people to achieve different levels of awareness.
Those transformed states have traditionally been understood in transcendent
terms, as something outside the world of physical measurement and objective
evaluation. But over the past few years, researchers at the University of
Wisconsin working with Tibetan monks have been able to translate those mental
experiences into the scientific language of high-frequency gamma waves and
brain synchrony, or coordination. And they have pinpointed the left prefrontal
cortex, an area just behind the left forehead, as the place where brain activity
associated with meditation is especially intense.
"What we found is that the longtime practitioners showed brain activation on
a scale we have never seen before," said Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at
the university's new $10 million W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain
Imaging and Behavior.
Scientists used to believe the opposite -- that connections among brain nerve
cells were fixed early in life and did not change in adulthood. But that assumption
was disproved over the past decade.
Davidson says his newest results from the meditation study, published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in November shows that
mental training through meditation (and presumably other disciplines) can itself
change the inner workings and circuitry of the brain.
The new findings are the result of a long, if unlikely, collaboration between
Davidson and Tibet's Dalai Lama, the world's best-known practitioner of
Buddhism. The Dalai Lama first invited Davidson to his home in Dharamsala,
India, in 1992 after learning about Davidson's innovative research into the
neuroscience of emotions. The Tibetans have a centuries-old tradition of
intensive meditation and, from the start, the Dalai Lama was interested in having
Davidson scientifically explore the workings of his monks' meditating minds
The Dalai Lama ultimately dispatched eight of his most accomplished
practitioners to Davidson's lab to have them hooked up for lectroencephalograph
(EEG) testing and brain scanning. The Buddhist practitioners in the experiment
had undergone training in the Tibetan Nyingmapa and Kagyupa traditions of
meditation for an estimated 10,000 to 50,000 hours, over time periods of 15 to 40
years. As a control, 10 student volunteers with no previous meditation experience
were also tested after one week of training.
The monks and volunteers were fitted with a net of 256 electrical sensors and
asked to meditate for short periods. Both groups were asked to meditate,
specifically on unconditional compassion. Buddhist teaching describes that state,
which is at the heart of the Dalai Lama's teaching, as the "unrestricted readiness
and availability to help living beings."
Davidson said that the results unambiguously showed that meditation activated
the trained minds of the monks in significantly different ways from those of the
volunteers. Most important, the electrodes picked up much greater activation of
fast-moving and unusually powerful gamma waves in the monks, and found that
the movement of the waves through the brain was far better organized and
coordinated than in the students.
When you sit quietly with your eyes closed in darkness your brain interprets this
situation as a signal to start shutting itself down for sleep. Sleep inducing
hormones such as melatonin are released at the same time your circulation and
heart rate are reduced due to lack of movement. You feel swept away on a sea
of quiet relaxation. This pleasant experience may be light sleep state hypnosis,
not meditation at all. Meditation means that you are relaxed as if sleeping, but
your consciousness is fully and intensely awake.
Mantras are words or phrases that are chanted out loud or internally as objects of
meditation. Often these mantras are associated with particular Buddhist figures,
whose qualities can be cultivated by the repetition of the relevant mantra.
Mantras have proven to be medically helpful for some because they can unleash
hormones that temporarily calm the mind. Self-observation is a difficult task that
requires courage and an endurance of character and spirit. Real meditation has
the real payoff of leading to a naturally calm and expanded state of
consciousness, not just an artificially silenced mind that remains fundamentally
shallow
Om shanti shanti shanti
Om has no meaning, and its origins are lost in the mists of time. Om is
considered to be the primeval sound, the sound of the universe, the sound from
which all other sounds are formed. You could regard it as being the equivalent of
white light, in which all of the colors of the rainbow can be found.
Shanti simply means "peace". It's a beautiful meaning and also a very beautiful
sound. The shanti is repeated three times, as are many chants in Buddhism. You
could interpret this as meaning peace in body, speech, and mind (i.e. in the
entirety of one's being), or as a wish for peace individually, collectively, and
universally.
Pronunciation notes:
o is pronounced like o in ore
aa is pronounced as a in father
i is pronounced like ee in bee
Om Mani Padme Huum
Avalokiteshvara is a Bodhisattva who
represents compassion, and his mantra also
symbolizes that quality. Avalokiteshvara means
"The Lord Who Looks Down (in compassion)"
In the far east, Avalokiteshvara turned into the
female Bodhisattva, Kuan Yin. Mani means
jewel, while Padme means lotus. Hum, like Om,
has no conceptual meaning. Overall, the
mantra is suggestive of the bringing together of
the qualities of wisdom (the lotus) and
compassion (the jewel). Just as the lotus can
exist in muddy water without being soiled, so
wisdom can exist in an impure world without
becoming contaminated. This is probably the
best known Buddhist mantra. This mantra is very widely chanted in Tibet, and not
only chanted but carved onto stones, printed onto flags, and embossed onto
prayer wheels. The illustration below shows the mantra's six syllables, which
from left to right are: Om Ma Ni Pa Dme Hum.Tibetans find Sanskrit hard to
pronounce (so do westerners, actually, but in different ways) and so Tibetans
pronounce "Padme" as "peh-may".
"Forgiveness is an inner correction that lightens the heart. It is for our peace of
mind first. Being at peace, we will now have peace to give to others, and this is
the most permanent and valuable gift we can possibly give." Gerald Jampolsky
Meditation is inner astronomy. You discover the stars, the moon, and the sun
are all inside you. The most basic approach to meditation is to relax, let go, and
do nothing. Surrender to the moment and watch yourself as a silent witness. If
thoughts come to mind, then observe the thoughts without adding to them by
your active participation. Be a detached and passive observer and simply feel
your most basic fundamental being. This inherently immense being has been
respectfully called "the ground of being."
The enlightened teacher J. Krishnamurti used the term "choiceless awareness"
to describe his own meditation method. This means being conscious without the
thought process choosing something smaller than your vast fundamental being to
focus on. Consciousness is like a glass ball floating in the depth of space. Light
and sensory input flows into the field of consciousness from all directions. When
you think, you focus your attention on just one area of sensory input or you
create a thought from memory stored within the brain. With choiceless
awareness you are not thinking or remembering, just floating and letting sensory
input flow through you from all directions without manipulating that input with the
thought process. You live in the moment and become totally open. This
openness attracts energy from all sides of the universe, which pushes you even
higher. Krishnamurti's choiceless awareness is the same "methodless method"
that Zen monks call "mindfulness." Hindu yogis sometimes call it "one pointed
vision." A more accurate term might be one object vision. This means that you
Pronunciation notes:
o is pronounced like o in ore
a is pronounced as u in cut
e is pronounced as a in made
uu is like oo in cool
m in hum is pronounced ng
3
Florida Support
Kicking Back
Silje’s Corner
As the novel unfolds, picking up Jimmy's story at each of these crisis points, the
path he must follow will defy every expectation. And with each crisis he faces, he
will move closer to a fate he could never have imagined. For who Jimmy Tock is
and what he must accomplish on the five days when his world turns is a mystery
as dangerous as it is wondrous--a struggle against an evil so dark and pervasive,
only the most extraordinary of human spirits can shine through.
OutKast's blend of gritty Southern soul, fluid
raps, and the rolling G-funk of their Organized
Noize production crew epitomized the Atlanta
wing of hip-hop's rising force, the Dirty South,
during the late '90s. Along with Goodie Mob,
OutKast took Southern hip-hop in bold,
innovative new directions: less reliance on
aggression, more positivity and melody, thicker
arrangements, and intricate lyrics. After Dre and
Big Boi hit number one on the rap charts with
their first single, "Player's Ball," the duo
embarked on a run of platinum albums spiked
with several hit singles, enjoying numerous
critical accolades in addition to their commercial
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the
world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
Jurors' Stories of Death : How America's
Death Penalty Invests in Inequality (Law,
Meaning, and Violence)by Benjamin Dov
Fleury-Steiner
Opponents of the death penalty will find more fuel for
the fire in this study of jurors who have voted to
sentence someone to death. As civil rights expert
David Cole puts it in his foreword, the book opens up
the "black box" of jury deliberations and reveals that
decisions on whether or not to administer the death
penalty are influenced by "jurors’ attitudes—
conscious or unconscious—about race and class."
Fleury-Steiner, an assistant professor in the
Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the
University of Delaware, lets capital jurors speak in their own words, which reveal
thinking that the author sees as paternalistic, simplistic or as reinforcing the
juror’s sense of white superiority. Typifying this last form of thinking, one woman
said, "I saw the defendant as a very typical product of the lower socioeconomic
black group who grew up with no values, no ideals, no authority, no morals." This
"us" vs. "them" mentality on the part of jurors, says Fleury-Steiner, is evidence
that the death penalty is administered unfairly and should be abolished. At the
very least, this book should serve as fodder for discussion
success.
Andre Benjamin (Dre) and Antwan Patton (Big Boi) attended the same high
school in the Atlanta borough of East Point, and several lyrical battles made each
gain respect for the other's skills. They formed OutKast, and were pursued by
Organized Noize Productions, hitmakers for TLC and Xscape. Signed to the local
LaFace label just after high school, OutKast recorded and released Player's Ball,
then watched the single rise to number one on the rap charts. It slipped from the
top spot only after six weeks, was certified gold, and created a buzz for a fulllength release. That album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, hit the Top 20 in
1994 and was certified platinum by the end of the year. Dre and Big Boi also won
Best New Rap Group of the Year at the 1995 Source Awards. OutKast returned
with a new album in 1996, releasing ATLiens that August; it hit number two and
went platinum with help from the gold-selling
single "Elevators (Me & You)" (number 12 pop,
number one rap), as well as the Top 40 title
track. Aquemini followed in 1998, also hitting
number two and going double-platinum. There
were no huge hit singles this time around, but
critics lavishly praised the album's unified,
progressive vision, hailing it as a great leap
forward and including it on many year-end
polls. Unfortunately, in a somewhat bizarre
turn of events, OutKast was sued over the
album's lead single "Rosa Parks" by none
other than the civil rights pioneer herself, who
claimed that the group had unlawfully
appropriated her name to promote their music,
also objecting to some of the song's language.
The initial court decision dismissed the suit in late 1999. Dre modified his name
to Andre 3000 before the group issued its hotly anticipated fourth album,
Stankonia, in late 2000. Riding the momentum of uniformly excellent reviews and
the stellar singles "B.O.B." and "Ms. Jackson," Stankonia debuted at number two
and went triple platinum in just a few months; meanwhile, "Ms. Jackson" became
their first number one pop single the following February.
Experiencing emptiness is also experiencing peace, and the potential of peace is
its unfolding as harmony among all people, animals, plants, and things. The
precepts formulate this harmony, showing how the absence of killing and stealing
is the very condition of mercy and charity. -Robert Aiken, "Mind Of Clover"
Healing Mantras : Using Sound Affirmations for Personal Power,
Creativity, and Healing by Thom Ashley-Farrand;
"Sound is more than simply a medium of artistic
expression. Sound has practical and powerful applications
in the real world."
Mantras, or simple chants, are short phrases packed with
energy and intention--specifically designed to generate
powerful sound waves that promote healing, insight,
creativity, and spiritual growth. Healing Mantras is the
practical, how-to guide that makes the strengths and
benefits of mantras available to everyone. The
transformative power of sound has been passed down to
the present from the sages of India, the classical scientists
of ancient Greece, and the medieval monks of Europe. Mantras, sounds, and
chants have inspired, comforted, and mended the lives of individuals, religious
orders, and even entire cultures. Even though the science and discipline of
chanting and formal prayer are practiced in every religion around the world, this
is the first time that ancient Sanskrit mantras have been explained and adapted
to Western needs.
When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves.
- Anthony J. D'Angelo
Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz
With his bestselling blend of nail-biting intensity, daring
artistry, and storytelling magic, Dean Koontz returns with
an emotional roller coaster of a tale filled with enough
twists, turns, shocks, and surprises for ten ordinary
novels. Here is the story of five days in the life of an
ordinary man born to an extraordinary legacy--a story that
will challenge the way you look at good and evil, life and
death, and everything in between.
One of the few Western experts in Hindu and Buddhist mantras, Thomas AshleyFarrand has practiced mantra-based spiritual disciplines for twenty-five years. In
this illuminating book, he explains how and why mantras work and shows how to
use them for everything from controlling habits to overcoming fear, from curing
specific ailments to finding inner peace. In each of the more than fifty mantras, all
translated from the original Sanskrit, Ashley-Farrand unlocks the power of every
word, explains its appropriate application, and tells you how to pronounce it in
easy-to-follow phonetic symbolsThese mantras can be repeated aloud or in
silence and can be used by people of any religion or spiritual practice.
Jimmy Tock comes into the world on the very night his
grandfather leaves it. As a violent storm rages outside the
hospital, Rudy Tock spends long hours walking the
corridors between the expectant fathers' waiting room and
his dying father's bedside. It's a strange vigil made all the stranger when, at the
very height of the storm's fury, Josef Tock suddenly sits up in bed and speaks
coherently for the frist and last time since his stroke. What he says before he dies
is that there will be five dark days in the life of his grandson--five dates whose
terrible events Jimmy will have to prepare himself to face. The first is to occur in
his twentieth year; the second in his twent-third year; the third in his twentyeighth; the fourth in his twenty-ninth; the fifth in his thirtieth.
God said, "Adam, I want you to do something for me." Adam said, "Gladly, Lord,
what do You want me to do?" God said, "Go down into that valley."
Adam
said, "What's a valley?" God explained it to him. Then God said, "Cross the
river." Adam said, "What's a river?" God explained that to him, and then said, "Go
over to the hill......." Adam said, "What is a hill?" So, God explained to Adam
what a hill was. He told Adam, "On the other side of the hill you will find a cave"
Adam said, "What's a cave?" After God explained, he said, "In the cave you will
find a Woman."
Adam said, "What's a woman?"
So God explained that to
him, too. Then, God said, "I want you to reproduce." Adam said, "How do I do
that?"
God first said (under his breath), "Geez....."
And then, just like
everything else, God explained that to Adam, as well. So, Adam goes down
into the valley, across the river, and over the hill, into the cave, and finds the
woman. Then, in about five minutes, he was back. God, his patience wearing
thin, said angrily, "What is it now?" And Adam said .. "What's a headache?
Rudy is all too ready to discount his father's last words as a dying man's
delusional rambling. But then he discovers that Josef also predicted the time of
his grandson's birth to the minute, as well as his exact height and weight, and the
fact that Jimmy would be born with syndactyly--the unexplained anomal of fused
digits--on his left foot. Suddenly the old man's predictions take on a chilling
significance. What terrifying events await Jimmy onthese five dark days? What
nightmares will he face? What challenges must he survive?
4
Florida Support
Legal Eagle
Supreme Court Decision Vacates Six Death Sentences
Mordenti then went and checked into a motel near the Royston place. In regard
to this second trip (maybe a month after the first trip) that she and Michael
Mordenti made to the Royston place, Gail testified that it occurred before Michael
Milligan moved in to her house "either the end of March or beginning of April."
Thus, the date-book reveals that Gail’s trial testimony was completely wrong
about the timing sequence and provides a basis for arguing that Michael Milligan,
her live-in boyfriend at the time, was the more likely accomplice on a late night
trip in late April or May to scope out the Royston place.
Since the luncheon was not until April 11th, Michael Milligan had already moved
in with her, thus it is unlikely that Michael Mordenti, as her trial testimony
conceded, arrived at her house in the middle of the night to rouse her to go to the
Royston place after Milligan had moved in. Since Gail was facing a mountain of
debt and lawsuits as she revealed in 2001, it is certainly plausible that she turned
to the man with whom she was living and going to marry, Michael Milligan for
help in killing Royston’s wife. Interestingly, Milligan’s description matches that of
one of the men seen near the Royston place on the night of the murder shortly
before the murder.
Gail’s entry for June 7, 1989, the day Thelma Royston was murder included,
"Call on ticket for Michael." And later, "Make calls again to Bus Co." In 2001, Gail
Mordenti Milligan has testified that the entry "Call on ticket for Michael" refers to
Michael Milligan, the man she was living with and would marry in April of 1990.
She testified that this was in reference to a "speeding ticket." When asked how
she knew that, she answered "[b]ecause he got a lot of them." She had no
explanation for the entry "Make calls again to Bus Co."
Meanwhile, the trial prosecutor, Karen Cox, identified her handwritten notes
documenting a 2/10/91 interview of Michael Milligan.. The notes reveal that
Milligan worked for Michael Flynn of Flynn Motors as a transportation
representative since 1985, that he met Gail in 1988 and starting seeing her in
March 1989. The notes further indicated, "6/89- mordenti called him & had car
picked up w was used in bank robbery from New Mexico." Thus, this note reveals
that Michael Milligan told the prosecutor that he went to New Mexico in June of
1989, the month of Thelma Royston’s murder. At trial, Gail Mordenti Milligan
indicated that the car used in the murder was left on the Mexican border. In his
undisclosed statement to Karen Cox, Michael Milligan placed himself in New
Mexico, relatively near the Mexico border, at the time that Gail says the car was
being left at the Mexican border.
At trial, Gail testified that Michael Mordenti had given her a gun. "Michael gave it
back to me after the murder, and I had it at the house." (R. 662). Gail gave the
gun to the police in March of 1990, and evidence was introduced at trial
regarding the FBI’s metallurgical examination of the bullets that were in the gun,
finding them metallurgical similar to the bullets used in the homicide. The
prosecution argued that this linked the bullets to the murder. On crossexamination at trial, Gail testified that Michael Mordenti gave her the gun while
she worked at Carlisle which was "from October of ‘89 until April of ‘90, and it had
to have been during that time." Thus, making her receipt of the gun after Ms.
Royston’s homicide.
Previously in her March 8, 1990, sworn statement, Gail indicated that she
received the gun "January, February, March [ ] 89." Gail had explained on March
8, 1990, "yeah, it was kind of a long time ago." This sworn statement placed the
receipt of the gun before Thelma Royston’s murder. When asked at trial in crossexamination about this prior statement, Gail testified "I don’t remember making
[that statement], no. I can read it, but I don’t remember making it."
In 2001, Gail recanted her trial testimony and acknowledged that she did not
know when she received the gun, before or after the murder.
By the time of the 2001 hearing, both the lead prosecutor, Karen Cox, and the
lead defense attorney, John Atti, have been suspended from the practicing of law
by the Florida Bar.
Dec. 17 - Saying the law gave the state an unfair advantage over defendants
during the sentencing process, the Kansas Supreme Court struck down that
state's death penalty. Fourteen states are now free of the death penalty. Kansas
has a history of antipathy toward the death penalty; the state abolished capital
punishment in 1907, brought it back in 1935 and then observed a moratorium in
the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the Republican governor at the time said,
"I just don't like killing people."
SUMMARY OF THE MICHAEL MORDENTI CASE
On June 7, 1989, at around 9:00 p.m., Thelma Royston was murdered in a horse
barn located on the property she owned with husband Larry Royston. At the time
of murder, Mr. Royston was inside the family residence with Thelma’s mother.
Because of marital difficulties, law enforcement immediately suspected that Larry
Royston had perhaps arranged the murder. However, the State could not put a
case against Mr. Royston together until March of 1990. At that time, word on the
street was that Gail Mordenti had been looking to hire someone to kill Ms.
Royston. This word reignited the investigation into the murder. In late February
and early March, law enforcement interviewed a number of persons connected
with Gail Mordenti.
On March 8, 1990, law enforcement swooped down on Gail Mordenti’s residence
to execute a State Attorney subpoena requiring her appearance before an
assistant state attorney to give a sworn statement. When they arrived at 7:00
a.m., they expected to find Gail and her live-in boyfriend, Michael Milligan.
However, Gail was alone; she reported that Michael Milligan had spent the night
elsewhere. She later testified that when she was picked up by Detectives Baker
and Kroll, on March 8, 1990, "they said they had the power - - that they could
grant me immunity if I would tell them everything that I knew, and I said that if
they could do that, then I would tell them everything that I knew about it, and they
said fine. And then nothing else was said until we got here." At the State
Attorney’s Office, she was given immunity. In return, she gave a sworn statement
that Larry Royston asked her to find someone to kill his wife and that her exhusband, Michael Mordenti, committed the murder.
Pursuant to her immunity, Gail Mordenti was not charged and remained free.
Shortly after she gave her statement, she married Michael Milligan, on April 20,
1990.
Both Larry Royston and Michael Mordenti were arrested on murder charges.
They were both released on bond pending trial. Mr. Royston’s trial was
scheduled to go first in March of 1991. However on the eve of trial, Mr. Royston
committed suicide.
Mr. Mordenti’s case then proceeded to trial in July of 1991. Mr. Mordenti was
convicted and sentenced to death. Even though Mr. Mordenti presented an alibi
for the time of the murder, the jury rejected the alibi based upon the testimony of
Gail Mordenti Milligan.
The Florida Supreme Court acknowledged on direct appeal that "[n]o physical
evidence was produced linking Mordenti to the crime, and Gail Mordenti [Milligan]
was the only witness who was able to place him at the scene of the murder."
Mordenti v. State, 630 So.2d 1080, 1083 (Fla. 1994). Thus, the State’s case
rested entirely upon the credibility of Gail Mordenti Milligan, who testified that "as
long as I told the truth, that I had total immunity." Gail elaborated in crossexamination at trial that "as long as I told the truth, the whole truth, that I had
immunity."
At an evidentiary hearing in the fall of 2001, new evidence surfaced which
established that Gail Mordenti Milligan had not told the whole truth at trial. At trial,
Gail testified Larry Royston came to her house for lunch "it was either late
February, or the beginning of March [of 1989]." At that luncheon, Larry Royston
asked Gail if she knew anyone who could kill his wife. When Gail testified at the
evidentiary hearing on November of 2001, she acknowledged that her date-book
established that the luncheon with Larry Royston was not in February or March of
1989, but was on April 11, 1989. Gail testified at the evidentiary hearing when
confronted with her trial testimony about the lunch with Larry: "If my book says
that it was April 11th, then I was wrong." Gail also acknowledged that on April
11th, she had the first conversation she had with Larry Royston about his desire
to find someone to kill Thelma. Accordingly, prior to April 11, 1989, she had
undertaken no actions in search of a killer. Thus, she admitted her trial testimony
was not the truth, the whole truth.
Interestingly, Gail Mordenti Milligan admitted at the evidentiary hearing that on
April 12, 1989, the day after Larry Royston came to a luncheon at her house at
her invitation, she gave a statement to law enforcement regarding an
investigation into an allegation that she had stolen $200,000. According to her
testimony at the evidentiary hearing, she had been notified prior to April 12th that
the police wanted to talk to her about $200,000 that was missing from her prior
place of business. Because defense counsel was not provided access to the
date-book, he did not know to inquire about the proximity of the luncheon to the
police questioning of Gail Mordenti Milligan regarding the missing money.
However, the State did have the date book and did not share it with the defense.
At trial, Gail testified that prior to contacting Michael Mordenti about killing
Thelma Royston, she had unsuccessfully sought to recruit three other individuals
to do the murder. After some time had passed and she was unsuccessful in
recruiting a killer, Gail testified that she turned to Michael Mordenti within a
couple of weeks of the luncheon with Larry "which took place sometime, I think,
in February, or the beginning of March." According to Gail’s trial testimony,
Michael Mordenti wanted to scope out the Royston place in the daytime. Gail
testified that later Michael Mordenti wanted to take a second drive out to the
Royston’s place, this time at night. According to Gail’s trial testimony, Michael
Mordenti went to Gail’s house in the middle of the night. Gail and Michael
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
MICHAEL MORDENTI,
Appellant,
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
MICHAEL MORDENTI,
Petitioner,3
JAMES V. CROSBY, JR.,
Respondent.
OPPOSITION TO STATE’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
COMES NOW MICHAEL MORDENTI, by and through his undersigned counsel,
and herein files this Opposition to the State’s Motion for Rehearing as to the
Court’s decision rendered December 16, 2004, vacating Mr. Mordenti’s
conviction and ordering a new trial. In opposition to the motion, Mr. Mordenti
states as follows:
1. The State commences its Motion for Rehearing by pointing out a factual
inaccuracy in this Court’s opinion--that the Court had described Paula Montlary
as an “Assistant Attorney General” as opposed to “a Senior Legal Assistant with
the Attorney General’s Office.” (Motion at 1-2).
2. The State’s new-found respect for truth and accuracy expressed in the
opening of its Motion for Rehearing provides a hopeful beginning to the Motion,
suggesting that perhaps the State intends to turn over a new leaf. It is certainly a
change from the State’s past conduct in Mr. Mordenti’s case. In 1994, the State
quietly reaped the benefit of this Court’s erroneous understanding that Horace
Barnes was a “cellmate” of Mr. Mordenti’s when in fact he was a bank robber
who Mr. Mordenti helped the FBI catch. The State elicited misleading testimony
at trial that Mr. Mordenti was involved with bank robbers, implying that he was on
5
Florida Support
Legal Eagle
the side of the criminals, as opposed to the truth that Mr. Mordenti was working
with the FBI to catch the criminals. The State quietly stood by and let Gail
Mordenti Milligan falsely testify that she “had total immunity.” The State
presented Gail’s testimony that she received a gun and some bullets from Mr.
Mordenti months after the murder while precluding the jury from learning that Gail
had previously sworn that she received the gun months before the murder. The
State falsely argued in its closing argument at trial that Gail began her
employment with “T&D” in May when in fact the State knew it was June. When
defense counsel objected that the employment began in June, the State did not
concede the truth, but contested it and continued to make its false argument. And
certainly the State never advised the jury or the court that the focus of its closing
argument that Mr. Mordenti had lied in February of 1990 when he told the police
that “No, I don’t know Larry Royston. I’ve never heard of Larry Royston” was
completely fabricated.
3. It has certainly been Mordenti’s contention all along that “[t]ruth is critical in the
operation of our judicial system.” Florida Bar v. Feinberg, 760 So.2d 933, 939
(Fla. 2000); Florida Bar v. Cox, 794 So.2d 1278 (Fla. 2001). However, until now
in part “I” of its Motion for Rehearing, the State in obtaining Mr. Mordenti’s
conviction and placing him on death row for over thirteen (13) years has only
demonstrated disregard for the truth.
4. But the State quickly tosses aside its new-found and fleeting regard for truth
and accuracy at the beginning of part “II” of its Motion where it states:
The Court notes that it is troublesome to conceive why the trial court would have
signed an ex parte order compelling Trevena to disclose information from his
client without affording defense counsel the same opportunity (slip opinion, p.19).
While it is true that the trial court’s order did not provide an extended analysis,
the testimony of Nick and Karen Cox at the evidentiary hearing below explained
their concern that Royston’s apparent suicide on the eve of his trial initially raised
concern that it might have been a homicide, rather than a suicide. And Mordenti
was not incarcerated prior to trial. Thus, it would be understandable under these
circumstances not to invite Mordenti’s counsel to an interview in a possible
homicide investigation.
(Motion at 2).
5. The only record cite contained in this paragraph is to this Court’s opinion
where this Court described the situation as “troublesome” (Slip Op. at 19). As to
the State’s effort to defend its actions in the face of this Court’s use of the word
“troublesome,” it must be noted that while making the observation regarding the
“troublesome” procedure, this Court did not rely upon the fact that the procedure
was “troublesome” as a basis for the reversal. This Court used the word
“troublesome” and indicated that “due process and fairness dictate that this
information ordered to be revealed to the State should have been provided to
both sides.” This Court then stated, “That aside, we turn to the Brady elements.”
(Slip Op. at 19). Since this issue is not the basis for the ruling, the State’s only
purpose in raising a point tangential to the holding is to suggest that Mr. Mordenti
may have murdered Royston. However, the State conveniently leaves out the
actual facts regarding the matter from its motion.
6. Introduced at the evidentiary hearing as D-Ex. #22 is the March 20, 1991,
order setting aside Larry Royston’s “attorney-client privilege” and granting the
State’s motion to compel. This order was filed in the case of State v. Royston. As
John Trevena testified, the Case Progress Notes in State v. Royston indicated
that the hearing on the State’s motion to compel was conducted in open court on
March 20, 1991, without a defense attorney present (PC-T. 320). Thus, this Court
properly characterized the order as “ex parte” (Slip Op. at 19).
7. As for the assertion that “it would be understandable under these
circumstances not to invite Mordenti’s counsel to an interview in a possible
homicide investigation,” this Court did not indicate that Mordenti’s counsel had to
be “invite[d]” to an interview in a possible homicide investigation, but that the
information obtained be “provided to both sides” (Slip Op. at 19). Moreover, the
interview was not limited to determining the cause of Mr. Royston’s death. John
Trevena testified:
The first few questions centered around whether or not Mr. Royston expressed
any suicidal tendencies, and I indicated he did not. Then the conversation quickly
moved into the information that Mr. Royston had provided me during the course
of the representation and specifically regarding the contents of the motion to
sever, which up to that point had been previously sealed.
(PC-T. 328). Thus, according to Mr. Trevena, the interview, though initially about
Mr. Royston’s suicide, quickly veered into discovery. Trevena’s testimony about
the scope of the interview is corroborated by the handwritten notes of the
interview prepared by Nick Cox. The first line in the notes was “_ was not
suicidal.” ( D-Ex. #23). Then the notes continued with “Blackmail was what
Royston always said - Gail was much more seriously involved than she has said.
Royston was upset b/c Gail was the main orchestrator of the entire scheme” (DEx. #23). According to the notes, Mr. Trevena then indicated that he was first
“contact when HCSO requested polygraph on 6/28/89 – John [Trevena] will tell
all based on order” (D-Ex. #23).
8. Moreover, Karen Cox testified that her “initial thought” as to Mr. Royston
possibly being murdered was in error:
Now, I was informed later that it was - - everybody was satisfied that it was an
apparent suicide, so I don’t want to apply [sic] Mr. Mordenti had anything to do
with that.
(PC-T. 60). Clearly, once it was determined that Mr. Royston was the victim of
“an apparent suicide,” there was no reason for the information obtained ex parte
not to be shared. Only by ignoring Ms. Cox’s testimony on this point can the
State defend its conduct and challenge this Court’s observation that “due process
and fairness dictate that this information judicially ordered to be revealed to the
State should have been provided to both sides” (Slip Op. at 19).
9. In its Motion for Rehearing, the State continues its campaign of obfuscation
and misrepresentation when it turns its attention to “[t]he calendar book.” (Motion
at 2). Although the Motion notes in passing that the failure to disclose “the
calendar book” was basis for the new trial, the State in a clumsy if not ridiculous
sleight of hand then argues:
The Court has overlooked or failed to consider the fact that trial defense
counsel had the documentary evidence - - from the earlier defense
investigation by attorney Cohen and investigator Millwee - - wherein Gail
Mordenti referred to Gartley on April 12 as an albatross (Defense Exhibit 58,
Supp. Record Volume 8, p. 1419). Whether the lunch occurred in February or
March or later in April, the defense could still have impeached by asking Gail
Mordenti why she would approach albatross Gartley as a potential source for
finding a hit man.
Motion at 3 (emphasis added). The documentary evidence that was not
disclosed was the date book. (“the State’s withholding of Gail’s date book”)
(Slip Op. at 8).
10. The date book revealed that Gail Mordenti Milligan’s trial testimony was false
as to the date of the luncheon at which she and Mr. Royston began planning the
murder of his wife. The date book revealed that the luncheon happened on April
11th, not in “late February or the beginning of March” ( R. 609-10). In February of
1989, Gail Mordenti Milligan was in business with Jack Gartley (PC-T. 867). After
she left that business, it was learned that nearly $200,000 was missing.
Sometime prior to April 11th, Gail learned that she was to be questioned on April
12th regarding the missing money (PC-T. 1067). The impeachment value of her
April 12th statements trashing Jack Gartley and her offer to testify against him (DEx. 58) is significantly increased by the information that the luncheon with Mr.
Royston happened the day before, not months before. Clearly, Gail’s relationship
with Jack Gartley declined after a bank alleged that one of them stole nearly
$200,000. As the date of the luncheon shifts from February to April 11th, the
significance of the April 12th interview increases its impeachment value. On April
12th, Gail offered to cooperate with the bank in order to place the blame on
Gartley (“I feel that I probably have information concerning the disposition of
specific cars if the bank would be interested and requested specifics”) (D-Ex. 58).
This leads to the obvious question: “Would someone planning a first degree
murder ask the man whom she has just offered to nail as a thief if he would
commit a murder for her?” A compelling argument can be made that anyone with
a functioning brain would know not to give someone whom they are accusing of a
crime and offering to testify against evidence that they are trying to arrange a
murder – Gail’s story is a fabrication. But this argument is dependent upon
knowing that the luncheon was April 11th. The State’s assertion in its Motion for
Rehearing (“Whether the lunch occurred in February or March or later in April,
the defense could still have impeached by asking Gail Mordenti why she would
approach albatross Gartley as a potential source for finding a hit man”) is simply
false. Without that bit of truthful information--that the lunch occurred on April 11th-knowledge of the April 12th statement does not provide a basis for the same
powerful argument, particularly where false testimony was presented that the
luncheon occurred in “late February or the beginning of March.”
10. In the Motion for Rehearing, the State’s next effort to obfuscate and
misrepresent is to imply that the significance of D-Ex. #14 concerned only an
invitation to go to Tennessee:
As to the notation in Defense Exhibit 14 regarding Royston’s invitation to Gail to
go to Tennessee and his possible romantic interest in her, irrespective of whether
prosecutor’s Cox’s note was provided to the defense, the fact remains that trial
counsel were aware of that from the pretrial depositions that had been taken of
Gail Mordenti.
(Motion at 3). Accordingly, the State argues, “since the defense team knew of
Royston’s invitation to Gail to go to Tennessee, the failure to supply the Exhibit
14 note about this, adds nothing of materiality.” (Motion at 4). However, D-Ex.
#14 included handwritten notes of statements given by Gail Mordenti Milligan and
statements given by Michael Milligan.
11. As to Gail, these notes memorialized her statements as follows:
He invited her to Tenn.
He said that he did [not] want to date until divorce was over & had time to get
head together
3 or 4 months had a confiding type relationship
(D-Ex. 14, at 2, lines 17-20).
Larry had a boat [which] she was trying to sell it for him $20,000
Larry had rebuilt engines
(D-Ex. 14, page 2 lines 31-32).
Michael made no efforts to sell boat & car
Doesn’t think that ever looked for buyers
Larry’s boat was a replica of the boat used “on golden pond”
not a high powered speed boat
(D-Ex. 15, at 1, line 31-34). As to Michael Milligan, these notes memorialized his
statements in the following fashion:
6/89- mordenti called him & had car picked up w was used in bank robbery from
New Mexico
(D-Ex. 14, at 1, lines 10-11).
Michael know larrys name b/c she told him it
(D-Ex. 14, at 2, line 2).
12. Thus, the State’s Motion for Rehearing constructs a false argument--that DEx. #14 only concerned the “invitation to Gail to go to Tennessee and his
possible romantic interest in her.” (Motion at 3). The State does not
acknowledge, let alone address, Gail’s statements about her efforts to sell a boat
for Royston, an assertion that she didn’t think Michael (Mordenti) ever looked for
buyers for the boat, or Michael Milligan’s statements about picking up a car in
New Mexico in June of 1989, and that Gail had told him “larrys name.” Since this
6
Florida Support
Legal Eagle
Court engaged in a cumulative analysis of the failure to disclose Gail and Michael
Milligan’s statements, selection of one narrow portion of the cumulative analysis
seems somewhat dishonest and certainly ineffectual.
13. The State’s contention that Gail’s deposition revealed all that the defense
needed to know (i.e., that Royston had asked her if she wanted to go to his
house in Gatlinburg and she thought Royston was a very nice person) is just
factually wrong. The notes reveal statements by Gail that are qualitatively
different than either her trial testimony or her deposition testimony.
14. Finally, the State turns to the testimony of John Trevena. Here, too, the State
resorts to factual inaccuracies and misrepresentation. The State asserts:
The Court seemingly acknowledges that Trevena’s testimony may well have
constituted inadmissible hearsay (slip opinion, p. 21) but concludes that even if
inadmissible it was “relevant information that would have lead the defense to
discover evidence for the impeachment of Gail. But what additional evidence
would have been discovered? Royston was, and remains, dead and can offer no
further testimony on the truth or falsity of his assertions.
(Motion at 6). First, this Court’s discussion about inadmissible hearsay clearly
refers to the circuit court’s exclusion of John Trevena’s testimony at the
evidentiary hearing (Slip Op. at 18). When Mr. Mordenti’s counsel asked Mr.
Trevena “what happened” during his March 20th meeting with Nick and Karen
Cox (PC-T. 321), the State objected saying, “it’s inadmissible. It couldn’t be
admitted at trial, and after reading the substance of those notes, the information
is inadmissible and wouldn’t have been admitted at trial” (PC-T. 324). The circuit
court sustained the objection (PC-T. 326). Mr. Mordenti was permitted to proffer
what Mr. Trevena told the prosecutors during the March 20th interview, and Mr.
Trevena was directed to answer the questions regarding what was discussed in
the interview (PC-T. 326-27). The State completely misrepresents in the Motion
the import of the Court’s discussion of whether Mr. Trevena’s testimony was
inadmissible hearsay. Clearly, this Court concluded it did not need to decide
whether Mr. Trevena’s testimony was admissible at the 3.850 evidentiary hearing
because the notes themselves when introduced revealed that the State
possessed and did not disclose “relevant information that would have led the
defense to discover evidence for the impeachment of Gail.” (Slip Op. at 21).
15. The State’s question, ‘[b]ut what additional evidence would have been
discovered” (Motion at 6), assumes that what is known already cannot be used
and in so doing displays at best ignorance of United States Supreme Court
jurisprudence. In Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419 (1995), an individual named
“Beanie” had assisted law enforcement in putting together its case against Kyles.
Beanie was not called as a witness, though the defense’s theory was that
Beanie had framed Kyles (514 U.S. at 429). In collateral proceedings, it was
revealed that favorable information in the State’s possession had been withheld
from the defense. The non-disclosed evidence included “[t]he prosecutor’s notes
of his interview with Beanie” (514 U.S. at 449). In finding the non-disclosures
material, the Supreme Court did not require proof that the defense would have
called Beanie had the undisclosed statements been disclosed (“if Kyle’s lawyer
had followed the more conservative course of leaving Beanie off the stand, the
defense could have examined the police to good effect on their knowledge of
Beanie’s statements and so have attacked the reliability of the investigation”)(514
U.S. at 446). The United States Supreme Court explained, “[b]y demonstrating
the detectives’ knowledge of Beanie’s affirmatively self-incriminating statements,
the defense could have laid the foundation for a vigorous argument that the
police had been guilty of negligence.” 514 U.S. at 447.
16. Det. King was present for the interview of Mr. Trevena (“mtg in Trevena’s
office w/Det King”) (D-Ex. #23; PC-T. 81). As in Kyles, it is not necessary to put
the declarant on the witness stand to use his statements to law enforcement to
good effect. Here, law enforcement’s efforts to investigate the veracity of
Royston’s statements regarding Gail could have been elicited. Det. King could
have been examined regarding these matters exactly as the United States
Supreme Court suggested in Kyles.
17. Finally, the State (maybe sensing the weakness of its argument that the
information could not be used in any fashion) asks, “[i]f any of Royston’s
assertions were offered for impeachment would the State be entitled under the
doctrine of completeness to be allowed [sic] to introduce the comment in Defense
Exhibit 23 of Cox’s note that Royston ‘never said “I hired Gail and Michael to kill
but he pretty much made it clear.”’” (Motion at 7). The answer to the question is
“no” because the State’s quote from the note is taken entirely out of context in
order to create a false impression. Under the doctrine of completeness, the
whole context would have to be admissible if the State wanted to use that quote
in isolation. As the note demonstrates, the passage in question appears as
follows:
Thelma had been blackmailing _ – she was violent + vociferous. He admitted
affairs. He wanted no divorce – she did. [T]hought Sherri was behind it. V
confronted _ w/settlement w/cash & distribution or I’ll take you to the IRS. _ not
sure how involved Sherri was. V put a time limit on him & he could not take it. He
never said “I hired Gail & Michael to kill V” but he pretty much made it clear
& went with the _se in the sealed document. He wanted manslaughter – may be
2nd.
(D-Ex. 23)(State’s quote in bold). Overlooked by the State in its zeal to mislead
are the following notations later in the document:
_ never talked to co-_
***
_ asked John if Mordenti was the co-_ when he 1st saw him
Q Did he know, in your conversation and also in terms of what you indicated to
the State, who, in fact, had committed the murder, actually was the trigger person
in the homicide?
A He did not. He indicated to me that he did not know who Michael Mordenti was
by appearance, that he had not met him until the first occasion that they
appeared together in court and, in fact, had asked me, is that the co-defendant?
Is that Mr. Mordenti? He theorized that Gail may have taken it upon herself to
hire someone unknown to him to kill his wife in order to free him up so he could
marry her.
***
He had no knowledge about Michael Mordenti, so he was not in a position to
confirm or deny the allegations against him, other than to let the State know that
Gail had set this up. She may have hired Michael Mordenti, she may have hired
someone else, but he was not directly involved and it was not at his behest to
contract this killing.
(PC-T. 331, 333).
18. What is most disturbing about the State’s motion is the fact that the State
does not understand its constitutional obligations: “the State failed to disclose
information obtained from interviews with key witnesses coupled with
misrepresentations by the prosecutor” (Slip Op. at 24). Since the State will not
acknowledge its breach of its constitutional obligations, these kinds of due
process violations will only continue to be committed.
19. Mr. Mordenti has been on death row for over thirteen (13) years for a crime
he did not commit. This Court has now recognized that his trial was riddled with
grave constitutional error. A new trial free from constitutional error has now been
ordered. However, by filing this insubstantial and seriously flawed motion for
rehearing, the State has further delayed the start of that new trial. Under Fla. R.
Crim. Pro. 3.191(m), Mr. Mordenti’s right to be tried within ninety (90) days is tied
to this Court’s issuance of the mandate. The State’s Motion for Rehearing should
not be permitted to further delay the constitutionally adequate adversarial testing
to which Mr. Mordenti was entitled, but deprived of, over thirteen (13) years ago.
WHEREFORE, based on the foregoing, Mr. Mordenti requests that the Court
deny the State’s Motion for Rehearing, and/or grant any other relief as deemed
proper.
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true copy of the foregoing Opposition to State’s
Motion for Rehearing has been furnished by United States Mail, first class
postage prepaid, to Robert Landry, Assistant Attorney General, Concourse
Center 4, 3507 E. Frontage Rd., Suite 200, Tampa, Florida 33607 on January 3,
2005. Respectfully submitted,
MARTIN J. MCCLAIN
Attorney at Law
Florida Bar No. 0754773
141 NE 30th Street
Wilton Manors, FL
The Supreme Court has granted cert (according to the SCOTUS blog) on the
following questions:
Capital:
04-514, Bell, Warden v. Thompson (review limited to Question 2), tests the
authority of a federal appeals court to withdraw an opinion against a habeas
petitioner six months after the mandate had to have been issued.
04-637, Mitchell, Warden, v. Stumpf, involving tests for voluntariness of a guilty
plea and of the impact of a later prosecution of a different person that brings out
evidence inconsistent with the basis of guilt in the defendant’s trial earlier.
Non-Capital with Potential Capital Impact:
04-169, Graham County Water District v. U.S., seeking a definition of the statute
of limitations in False Claims Act cases.
04-563, Mayle, Warden v. Felix, testing the scope of the one-year filing deadline
for federal habeas petitions, when a state inmate amends his petition to include a
new claim.
Halbert v. Michigan (03-10198), the issue is the constitutionality of a Michigan
procedure that denies a free lawyer to aid an individual who has pleaded guilty
but who wants to seek a discretionary appeal in a higher court.
Johnson v. California (04-6964), is a case that had been before the Court last
Term, testing the method of establishing racial exclusion of jurors by prosecutors
using peremptory challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday told a state court to review its decision to
grant a new trial to a death row inmate because his attorneys did not put up a
vigorous defense. The justices said the state Supreme Court should reconsider
its ruling in the case of Robert Lee Nance based on the higher court's ruling last
month in a Florida case. In that ruling, the justices held that death row inmates
should not automatically get new trials if lawyers made a strategic decision not to
pursue a strong defense. In the Florida case, Joe Eliot Nixon's attorney admitted
his client was responsible for the crime, hoping jurors would not impose the
death penalty. It didn't work, and on appeal, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said it
was a "reasonable" strategy and not grounds for a retrial
(D-Ex. #23). John Trevena explained what these notes meant when he testified:
7
Florida Support
Spotlight on Sri Lanka
Dark deeds led to the establishment of Sigiriya as the center of the ancient
Sinhalese Kingdom for a period of 18 years in the late 5th Century. The reign of
King Dhatusena came to an abrupt end in 477 A.D. when his throne was seized
by Kasyapa, his son by a wife of unequal birth. Kasyapa's action was prompted
by the fear that his younger half-brother Mogallan, who was born of the anointed
queen, would take over the throne. Kasyapa was convinced that his father was
hiding a cache of treasure from him, and demanded that the King reveal where
this wealth was hidden. Dhatusena took the young usurper to the bund of the
Kalawewa, the greatest of his irrigation works, below which lived a venerable
monk who had been his teacher and companion of many years. There, the old
King pointed, was the sum of all his wealth. In a fit of pique, Kasyapa ordered the
old man to be walled up alive and naked in his own tomb. Meanwhile, Mogallan
survived an assassination attempt by his brother and fled to India to raise an
army. Paranoia, arrogance and delusions of divinity drove Kasyapa to leave the
traditional Sinhalese capital of Anuradhapura and construct his palace on the
peak of Sigiriya Rock, a perfect lookout which could be easily defended; a huge
lion was carved out of the rock. Seven years after ascending the throne, he
moved into his new home.
Five centuries before Christ, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) was a land throbbing with vitality
and a well-ordered civilization. Cities, palaces, reservoirs, parks, temples,
monasteries, monuments and works of art bore testament to the character,
imagination, culture, philosophy and faith of the people of Sri Lanka, the
Resplendent Land. Vestiges of this ancient civilization are abundantly extant
today.
Sri Lanka is said to have been inhabited by Yakkas (demon-worshippers) ,
Rakshasas and Nagas (snake-worshippers) before the arrival of Vijaya and his
men who colonized the island. They were totemic tribes not supernatural beings.
Sri Lanka is the oldest continually Buddhist country, Theravada Buddhism being
the major religion in the island since its official introduction in the 2nd century BC
by Venerable Mahinda, the son of the Emperor Ashoka of India during the reign
of King Devanampiya- Tissa
Visitors to the palace entered via a stone
stairway that took them into the lion's mouth and
through its throat -- hence Sigiriya's alternative
name, "Lion Rock." Only the lion's massive paws
remain today, but they indicate how gigantic the
rest of the carving must have been. A new
stairway has been attached to the side of the
rock to allow access to the summit, enabling
visitors to stroll around the ruins of the palace
and gasp at the panoramic views. Two water
tanks, used for bathing and drinking, still fill with
rain water, but in Kasyapa's day a sophisticated
pumping system was used to fill the tanks from a
lake at the foot of the rock. Sigiriya is
approached from the west over a moat that
encloses an elaborate water garden that runs up
to the foot of the rock. A stone stairway takes
visitors past caves and hollows, where early
Buddhist monks lived and worshipped, to a
gallery half way up the rock which is enclosed by a three-meter high wall. Large
sections of the so-called Mirror Wall are still intact, and is here that graffiti artists
have inscribed their neat messages, many of them more than ten centuries old
and some, alas, partially obscured by the scrawled initials of modern egoists.
Most of the ancient graffiti refers to the Sigiriya Maidens, who are to be found up
a spiral staircase about 14 meters above the Mirror Wall gallery in a natural
pocket in the rock which has been protected for centuries from the rain by an
overhang. Nobody knows who painted these amazing frescoes, but the Maidens
testify to a highly advanced Sinhalese civilization at a time when Europe was in
the Dark Ages.
There are approximately 20 million people living in Sri Lanka. The population
consists of multi ethnic groups: Sinhalese 74%; Tamil 18%; Moor (Muslims) 7%;
others (Burghers, Eurasians, Malay, Veddha) 1%. Largest ethnic group divided
into low-country Sinhalese (subjected in coastal areas to greater colonial
acculturation) and Kandyan Sinhalese (more traditional upland dwellers, named
after Kingdom of Kandy, which resisted European encroachments until 1815-18).
Tamils divided into Sri Lankan Tamils (on island since early historic times) and
Indian Tamils (brought in as plantation labor in the nineteenth century). The
Sinhalese moved from north India and conquered the island, in the 6th century;
Tamils arrived in the 11th century (Ceylon Tamils) settling in the northern and
eastern sections of the island; and Arabs came in the 12th and 13th centuries
(Ceylon Moors). The British imported more Tamils (Indian Tamils) from south
India in the late 19th century to pick tea on their estates in the central highlands
Space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk
Strait between India and Sri Lanka. The recently discovered bridge currently
named as Adam´s Bridge is made of
chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long.
The bridge´s unique curvature and
composition by age reveals that it is
man made. The legends as well as
Archeological studies reveal that the
first signs of human inhabitants in Sri
Lanka date back to the a primitive age,
about 1,750,000 years ago and the
bridge´s age is also almost equivalent.
This information is a crucial aspect for
an insight into the mysterious legend
called Ramayana, which was supposed
to have taken place in tredha yuga (more than 1,700,000 years ago).
It is not known whether Kasyapa knew of the existence of the beauties hidden
just below his eyrie, but what is known is that the King came to a sticky end,
perhaps deservedly. In 495, his brother Mogallan at last returned from India with
an army of combined Chola and Sinhalese troops behind him and Kasyapa
descended from his impregnable stronghold to meet him in battle. At a crucial
stage in the battle, the King's elephant balked at a hidden swamp before him and
momentarily turned aside, making his troops believe he was retreating. His army
broke in confusion, leaving Kasyapa defenseless. Flamboyant to the last, he
drew his dagger, slashed his own throat, raised the blade high in the air and
sheathed it again before falling down dead. Sigiriya's halcyon days ended with
Kasyapa's death. But the grandeur of this astonishing rock lives on.
In this epic, there is a mentioning about a bridge, which was built between
Rameshwaram (India) and Srilankan coast under the supervision of a dynamic
and invincible figure called Rama who is supposed to be the incarnation of the
supreme. This information may not be of much importance to the archeologists
who are interested in exploring the origins of man, but it is sure to open the
spiritual gates of the people of the world to have come to know an ancient history
linked to the Indian mythology.
Sri Lanka's Orphanage for jungle jumbos
Pinnawela's elephants are the world's biggest orphans. The parentless
pachyderms live on 10.5 hectares of palm grove called the Pinnawela Elephant
Orphanage, 80 kilometers north-east of Colombo.
Although the nearby Maya Oya river is not part of their playground, only a dumbo
would dare deny 50 elephants their twice daily baths. At play in the river they are
like children on recess. There are introverts, rough housers and groupies around
the most popular pachyderms. There is even a bully or two. The really
troublesome fellows, however, are separated and must bathe in a secluded cove:
a detention of sorts.
Watch them for a long time and their
individual characters start to show. In fact,
some of them have more personality than
a lot of people. Each elephant has special
needs.
"We have a file on each one. All the
information we know about them, including
their horoscopes," he said. There are now
53 residents at the Pinnawela orphanage,
which opened its doors on February 17,
1975, with only six beasts.
Nothing in Sri Lanka captures the imagination more than a 200 meter lump of
granite that rises starkly above the flat central plains. Sigiriya has it all -- a bloodstained history full of intrigue, astonishing frescos of bare-breasted maidens
painted 15 centuries ago, a wall covered in graffiti that is more than 1,000 years
old and, to top it all, Asia's oldest surviving landscape garden.
8
Florida Support
Spotlight on Sri Lanka
The Wildlife Dept.
managed
the
orphanage
until
1982
when
the
Zoological
Dept.
took over. "We don't
reintroduce
them
because
the
elephants in the
jungle won't accept
them." They do get
along fine at the
orphanage, where
10 have been born.
Pinnawela averages
five arrivals a year. Most have lost their mothers. Others include injured
elephants such as six-year-old Sama who lost a foot to a land-mine in the northeast earlier in the year and the old man of the herd, Raja, who poachers blinded
in a failed attempt to take his tusks. Their biggest problem is loss of habitat.
There were an estimated 30,000 elephants when the British arrived in 1815.
Today there are about 6,000 left; about 2,500 working in captivity and the rest in
the wild
Sri Lanka cuisine embodies the fiery heat of sun-struck beaches, the refreshing
coolness of tropical rainforests and piquant flavors of regional specialties
The staple food of Sri Lanka is rice. This is boiled or steamed and served with a
host of curries. Curries in Sri Lanka are not confined to a curried meat or a fish
platter, but include vegetables and pulses as well. A typical Sri Lankan meal
would consist of a "main curry" which could be fish, beef, chicken or mutton, as
well as several other curries made with vegetable and lentils. Side-dishes would
include pickles, chutneys and "samblos" which are fiery hot and made of ground
coconut, or onions mixed with chillies, dried Maldives fish and lime juice. This is
ground to a paste and relished with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is
believed to increase appetite. Coconut milk is a common ingredient in all curries.
Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. In the 15th and 16the centuries,
traders from all over the world came in search of fragrant and aromatic
cardamoms, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Sri Lankans use spices liberally in
their dishes and this is what gives the dishes the exuberance and the aroma they
are known for. There are no fixed measures. A typical Sri Lankan cook would
"throw in a pinch of this and that", and a handful of other things according to
personal preference. This is why a curry, prepared by two different people, using
the same ingredients, never tastes the same. The secret is in the personal touch.
The cuisine of Sri Lanka's hill country differs from that of the coastal areas. The
Dutch and the Portuguese too have left their stamp on the local cuisine - for
example, delectable dishes like Lamprais - rice boiled in stock with a special
curry, accompanied by "Frikkadels", or meatballs, all of which is then wrapped in
a banana leaf and baked. The Dutch and the Portuguese also bequeathed a
number of recipes for various sweets. There are British and Malay influences as
well. Roast beef and roast chicken and "Wattalapam" - a steamed pudding made
with coconut milk, eggs and jaggery (a sort of solidified treacle extracted from the
kitul palm) has become a Sri Lankan dessert, although first introduced by the
Malays. The best known of the sweets is, perhaps, "Kavun". It is a delicious type
of oil cake, made with rice flour and treacle and deep-fried to a golden brown.
Yala
West
(Ruhuna)
National Park is well
recognised as one of the
best parks in the world to
observe and photograph
leopards. The park covers
an area of over 100,000
hectares and is divided
into five blocks. Block one
is the most visited area
since it contains the
highest
density
of
leopards. However other
areas of Yala such as Yala
East had been closed to visitors for some years and it will take time to
research leopard numbers in these areas. Yala West consists of scrub
jungle, brackish lagoons and stunning rock monoliths scattered
throughout the park, its eastern edge is bounded by the South East coast.
As Sri Lanka is an island, it has an abundant supply of seafood There are
prawns, crabs and lobsters, and a variety of fish including seer, tuna and mullet.
There is also the delectable cuttlefish. Pickled fish and dried fish are delicacies.
They have a pungent and piquant flavor.
There is a perennial supply of fruits and vegetables which the traveler will enjoy:
succulent mangoes and mangosteens, pineapples, papayas and a whole variety
of bananas or "plantains" as they are called. Prickly brown durians are also sold
at many wayside spots. Many people find their odour very offensive, but those
who are brave enough to actually taste the fruit, declare it to be rich, creamy and
absolutely delicious. It is in fact called the "Honeymoon" fruit in South-East Asia
because of its supposedly aphrodisiac properties!
Ulpotha has been a pilgrimage site for thousands of years and remains an oasis
of tranquility in the heart of Sri Lanka. A beautiful private hide-away open to
guests for part of the year, a place of total peace, where you can experience the
warm, generous and gentle hospitality which Sri Lankans love to offer. Ulpotha is
a traditional working village cradled on the one side by low mountains and a lotus
ringed lake and on the other by tiny emerald green paddy fields. Our focus, at
present, is on the restoration of an ageless agricultural way of life including biodiverse organic farming and reforestation of the land and its immediate
surroundings. The village is funded by the East Pole Foundation, a loosely knit,
non-profit group whose primary aim is to nurture the values of traditional village
life.
A traveler to Sri Lanka must, of course, drink some Sri Lanka tea. Grown at
altitudes as high as 6,000 feet above sea level, the tea plantations thrive
because of the crisp, cool air distilled through so many hundred feet. The flavor
of tea differs according to the area or region where it is grown and the altitude,
but each tea has its own unique character and bouquet. The high-grown teas are
considered the best, but even the low-grown green teas have their special
appeal. Iced tea is the great thirst quencher and teas flavored with fruits, spices
and ginger are available. While tea thrives in the exalted climes of the hill
country, there are other thirst quenchers to be found in less-elevated parts. One
such drink is that of the King Coconut, or "thambili" as it is called Sri Lanka. This
is a popular wayside drink and can be taken in the heat of the day. No need to
pour the drink into a glass. You can sip it straight from the fruit through a straw. It
is said to be rich saline and is a nutritious drink. You can enjoy a range of freshlysqueezed fruit juices like papaya, pineapple, orange and also pomegranate, a
fruit greatly prized in the east because of its medicinal properties. Delicious
drinks are also made from "sour-sap" which has a creamy sweet and sour taste
and woodapple, a brown fruit which is delicious when prepared with coconut milk
and jaggery.
"The island of Sri Lanka has been a favorite haunt of aliens, extra terrestrials,
gods, devas, angels, sky dwellers, demons, deities whichever way you describe
them. Our chronicles, traditions, folklore, prehistoric cave drawings,
archaeological evidence and ancient traveler's' records testify that there have
been strange beings living in this island from time immemorial." There were and
there are Mountains, Hills, buildings and even plants with full of mysteries, power
and wisdom which are beyond human understanding. 200 million years ago,
geologically Sri Lanka was linked with India, Madagascar, Australia and
Antarctica, in a land mass known as Gondwana. Sri Lanka separated into a land
mass known as Lanka Dvipa (Island of Lanka), and part of the land submerged
into the sea. According to the Ramayana epic this took place because of the
misdeeds of Ravana, but this seismic happening is confirmed by modern
science."
Words evolve with time, passing through various phases before assuming their
present form. Sinhala is no exception. That the Sinhala language is an Aryan one
and is related to other Indo-Aryan speeches such as Hindi and Bengali is
generally well known. Less known, however, is the fact that Sinhala is distantly
related to other major languages such as German, French, English, Russian,
Persian and Lithuanian. The fact is that Sinhala is not only a member of the
Aryan group of languages, but also of a larger linguistic group, the IndoEuropean family, which includes all the major languages of Europe, Iran and
Southern Asia. The parent indo-European speech from which all these
languages derive, was evidently spoken somewhere in Europe, probably
Southern Russia, over 5000 years ago.
Hello
Goodbye
How are you?
Ayubowan
Gihilla Ennam
Kohomada Sapasanipa?
Friend
Yaluwa
"To me the beauty of Ceylon lies not so much in its blue seas and golden
beaches, its jungles and its mountain peaks, as in its ancient atmosphere. There
is no nation, from Egypt of the Pharaohs to modern Britian, in whose literature
this island has not at some time been mentioned by one or other of its many
names -- Lanka, Serendib, Taprobane, Cellao, Zellan, to recall a few. History lies
buried in its sands, and ghosts of romance lurk among its bastioned rocks, for
Lanka is very, very old." - D. J. G. Hennessy, GREEN AISLES, 1949
9
Across
1 Rising star
6 Instruments of war
10 Cry from a crib
14 Plain people
15 Defensive ditch
16 Hunter of fiction
17 Radiotelephony response
18 Confused impression
19 Merciless one
20 Lieu
21 Uncomfortable
23 Nuisance
25 Flag
26 Polish president Lech
29 Circa
31 Uproot
33 Folk singer Phil
37 Deed
38 Japanese emperor
41 Golf ball position
42 Korean statesman
44 Procession of automobiles
46 Squeeze
49 Chewed
50 Sadat's predecessor
53 Objective
54 Island at the mouth of the St.
Lawrence
57 __ operandi
61 Wild duck
62 "If __ a Hammer"
63 Eleniak of "Baywatch"
64 Threesome
65 Wood measure
66 Best Actor of 1958
67 Tale
68 Far partner
69 Rib
Down
1 Some bird calls
2 Leave out
3 Race distance
4 Got away
5 Former British colony in Africa
6 Scope
7 Throw the dice
8 Handle without care
9 Ancient Greek geographer
10 Keepsake
11 Birdlike
12 Clergyman's quarters
13 Wrath
22 Sigma follower
24 Fire
26 Sport
27 Chief
28 Behind schedule
29 Greek mount
30 "__ ever so humble ..."
32 Goals
34 Crab part
35 Pelt
36 Tennis ranking
39 Fast food order
40 Embellish
43 Greek vowel
45 Heat unit
47 VCR button
48 Beethoven's Third
50 Spruce
51 End of __
52 Flight unit
53 Light-headed
55 Entertainment
56 Scarlett's home
58 Prima donna
59 Island guitars
60 Sound upstairs
Star Trek Word Search
Bajoran
Bones
Cardassian
Changeling
Chekov
Crusher
Data
Dax
Enterprise
Federation Klingon
Odo
Picard
Quark
Riker
Geordi
Janeway
Kirk
Sisko
Spock
Sulu
Troi
Uhura
Voyager
Vulcan
Worf
10