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THOMAS, William Gregory (W/M)
DC # 311509
DOB: 07/22/60
Fourth Judicial Circuit, Duval County, Case #93-5394
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable DavidWiggins
Attorney, Criminal Trial: Richard Nichols, Esq.
Attorneys, Direct Appeal: Nancy Daniels – Public Defender& Steven Seliger, Esq.
Attorney, Collateral Appeals: Mary Catherine Bonner –Federal; Vacant – State
Date of Offense: 09/12/91
Date of Sentence: 07/22/94
Circumstances of Offense:
William Thomas was convicted and sentenced to death for themurder of his wife, Rachel Thomas.
To avoid paying his portion of their impending divorcesettlement, William Thomas planned to kidnap and kill his wife. On09/12/91, Thomas and his friend, Douglas Schraud, went to Rachel’s house inorder to kidnap her. Thomas beat Rachel and then tied her up. Rachel attempted to flee by hopping outside, but Thomas dragged her back intothe house by her hair. Thomas then put Rachel into the truck of her carand left the scene. Rachel Thomas was never seen again.
Thomas was eventually indicted for the murder of his wife inMay, 1993. Thomas had made numerous inculpatory statements about RachelThomas’ disappearance; however, suspicion fell heavily upon Thomas after hismother was murdered. Authorities believed that Thomas killed his motherin order to prevent her from implicating him in the murder of Rachel Thomas.
Additional Information:
William Thomas was also convicted and sentenced to lifeimprisonment (CC #93-5393) for the 05/04/93 murder of his mother, Elsie Thomas,who he killed in order to keep her from talking to the police about the deathof Rachel Thomas. On 07/14/94, Thomas pled guilty to the murder of ElsieThomas. In exchange for a recommendation of life in this case (CC#93-5393), Thomas waived his right to appeal any guilt phase issue arising outof the trial for the murder of his wife, Rachel Thomas (CC #93-5394).
Codefendant Information:
Douglas Schraud
Douglas Schraud was convicted of Kidnapping and, on10/07/94, was sentenced to
12 years in prison. He was released 11/08/98 afterserving only four years.
Trial Summary:
05/20/93 Thomas was indicted on the following:
CountI: First-DegreeMurder
CountII: Burglary
CountIII: Kidnapping
03/24/94 Thomas was found guilty on all counts charged in the indictment.
03/30/94 Upon advisory sentencing, the jury, by an 11 to 1 majority, voted for the deathpenalty.
07/22/94 The defendant was sentenced as followed:
CountI: First-DegreeMurder – Death
Count II: Burglary– Life
Count III: Kidnapping –Life
Appeal Summary:
Florida Supreme Court - Direct Appeal
FSC #84,256
693 So. 2d 951 (Fla. 1997)
08/25/94 Appeal filed.
03/20/97 FSC affirmed the convictions and sentence of death.
05/15/97 Rehearing denied.
06/18/97 Mandate issued.
United States Supreme Court - Petition for Writ ofCertiorari
USSC #97-6051
522 U.S. 985 (U.S. 1997)
09/18/97 Petition filed.
11/17/97 Petition denied.
State Circuit Court - 3.850 Motion
CC #93-5394
10/05/98 Motion filed.
04/26/01 Motion denied.
Florida Supreme Court - 3.850 Appeal
FSC #01-1439
838 So.2d 535 (2003)
06/29/01 Appeal filed.
01/30/03 3.850 Denial Affirmed.
03/03/03 Mandate issued.
United States District Court, Middle District –Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus
USDC #03-CIV-237
(Stayed)
03/22/04 Petition filed.
02/21/08 Evidentiary Hearing held.
07/02/09 Petition stayed; Case administratively closed due to pending Petition for Writof Certiorari in United States Supreme Court
United States Supreme Court - Petition for Writ ofCertiorari
USSC #09-234
130 S.Ct. 498
08/21/09 Petitionfiled.
11/02/09 Petitiondenied
Case Information:
On 08/25/94, Thomas filed a Direct Appeal in the FloridaSupreme Court. In that appeal, he argued that the State failed to provecorpus delecti[1]. The Florida Supreme Court noted:
In the present case, the State's evidence showed thefollowing: Douglas Schraud was present when Thomas beat, bound and abductedRachel in the trunk of her car. Later that day, Thomas met a friend at theRoosevelt Mall and the friend saw him park and abandon Rachel's car afterwiping it down with a towel. Thomas's palm print was found on the hood of thecar. Rachel has not been seen or heard from since. It was uncharacteristic ofRachel to miss appointments or to leave behind her family and son--she hadnever even stayed out all night before. She not only missed a planned eveningwith a friend, she left behind her gym bag, purse, driver's license, aphotograph of her son, twenty dollars in cash she had obtained only an hourbefore she disappeared, all her clothes, and the $ 750 she had in her bankaccount. Moreover, she disappeared the day before payday. She had given coworkersno indication she was unhappy in her job, and had never expressed to her familyany desire to leave or get away from it all. Although Rachel was a neat personand kept her home immaculate, after her disappearance her garage door was leftstanding wide open and the door into the house from the garage was leftunlocked. There were signs of a struggle in the foyer, as well as blood on thebaseboard and on the vent. Blankets were missing from the garage. Witnessestestified that Thomas wore tennis shoes the evening of the murder and there wasa tennis shoe print on the floor of the garage. When asked by police, however,Thomas denied owning any tennis shoes, and the next day he collected all histennis shoes and threw them away.
Based on the foregoing, we conclude that the Stateintroduced sufficient evidence to prove the corpus delicti of the murder and tolay the predicate for admission of Thomas's inculpatory statements. We notethat Thomas made many inculpatory statements and admissions. The State introducedsufficient evidence to show that Rachel is dead and Thomas killed her.
Thomas also argued that the court erred in failing toconsider mitigating evidence in the sentencing order. The Florida SupremeCourt affirmed the convictions and sentence of death on 03/20/97.
Thomas next filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in theUnited States Supreme Court, which was denied on 11/17/97.
Next, Thomas filed a 3.850 Motion in the State CircuitCourt, which was denied on 04/26/01. He then filed an appeal of thatdecision in the Florida Supreme Court on 06/29/01, in which the denial ofThomas’ 3.850 was affirmed. A mandate was issued 03/03/03.
Thomas filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in theUnited States District Court, Middle District on 03/22/04. An EvidentiaryHearing was held on 02/21/08. On 07/02/09, the United States District Courtordered this petition to be stayed and administratively closed this case due toa pending Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court.
On 08/21/09, a Petition for Writ of Certiorari was filed inthe United States Supreme Court. This petition was denied on 11/02/09.
Institutional Adjustment:
DATE DAYS VIOLATION LOCATION
-------- -------- ---------------------------- -------------------
04/30/96 10 POSS OF CONTRABAND FSP
05/28/96 60 REF. SUB. ABUSE TEST FSP
06/04/96 30 LYING TO STAFF FSP
10/21/96 0 REF. SUB. ABUSE TEST FSP
09/01/98 80 REF. SUB. ABUSE TEST CENTRAL
02/06/99 30 VISITING VIOLATIONS FSP
________________________________________________________________________
Report Date 06/10/02 EW
Approved 06/12/02 WS
Updated 04/29/10 EMJ
[1] Corpus delecti – proof, independent of a confession, that thecrime charged was, in fact, committed.