The Commission on Capital Cases updates thisinformation regularly. This information; however, is subject to changeand may not reflect the latest status of an inmate’s case and should not berelied upon for statistical or legal purposes.
REYNOLDS, MICHAEL (W/M)
DC# 324170
DOB: 07/27/55
Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, Seminole County Case #98-3341
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable Kenneth Lester Jr.
Attorney, Trial: Steven Lawrence – Special Public Defender
Attorney, Direct Appeal: Robert Strain & David Gemmer –CCRC-M
Attorney, Collateral Appeals: Melodee A. Smith – Registry
Date of Offense: 07/21/98
Date of Sentence: 09/19/03
Circumstances of Offense:
On July 22, 1998, Shirley Razor went to visit her daughter,Robin Razor, who lived in a trailer lot in Geneva. Robin Razor livedthere with Danny Privett and their two daughters. Shirley Razor went tothe lot to help with renovating two mobile home trailers. When Shirelyarrived, she saw Privett lying on the ground outside one of the trailers nextto a jug of moonshine. Since Privett was often drunk and passed out,Shirley thought nothing of it and went inside to have lunch. Afterfinishing her lunch, Shirley went outside and took a closer look at Privett anddiscovered he was dead and had a hole in his head. Shirley then lookedinto one of the other trailers and saw her daughter and 11-year-old granddaughter,Christina Razor, both dead inside.
Privett died from blunt force trauma to the head from abroken concrete block. Privett had no defensive wounds and was thought tohave not seen the attacker coming at him. Evidence showed he was standingoutside urinating when he was hit from behind. Inside the trailer, Robinwas found lying on the floor while Christina was in a seated position on thecouch. Robin had stab wounds to her neck and torso, multiple blows to thehead, a broken neck and defensive wounds on her arms and hands. The associateOrange County medical examiner testified that Robin had several shallow slashmarks that indicated her attacker was trying to hurt or torment her withoutimmediately killing her. Christina died from a stab wound to her sternumand also had contusions to her left eye and mouth. When Christina’s bodywas discovered, her underwear were found off her body across the room, however,there was no evidence of sexual assault.
Razor and Privett’s other daughter, Danielle, had spent thenight at a friends’ house on the evening the murders took place. Shehelped police investigators with solving the crime. She provided evidence ofpeople who had disputes with the family and had ill feelings toward them. Although Danielle did not name Michael Reynolds as a possible suspect, he soonbecame one. Reynolds lived on the same road as the victims and hadgone to the local hospital the morning after the murders with a laceratedfinger and sprained ankle that he supposedly received from an accidentunrelated to the murders.
Reynolds had a previous dispute with Privett over a trailerframe that was given to Privett that Reynolds had wanted for himself. Thedispute, however, was resolved and the two seemed to get along fineafterwards.
Several pieces of evidence (cuttings from the victims’couch, bedding and clothing and cuttings and sweepings of Reynolds’ car) werenot submitted for forensic testing. These pieces of evidence couldpossibly exonerate Reynolds or implicate him further. The footprintsfound at the murder scene did not match Reynolds’. The results of the DNAtesting of the blood samples found on the victims compared to Reynolds wereinconclusive. Blood samples found on the victims’ clothing, bed linen and otherhousehold items were a positive match to Reynolds. Hairs were retrievedfrom the bloody hands of Robin Razor. The hairs did not match Reynolds,and they were never compared to any other possible suspect.
Additional Information:
Several mitigating factors were presented during trial,which included: Reynolds had a mentally and physically abusive father althoughhe had a loving relationship with his mother and cared for his wheelchair-boundsister while growing up.
Prior Incarceration History in the State of Florida:
| Offense Date | Offense | Sentence Date | County | Case. No. | Sentence |
| 11/07/79 | GRAND THEFT, $300 LESS &20,000 | 03/14/83 | ORANGE | 7904499 | 1Y 1M 0D |
| 05/29/83 | ESCAPE | 08/07/86 | BROWARD | 8306062 | 5Y 6M 0D |
| 08/18/91 | AGG BATTERY W/DEADLY WEAPON | 01/27/99 | HILLSBOROUGH | 911679 | 3Y 6M 0D |
Reynolds has also served time in prisons in Arizona, for shootingtwo people, and in Texas, for robbing a man at knifepoint.
Trial Summary:
08/25/98 Indicted as follows:
Count I: First-Degree Murder (Danny Ray Privett)
Count II: First-Degree Murder(Robin Razor)
Count III: First-Degree Murder(Christine Razor)
Count IV: Armed Burglary
05/07/03 Jury returned guilty verdicts on counts II through IV and guilty ofsecond-degree murder of Privett.
05/09/03 Jury recommended death by a vote of 12-0.
09/19/03 Sentenced as follows:
Count I: Second-DegreeMurder – Life
Count II: First-Degree Murder –Death
Count III: First-Degree Murder –Death
Count IV: Armed Burglary – Life
Appeal Summary:
Florida Supreme Court – Direct Appeal
FSC# 03-1919
934 So.2d 1128 (2006)
10/27/03 Appeal filed
05/18/06 FSC affirmed Reynolds’ convictions and sentences
07/11/06 Rehearing denied
07/27/06 Mandate issued
U.S. Supreme Court – Petition for Writ of Certiorari
USSC# 06-7143
10/10/06 Petition filed
01/08/07 USSC denied petition
Circuit Court – 3.851 Motion
CC# 98-3341
12/28/07 Motion filed
07/07/10 Motion denied
Florida Supreme Court – 3.851 Appeal
FSC# 10-1602
(Pending)
08/16/10 Appeal filed
Florida Supreme Court – Petition for Writ of HabeasCorpus
FSC# 11-693
(Pending)
04/11/11 Petition filed
Case Information:
On 10/27/03, Reynolds filed a direct appeal to the FloridaSupreme Court. Reynolds raised many issues in the appeal including: errorby the trial court for excluding the entire sworn statement of an unavailablewitness, the circumstantial evidence was insufficient to overcome reasonabledoubt and convict the charges of murder, and the court refused to permitReynolds to waive his right to a sentencing jury recommendation. Reynoldsalso argued that error occurred in the court allowing the presentation oftestimony regarding Reynolds’ prior violent crimes. Reynolds contendedthat Florida’s capital sentencing scheme and penalty phase jury instructionsunconstitutionally shift the burden of proof to the defendant, and that erroroccurred in refusing to consider residual doubt as a nonstatutory mitigatingcircumstance to Reynolds’ guilt. It was also contended that the deathsentence was impermissibly imposed, since the court included improperaggravating circumstances, excluded existing mitigating circumstances, andfailed to properly find the aggravating circumstances thus rendering the deathsentence unconstitutional. Also, comparison to other capital casesrevealed that the only appropriate sentence is life. Reynolds’s finalargument is that the Florida death penalty procedure violated the Sixth andFourteenth Amendments under Ring v. Arizona. On 05/18/06, theFlorida Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences.
On 10/10/06, Reynolds filed a Petition for Writ ofCertiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court that was denied on 01/08/07.
On 12/28/07, Reynolds filed a 3.851 Motion forPostconviction Relief in the Circuit Court. This motion was denied on07/07/10.
Reynolds filed 3.851 Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court on08/16/10. This case is currently pending.
Reynolds filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in theFlorida Supreme Court on 04/11/11. This case is currently pending.
Institutional Adjustment:
DATE DAYS VIOLATION LOCATION
-------- ---- ---------------------------- -------------------
06/30/04 18 DISOBEYINGORDER FLORIDA STATE PRISON
11/16/04 4 POSS OFCONTRABAND FLORIDA STATE PRISON
11/15/05 0 FIGHTING UNIONC.I.
04/21/06 0 SPOKENTHREATS UNIONC.I.
04/24/06 30 SPOKENTHREATS UNION C.I.
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Report Date: 08/24/06 DDK
Approved: 08/25/06 JFL
Updated: 04/12/11 EMJ