Cedric Floyd was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for the murder of his ex girlfriend Tina Jones
According to court documents Cedric Floyd, who is a convicted sex offender, would break into the home of Tina Jones and would fatally shoot her
Cedric Floyd would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Cedric Floyd is incarcerated at Holman Prison
Cedric Floyd Case
The evidence adduced during the guilt phase of the trial indicated the following. In the early morning hours of January 2, 2011, Tina Jones, a single mother of four, was shot and killed in her home in Atmore. Cedric Floyd and Jones had dated for approximately two years before the murder. The State presented evidence indicating that the relationship had been tumultuous and that there had been altercations between Floyd and Jones during their relationship. Jones ended the relationship in November 2010, approximately two months before she was killed, and began dating another man.
On December 31, 2010, Jones and her three youngest children 2 spent the night at Jones’s aunt’s house because, according to Lakeshia Finley, Jones’s cousin, Jones was afraid of Cedric Floyd. Jones’s uncle, James Jones (“James”) and his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (“Sarah”), who were living with Jones at the time, were alone at Jones’s house that night, or thought they were. James testified that when he woke on January 1, 2011, he found Floyd sitting in the living room smoking a cigarette. James said that he did not know how Floyd had gotten into the house. James telephoned Jones and told her that Floyd was in the house. He and Sarah then left; Floyd was still in the house when James and Sarah left.
After learning that Cedric Floyd had been in her house, Jones, accompanied by her father, Curtis Jones, and Finley, went to the Atmore Police Department to report the incident. Cedric Floyd also went to the police department. Jones informed Officer John Stallworth that Floyd had broken into her house and had stolen her cellular telephone. Officer Stallworth explained to Jones that she could file a complaint for burglary and theft, but Jones declined, telling Officer Stallworth that she wanted a restraining order against Floyd but that she did not want Floyd arrested. Officer Stallworth explained to Jones that the police department did not issue restraining orders, and he explained the steps Jones could take to obtain a restraining order. At Jones’s request, Officer Stallworth instructed Floyd not to return to Jones’s residence and told Floyd that if he did so he would be arrested on sight. Floyd agreed not to return to Jones’s residence.
Throughout the day on January 1, 2011, Cedric Floyd sent numerous text messages to Jones’s 18-year-old daughter, Ky’Toria Lawson, who lived with Jones. In many of the messages, Floyd threatened Jones and other members of her family. Floyd also told Ky’Toria that he had let the family dog out of the backyard fence and that it had been hit by a car. Some of Floyd’s text messages were also sexual in nature. Ky’Toria told Jones about the text messages, and that afternoon she and Jones went to the police station to report the messages, where, once again, Jones spoke with Officer Stallworth. Jones told Officer Stallworth that she was afraid of Floyd because, when Floyd had previously been in jail, he had telephoned her and had told her that he had people watching her and reporting to him. Jones also told Officer Stallworth that her aunt had told her that Cedric Floyd had said that he was going to kill Jones and then kill himself. Neither Jones nor Ky’Toria filed a complaint against Floyd at that time. Ky’Toria testified that she did not file a complaint because she was scared that she would have to testify against Floyd and that Floyd would then “come after us.” (R. 2518.) Officer Stallworth assured them that officers would drive by Jones’s house throughout the night. Officer Stallworth instructed Jones to turn her porch light on that night and, if Floyd came to her house, to turn her porch light off to signal the officers driving by that Floyd was inside the house.
Around 11:00 p.m. that night, Ky’Toria came home with her friend, Tramescka Peavy. Jones was asleep in her bedroom, and Ky’Toria and Peavy woke her up and spoke to her. Ky’Toria and Peavy then went to Ky’Toria’s bedroom to watch a movie. Ky’Toria said that as soon as the movie started, she fell asleep. Peavy testified that she did not fall asleep but dozed off and on. At approximately 12:45 a.m., Ky’Toria awoke to a loud bang. Ky’Toria said that she jumped when she heard the noise and that Peavy grabbed her. At that point,Cedric Floyd entered Ky’Toria’s bedroom and demanded her car keys. Ky’Toria testified that Floyd appeared to be in a hurry. Ky’Toria asked Floyd why he was there, at which point, Floyd grabbed Ky’Toria’s cellular telephone and Peavy’s cellular telephone, eyeglasses, and Army-issued dog tags, and fled. Peavy attempted to chase Floyd, but Ky’Toria stopped her. Peavy testified that Cedric Floyd dropped her eyeglasses and dog tags in the living room but that he kept both her and Ky’Toria’s cellular telephones.
At that point, Ky’Toria, whose bedroom was across the hall from James and Sarah’s room, but on the other side of the house from Jones’s bedroom, woke up James and Sarah. James and Sarah both testified that they were awakened that night by Ky’Toria screaming that Cedric Floyd was in the house. The three then went into the den and Ky’Toria telephoned emergency 911. Testimony indicated that the call was made at 12:46 a.m. At that point, Ky’Toria did not know that her mother had been killed, and she simply asked the 911 dispatcher to send police to the house because Floyd was there. James then looked for Jones and found her lying on the floor in a pool of blood in the hallway just outside her bedroom. Sarah then telephoned emergency 911 to request an ambulance.
Police and paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after the emergency calls. Paramedics began working on Jones. Police cleared the house and later transported James, Sarah, Ky’Toria, and Peavy to the police station, where they gave statements to police about the events of that night. Diana Chavers, one of the medics who responded to the emergency call, testified that when she arrived she was informed by police that the victim had multiple gunshot wounds and was believed to be deceased. Chavers said that Jones was not breathing and did not have a pulse. However, when Chavers placed a cardiac monitor on Jones, there appeared to be some electrical activity in the heart. Chavers and her partner then attempted to resuscitate Jones. To clear Jones’s airway for intubation, Chavers had to remove several teeth from Jones’s throat; the teeth had been knocked out and had lodged in Jones’s throat as a result of a gunshot to Jones’s face. The resuscitation efforts were ultimately unsuccessful and Jones was transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Dr. Eugene Hart, a forensic pathologist with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences who performed the autopsy on Jones, testified that the cause of Jones’s death was multiple gunshot wounds. Specifically, Dr. Hart testified that Jones suffered three gunshot wounds — one to the back of the head, one to the face, and one to the back. Dr. Hart characterized the gunshot wound to the back of the head as a “hard contact gunshot wound,” meaning that the gun was pressed firmly against Jones’s head when it was fired. (R. 2921.) Dr. Hart said that the bullet traveled from back to front through Jones’s brain, with a slightly downward trajectory. Dr. Hart testified that the gunshot wound to Jones’s face was not a contact wound, but was fired from less than 12 inches away. The bullet, Dr. Hart said, went through the bridge of Jones’s nose and down through the upper jaw, finally stopping in Jones’s lower jaw. Dr. Hart removed both of those bullets and sent them for ballistics testing. As for the gunshot wound to the back, Dr. Hart testified that the bullet entered the upper left portion of Jones’s back and exited through the left front of the chest. Dr. Hart characterized this wound as an “indeterminate range gunshot wound” based on the lack of soot and stippling around the wound. (R. 2936.) Dr. Hart said that the lack of soot or stippling may have been because Jones was clothed at the time the shot was fired or it may have been because the shot was fired from a distance; because he could not make that determination conclusively, he characterized the wound as being from an indeterminate range. Dr. Hart testified that the gunshot wounds to Jones’s face and back were likely survivable, but that it was unlikely that Jones could have survived the gunshot wound to the back of her head.
At the scene, police found that the window in Jones’s bedroom had been broken from the outside and shards of glass were on the bedroom floor. One of those shards was stained with blood, and subsequent DNA testing revealed that the blood was Floyd’s. On a dresser in Jones’s bedroom, police found a .38 caliber revolver, which was later determined through ballistics testing to be the murder weapon. The revolver contained three spent shell casings, and hair was found on the end of the barrel. There was blood spatter on the carpet in Jones’s bedroom and in the hallway where Jones was found, and a bullet fragment was found on the floor in the hallway. In the front yard, police found a bandana and a jacket, and Floyd later admitted that the jacket belonged to him; inside one of the pockets of the jacket was an unopened pack of Newport brand cigarettes. What appeared to be a “freshly smoked cigarette” was found on the deck just outside Jones’s bedroom window; the cigarette was a Newport brand. (R. 2800.) Additional cigarette butts and beer cans were found near the backyard fence.
Shortly after 1:00 a.m., approximately 30 minutes after Jones was fatally shot, Floyd telephoned emergency 911 using Jones’s cellular telephone. Floyd told the dispatcher that he was the person the police were looking for and that he was in Freemanville, that he was unarmed, and that he wanted to turn himself in. Officers picked up Floyd in Freemanville and transported him to the Atmore Police Department, where Floyd gave two statements to police confessing to killing Jones.
In his first statement, given to Jason Dean, the chief of police, and Chuck Brooks, an investigator with the Atmore Police Department, which was recorded and played for the jury, Cedric Floyd stated that all he remembered was “jumping over the fence and jumping through the window. And she was just lying on the floor.” (R. 3285-86.) Floyd said that he did not remember how many times he had shot Jones, but that he had tried to shoot himself and “it wouldn’t work.” (R. 3286.) Floyd said that the previous day, he had found out that Jones had been cheating on him, and he had traded his automobile for a .38 caliber gun and $300. Floyd said that he had left the gun in Jones’s bedroom before he left Jones’s house; specifically, Cedric Floyd said that he “just threw it on the dresser.” (R. 3294.) Floyd also stated that the jacket found in Jones’s front yard was his and that he had dropped it as he fled the scene. Finally, Cedric Floyd said that someone had driven him to and from Jones’s house that night, but he refused to identify that person.
After giving his first statement, Cedric Floyd was placed in a cell at the Atmore Police Department. At approximately 3:45 a.m., Glenn Carlee, Atmore’s Director of Public Safety, went to the cell and spoke with Floyd. In his second statement, which was not recorded, Floyd again confessed to killing Jones. According to Carlee, Floyd stated: “I messed up. I killed the woman I love. ․ I wanted to be with her, but the gun wouldn’t work.” (R. 3476.) Floyd reiterated to Carlee that he had jumped over the fence in Jones’s backyard and had then jumped through the bedroom window and shot Jones. Cedric Floyd also reiterated that he had traded his automobile for the gun he had used to kill Jones, but he refused to tell Carlee from whom he had gotten the gun.
In March 2011, Scott Walden, an investigator with the Atmore Police Department, went to the Escambia County detention facility to interview an informant in an unrelated case. As he was leaving, Inv. Walden said, he saw Floyd in the hallway. Floyd told Inv. Walden that he wanted to speak to him, but Inv. Walden told Floyd that he could not speak with Floyd without Floyd’s lawyer present. Inv. Walden advised Floyd that his lawyer could set up a meeting to discuss whatever Floyd wanted to discuss. At that point, Floyd stated: “The bitch didn’t get me a lawyer. She took me there and brought me back.” (R. 3180.) Floyd was apparently referring to the person who had driven him to and from Jones’s house the night of the murder.
In December 2011, Inv. Walden again went to the Escambia County detention facility, this time to obtain a DNA swab from Cedric Floyd, and Floyd again made a statement to Inv. Walden:
“He said, you know, I tried to talk to you last time you wouldn’t talk to me. But I’m telling you, the girl took me there and brought me back. I want to talk to you. If you could help me out and get a lower sentence.”
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1867169.html
