In Memory of Jeffrey Dale Young
Published in the Tampa Tribune - October 13, 2009
Every passing patrol car reminds David Smith of his brother, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper slain 22 years ago.
With each year gone by since that deadly summer night, the anger grows, Smith says, because the man convicted of killing Trooper Jeff Young and sentenced to die is still alive.
"It's so frustrating," Smith said. "The pain never goes away."
So Smith and his family, taking a cue from Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, have aired their grievance online. Smith's daughter, Debbie, started a campaign at GoPetition.com asking Gov. Charlie Crist to sign the death warrant for 64-year-old Daniel Burns.
The Web site, which claims to have more than 30,000 active petitions in 75 countries, was used by Judd's agency to collect signatures asking Crist to sign the death warrant for Paul Beasley Johnson.
The death row inmate was convicted in the killing of three men, including a Polk sheriff's deputy, in 1981. Judd's petition was posted on Sept. 30 and garnered 2,179 signatures.
The governor signed Johnson's warrant Wednesday; the execution is set for Nov. 4.
Smith, a retired Manatee County sheriff's sergeant, said his daughter started their campaign after she watched news reports of Judd's efforts. Polk sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer said Judd is flattered his agency's petition encouraged the family to take action.
"If that helps bring one more person to justice, then it's even all the more reason for us to do what we did," Eleazer said.
Nearly 2,600 people have signed Smith's petition since Tuesday. Debbie Smith is also writing a letter to Crist.
"We have no closure until he gets executed," David Smith, 67, said.
Young was responding to reports of a suspicious vehicle on Aug. 18, 1987, when he pulled over Burns and another man on Interstate 75 near Ellenton. With Burns' consent, Young searched the car and found cocaine in the trunk, according to court documents.
A struggle between Young and Burns ensued and both men fell into a water-filled ditch, Smith said. During the fight, Burns got hold of the trooper's gun and shot him, Smith said.
Burns, convicted of first degree murder and trafficking in cocaine, was sentenced to death on June 2, 1988.
Published in the Tampa Tribune - October 12, 2009
Every time David Smith sees a patrol car, he is reminded of his brother, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper slain 22 years ago.
With every year that has passed since that deadly summer night, the anger grows, Smith says, because the man convicted of killing Trooper Jeff Young and sentenced to die still lives.
"It's so frustrating," Smith said. "The pain never goes away."
So Smith and his family, taking a cue from Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, have taken their grievance online. Smith's daughter, Debbie, started an online campaign at GoPetition.com asking Gov. Charlie Crist to sign the death warrant for 64-year-old Daniel Burns.
The Web site was the one used by Judd to post a petition asking Crist to sign the death warrant on Paul Beasley Johnson, accused of killing three men, including a Polk sheriff's deputy, in 1981.
The governor signed the warrant on Wednesday, and Johnson's execution has been set for Nov. 4.
Smith, a retired Manatee County sheriff's sergeant, said his daughter started their campaign after she watched news reports of Judd's efforts. More than 2,280 people have signed the petition since Tuesday.
"We have no closure until he gets executed," David Smith, 67, said.
Young was responding to reports of a suspicious vehicle on Aug. 18, 1987, when he pulled over Burns and another man on Interstate 75 near Ellenton. With Burns' consent, Young searched the car and found cocaine in the trunk, according to court documents.
A struggle between Young and Burns ensued and both men fell into a water-filled ditch, Smith said. During the fight, Burns got hold of the trooper's gun and pointed it at him, Smith said.
"Jeff told him, 'You don't have to do this. You can get in your car and go,' " Smith said. "Then he pulled the trigger."
Young threw his hands in front of his face as Burns fired one shot, court records show. The bullet hit Young's wedding ring then struck him in the head, according to witness testimony.
Burns ran from the scene but was arrested later that night after a manhunt. Samuel Williams, the man who was with Burns, testified at the trial that Burns was making several trips from Michigan to Florida to buy $10,000 worth of cocaine.
Burns, convicted on first degree murder and trafficking in cocaine, was sentenced to death on June 2, 1988. Burns' initial appeal took three years to resolve, according to the Florida Commission on Capital Cases.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the convictions in 1992, but ordered a resentencing. A second jury voted unanimously for the death penalty in 1994, according to the commission.
Burns' latest appeal on Jan. 29 was denied, records show.
The two decades Burns spent appealing is more than enough, Smith said.
"He's been sitting up there since 1989, getting three hots and a cot and air-conditioned comfort," Smith said. "He gave Jeff about 20 seconds to appeal for his life."
Published in the Bradenton Herald - October 12, 2009
For Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Jeff Young, it was a textbook traffic stop.
He pulled over a vehicle and asked the driver, Daniel Burns Jr., to step outside. He searched the vehicle and found cocaine.
That's where the story went from methodical to horrific.
According to numerous eyewitness accounts, Burns wrestled Young to the ground, grabbed the trooper's gun and aimed at his head.
On his knees, begging for mercy - near the Interstate 75 bridge over the Manatee River that now bears his name - Young was shot and killed, point-blank in the face. The bullet deflected off his wedding band.
That was Aug. 18, 1987.
More than 22 years later, a convicted Burns remains a resident of death row in Florida State Prison near Starke.
Appeal after appeal has been filed. Appeal after appeal has been denied. Burns' lawyers have taken the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, filing a petition of review that was denied in February 1998. The most recent appeal was denied by the Florida Supreme Court in January.
Enough is enough, says Young's family. The long, drawn-out process has sparked an online petition pressuring Gov. Charlie Crist to sign Burns' death warrant.
More than 1,200 people, including Manatee Sheriff Brad Steube, had signed it as of Saturday night.
"Twenty-two years on death row? This appeals process is a farce," said Young's half-brother, David Smith, a retired Manatee County Sheriff's Office sergeant.
"All these prisoners do is sit up there and do nothing. It seems like it goes on and on and on. It's to the point where we're not resigned to the fact that he'll die in prison, we're still hoping he'll get executed."
Setting wheels in motion
When Debbie Smith saw a news report last week about Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd spurring the governor to sign a death warrant with the help of an online petition, she went to GoPetition.com to start her own.
Smith, a supervisor with the child protection division of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, is Young's niece and David Smith's daughter.
At the time of her uncle's murder, Smith was a 20-year-old college student at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She'll never forget her parents calling with the news.
"I was devastated," she said in an interview with the Herald.
More than 22 years later, those feelings have mixed with anger.
"It's been tough thinking that he (Burns) is on death row getting three meals a day and air-conditioning," she said.
With the online petition comes a renewed hope that justice might some day soon be served. Smith says she's told "everyone" about it. Once it registers about 2,000 signatures, she'll try to get in touch with the governor's office.
"We, the undersigned, ask Gov. Charlie Crist to expedite this case and sign the death warrant for Daniel Burns," the petition reads at its URL address (http://www.gopetition.com/online/31268.html).
Steube has put his full support behind the petition.
"I agree with it," he said. "I signed it. It's been too long, and if you are a believer in the death penalty, then you should also believe the penalty should be taken care of as soon as possible."
As of Saturday, there were 385 men and one woman on death row in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Paul Beasley Johnson, of that Polk County case, has been on death row at Florida State Prison for 28 years. He killed a deputy and two others in 1981.
"It's time for the death sentence to be carried out," Judd told The Associated Press. "The bottom line is that Paul Beasley Johnson committed cold, calculated, atrocious murders."
Crist signed Johnson's death warrant Wednesday, scheduling Johnson's execution for Nov. 4.
Manatee County Commissioner Ron Getman hopes the same fate awaits Burns.
For Getman, this is personal. He was Young's supervising Troop F commander at the time of his death.
"It's been very frustrating in that he was convicted and he was convicted again. And he lost his appeals and they keep appealing," he said. "It just seems like it never ends. ...
"He should be shown no mercy."
Phone messages left seeking comment from the governor's press office and Burns' current attorney, Mark Gruber, of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, were not returned as of Saturday night.
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