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Lugo v. State2/20/2003
subduing him and, in an effort to keep Furton drugged and extract information from her, gave her an overdose of Rompun, in part on Lugo's instructions, causing her death.
Lugo claims that, at the least, the avoiding arrest aggravator is inapplicable to the murder of Furton, because "Doorbal, not Lugo, killed Furton, apparently by repeated injections of [animal tranquilizer]." He ignores the evidence that at least once he injected Furton with Rompun, and specifically directed Doorbal to do the same. The medical examiner testified that these injections of animal tranquilizer were a likely contributor to Furton's death. Thus, as noted by the trial judge, if Lugo's theory of Furton's death is that she died due to the effects of the animal tranquilizer, Lugo's culpability is clear.
Also, as noted in the sentencing order, Lugo never hid his identity from Griga or Furton, making it illogical to assume that he would not do so unless the plan from the beginning was to kill both of them to eliminate the possibility of having witnesses testify against him. Moreover, " ven without direct evidence of the offender's thought processes, the arrest avoidance factor can be supported by circumstantial evidence through inference from the facts shown." Swafford v. State, 533 So. 2d 270, 276 n.6 (Fla. 1988). We conclude that the trial court did not err in its conclusion that witness elimination was a dominant motive in the murders of Griga and Furton.
Lugo's contention that the HAC aggravator does not apply to the murder of Krisztina Furton is meritless. First, we reject Lugo's contention that the State was required to establish that he intended to inflict a high degree of pain on Furton. The "intention of the killer to inflict pain on the victim is not a necessary element of the aggravator." Guzman v. State, 721 So. 2d 1155, 1160 (Fla. 1998). Conscienceless, pitiless, or unnecessarily torturous acts by a defendant justify the finding of the HAC aggravator, as does the defendant's indifference to the victim's suffering. See, e.g., Guzman, 721 So. 2d at 1159-60 (Fla. 1998).
Moreover, in his sentencing order the trial judge thoroughly examined the reasons for finding the HAC aggravator as applied to the murder of Furton:
After seeing her fiancee being strangled by Doorbal, she screamed in fear and was immediately tackled by Lugo who proceeded to gag her, handcuff her hands and secure her ankles with duct tape. She was then injected with [horse tranquilizer] in order to reduce her resistance.
The evidence showed that Xylazine[ ] works on the nervous system and is used as a horse tranquilizer. An injection of Xylazine would be painful, providing a burning feeling, would cause agitation, salivation and extreme thirst. The person's respiration would lower which, when combined with being bound and gagged, would likely cause a feeling of suffocation. She was kept with a hood over her head to limit her vision.
On the day following Griga's murder . . . [Furton] woke up and begged to see Griga . . . whom she had last seen being strangled by Doorbal. At Lugo's direction, Doorbal injected her again in the ankle [with horse tranquilizer] and Ms. Furton screamed. . . . She continued begging to see Frank Griga. When Lugo told her she would be taken to see Frank if she answered all of their questions[,] she became nervous again, started shaking and began screaming. Doorbal gave her another injection in the thigh and she screamed out in pain again. It had been less than an hour since the last injection of Xylazine. When she passed out again, [Lugo and Doorbal] left her lying on the stairs while they continued discussing the crime.
Ms. Furton's d
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