Polk County Judge Imposes Death Penalty

A Polk County Circuit Judge sentenced Leon Davis Jr. to death this week. Davis was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder back in February. After the penalty phase of the trial, the jury recommended the death penalty.

Davis robbed an insurance office in Lake Wales in late 2007. While there, he poured gasoline over employees Yvonne Bustamante and Juanita Luciano and set them on fire. Luciano was pregnant; her son died three days after being delivered prematurely.

The judge sentenced Davis to death for the murders of Bustamante and Luciano. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Luciano’s baby, attempted murder and armed robbery. He was also sentenced to 30 years in prison for arson.

Davis denied involvement with the murders. Witnesses at trial said they saw Davis leaving the burning insurance agency. His brother testified that Davis came home with a scratch on his face, stating that he had robbed someone.

Davis’ defense attorney argued that the witnesses were mistaken. Davis testified in his own defense at trial. He said that, rather than robbing the insurance office and killing Bustamante and Luciano, he fought with someone in a recreation center parking lot that afternoon.

Florida’s death penalty statute requires the jury and the judge to consider possible aggravating and mitigating factors when determining the defendant’s sentence. Those “aggravators” and “mitigators” are outlined in the statute itself – and the prosecutors and defense attorneys argue the applicability of the factors according to the specific facts of the case.

In pronouncing the sentence, the judge described Davis’ actions as “especially heinous and cruel.” He referenced the excruciating pain and mental anguish suffered by both Bustamante and Juanita Luciano. Bustamante, he said, “had an acute awareness of her impending death.”

Applicable aggravating factors argued in the Davis case include the fact that the murders were especially heinous, atrocious, cruel, or depraved and that they were committed during the commission of a robbery.