PANAMA CITY — The Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a man on death row who killed a Panama City Beach officer during Spring Break nine years ago.
Robert J. Bailey, of Wisconsin, was indicted for first-degree murder in the March 2005 shooting death of Sgt. Kevin Scott Kight. Bailey was sentenced to lethal injection after jurors found him guilty and has challenged the decision up to the Florida Supreme Court before the court’s finding Thursday.
Bailey said his counsel did not prevent juror bias, violated his constitutional rights and failed to highlight his mental deficiencies.
But the state court upheld district appeal courts’ conclusions and threw out the appeal.
“We reject Bailey’s three claims raised in this appeal in which he alleges ineffective assistance of trial counsel,” the court found.
Bailey also challenged his defense attorney’s choice of an expert witness to testify he had mental retardation issues, but the court also shot down that complaint.
“There is competent, substantial support within the post conviction evidentiary record for the circuit court’s conclusion that Bailey’s trial lawyers’ actions were part of reasonable trial strategy, and the circuit court did not err in reaching this conclusion,” the ruling stated.
By a vote of 11-1, the jury recommended the death penalty.
Bailey also argued the state’s lethal injection procedure was unconstitutional, which was rejected.
The crime
“Panama Beach, I been shot,” were Kight’s last communication over police radios on March 27, 2005.
The day before, Bailey — 22 years old at the time — and two other men started out on an alcohol and marijuana-filled trek from Chicago to Florida to look for women at Spring Break. The three drove through the night to Pensacola, but once they arrived, they learned Hurricane Ivan had damaged the beaches in Pensacola significantly. After eating lunch at a restaurant, they drove to Panama City Beach and checked into the Sugar Sands Motel on Front Beach Road. They met a few men from Kentucky, drank some more, and went with them to a nearby bar.
After some time had passed, Bailey and D’Tori Crawford, one of his passengers, left the bar to pick up girls. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper and slow moving before Bailey stopped completely to talk to some girls. He did not notice that traffic had begun to move until Kight pulled them over.
Kight requested Bailey’s driver’s license and left to run his information. At that point, Bailey started to panic and told Crawford that he did not have a valid license and had a parole violation. Bailey then reached under the driver’s seat to retrieve a handgun, placing it under his right leg. Bailey’s face was red, and he had tears in his eyes.
Kight walked back to Bailey’s truck, removing his handcuffs from his belt. Bailey stuck his gun out of the window and fired it three times. Two of the bullets hit the officer, and the other bullet hit a passing van and lodged in the door of the van. Bailey sped off in his vehicle, while Kight radioed dispatch.
He died en route to the hospital.
Bailey was found nearly nine hours later in a row of bushes near Sugar Sands.