Florida Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence for Mesac Damas
The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed the denial of postconviction relief and a petition for habeas corpus for Mesac Damas, the man convicted and sentenced to death for the brutal 2009 murders of his wife and five young children in Collier County.
In a decision issued Wednesday, the Court, with Justice Couriel writing the majority opinion, affirmed the circuit court’s order and denied Damas’s petition, concluding that his claims—largely centering on his competency and the effectiveness of his trial counsel—were either procedurally barred or lacked merit.
Case Background: A “Woeful Tale”
The ruling reiterated the gruesome facts of the case, which the Court had previously detailed when it upheld Damas’s convictions and death sentences in 2018. In 2009, following a history of domestic issues, Damas killed his wife and five children, aged nine down to not quite two, by cutting their throats with a fillet knife.
He fled to Haiti but was apprehended shortly after arrival, where he confessed to the murders, attributing them to “bad spirits” and voodoo spells.
Damas later pled guilty, waived his right to a penalty-phase jury, and waived his right to present evidence in mitigation.
Competency and Ineffective Counsel Claims Rejected
Damas’s appeal raised three issues, primarily focusing on claims of ineffective assistance of counsel related to his competency proceedings and the mitigation investigation.
Competency to Proceed
Damas argued that he was incompetent at various stages of the proceedings and that his lawyers failed to expose it. The Supreme Court rejected this, first by stating that a direct challenge to his competency was procedurally barred because it could have been raised in his initial direct appeal but wasn’t.
Furthermore, the Court found no deficient performance by trial counsel concerning his competency. The record showed Damas was evaluated for competency multiple times—found competent, then incompetent, and later restored to competency.
His counsel was found to have a reasonable basis to believe he was competent, especially after his release from a treatment facility. The Court noted that Damas’s persistent refusal to cooperate with attorneys and mental health experts undermined his claims, citing precedent that lawyers aren’t ineffective for honoring a client’s wishes or for not requesting evaluations that would likely be futile.
Mitigation Investigation
Damas also claimed his trial counsel failed to conduct a timely and adequate mitigation investigation. The Court found this claim to be without merit, citing substantial evidence that both the Public Defender’s office and his subsequent private attorneys had worked diligently.
The defense team, which included mitigation specialists and cultural experts, developed a full picture of his background, ultimately compiling forty-seven mitigating factors that were presented to the sentencing court, despite Damas’s waiver of mitigation.
Justice Labarga, in a special concurrence, emphasized the extensive process, noting Damas was evaluated twelve times by five experts between 2009 and 2017.
Habeas Petition Denied
Finally, the Supreme Court denied Damas’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which claimed ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. These claims—related to the use of expert reports and the denial of funding for additional tests—were deemed meritless because they were based on unpreserved trial errors or were an attempt to relitigate issues that had already been addressed on direct appeal.
As a result of the ruling, the convictions and six death sentences against Mesac Damas remain affirmed.
READ: Florida Executes Victor Tony Jones For 1990 Double-Murder, 13th In 2025
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