Huggins Faces New Trial In Larson Murder
            Artwork, Poetry By Huggins Found On Internet
        WESH-TV, NewsChannel 2 NBC affiliate in Winter Park, Florida April 8, 2002
                                                  
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Jim Larson is preparing to go through another capital
murder trial of John Huggins, the man charged with kidnapping and  killing his wife.
A jury convicted Huggins (pictured, left) in the death of Carla Larson, a College Park woman who was
kidnapped and murdered five years ago, but the conviction was set aside because prosecutors held back
evidence which was potentially beneficial to the defense, officials said.
Thanks to advocates in Canada, Huggins has been able to beg for pen pals and money, while publishing
poetry and cynical cartoons about the prospect of being put to death.
  Despite that, Jim Larson is trying to remain focused on the next step in his long trek toward justice.
  "There's a part of my life when I'm sitting quietly and I think 'What's going to happen?" Larson said.
  Meanwhile, WESH NewsChannel 2 has discovered poetry and artwork created by Huggins posted on
the Internet. Larson said it's not right.
  "It's sad this is the way it goes. I don't know how he has access to a computer in the first place,"
Larson said.
  A group called the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty provides death-row inmates like
Huggins with free Web space. In a cartoon series, Mickey Mouse is put to death, not for justice,
Huggins said, but for vengeance.
  Huggins claims he's an innocent man.
  "Do you think the prosecutor's office is going to let me come back from  Death Row and show everyone
in the media that they send innocent people to Death Row? No. They will use every trick they can get
away with to save face," according to a Web posting by Huggins.
  In this new trial, Larson said he wants the jury to see his face, and those of Carla Larson's loved ones,
devastated by her death and determined to see Huggins pay with his life.
  "I don't have much choice but to move on and go through this again. My whole family is going through it
again," Larson said.
  Huggins' lawyer, Orange and Osceola County public defender Bob   Wesley, said it's too close to trial
to comment on his strategy, but Larson is confident the outcome will be another conviction and death
sentence for Huggins.

A circuit judge Thursday sentenced John Huggins to death for the 1997
murder of Orlando engineer Carla Larson, but the order comes as the
Florida Supreme Court considers whether the state's capital-punishment
laws are constitutional.

This is the second time Huggins has been given the death penalty for the
same murder. He is thought to be the 2nd person sentenced to die since
executions were halted in July after a landmark ruling by the U.S.
Supreme Court in an Arizona case.

How, or if, that ruling affects the Huggins sentencing has yet to be
determined.

Still, Orange County Chief Circuit Judge Belvin Perry's sentence provided
some closure for Larson's family. Her parents and husband have watched
two trials held in different cities over 3 years for the case to reach a
resolution.

"I think it's fair," Carla Larson's husband, Jim Larson, said after the
sentencing. "I just wish it could be a little quicker. I'm not looking to
hang this guy. I just don't want him walking around so he can hurt
anybody else."

The victim's mother, Phyllis Thomas, began crying quietly and patted her
eyes with a tissue after Perry told Huggins, "You have not only forfeited
your right to live among us as a free man, but under the laws of the
state of Florida, you have forfeited your right to live at all."

For Phyllis and Mert Thomas of Pompano Beach, the sentencing brought
satisfaction and sorrow.

"It's not a happy day," Phyllis Thomas said. "But it's a relief. This is
what we hoped for."

Huggins, 40, represented himself at the sentencing and showed no emotion
throughout the proceeding, which lasted more than an hour.

In arguing against the death sentence, Huggins had listed several factors
for the judge to consider, ranging from a difficult childhood to work he
did serving sick children and poor people in Haiti. One of the factors
listed said Huggins could "contribute to the prison community if given a
sentence of life without parole."

Perry told Huggins he considered those factors but said they were
"greatly" outweighed by five aggravating factors. Those included Huggins'
prior felony record and the fact that Larson was kidnapped before she was
killed. Perry also noted that jurors, who recommended the death penalty,
unanimously found Larson's murder to be "especially heinous, atrocious or
cruel."

"The horror, the agony, the emotional strain and fear she must have felt
knowing of her impending death is beyond comprehension," Perry said.

Carla Larson, 30, was last seen leaving a construction site at the
Coronado Springs Resort and Convention Center in Walt Disney World at
noon June 10, 1997. She was headed for a Publix on International Drive.
Her nude body was found two days later in nearby woods. She had been
strangled.

The 1st trial was in 1999 in Jacksonville, and Huggins was convicted and
sentenced to die. But Perry later overturned the verdict and sentence
after he learned that the prosecution did not turn over a taped statement
by a witness to defense attorneys. Perry agreed with defense attorneys
that the information could have helped their case in the 1st trial.

Though Huggins was moved off death row in 2001, he remained in prison,
where he was serving five life terms for bank robberies in Orange County.

The second murder trial was scheduled for earlier this year in Osceola
County, but attorneys failed to find an impartial jury. After questioning
150 people, lawyers determined too many people there had heard about the
case and formed opinions. So the venue was moved again -- this time to Tampa.

Just hours after he fired his lawyer July 25, jurors found Huggins guilty
of 1st-degree murder, carjacking, kidnapping and petty theft. The next
day the jury voted 9-3 to recommend the judge send Huggins to death row.

What will become of Huggins' death sentence is unclear.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an Arizona case that juries, not
judges, should decide if a convicted murderer deserves to die. In
Arizona, judges alone had determined the punishment. In Florida juries
only recommend life or death sentences. Judges have final say on the
punishment.

The state Supreme Court halted executions in early July to consider how
the Arizona ruling affects Florida.

After the state court began its review, Perry went ahead with the Tampa
trial. Trying to interpret the U.S. court ruling, he revised jury
instructions and created verdict forms for jurors to show how they voted
on factors that warranted death.

Orange-Osceola Public Defender Bob Wesley has said Perry's decision will
likely give Huggins an appeal opportunity.

But Assistant State Attorney Jeffrey Ashton said Thursday the U.S.
Supreme Court ruling should not affect the Huggins case because jurors
voted unanimously on the aggravating factors that led to his sentencing.
He doesn't think the ruling will cause a 3rd trial.

"It all depends on what they [state Supreme Court justices] say," Ashton
said. "But I am very confident that the guilt issue will not have to be
re-addressed."

(source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
 

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