FLORIDA SUPREME COURT SHUTS DOWN DEATH ROW INMATE’S BID FOR NEW TRIAL

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed a lower court’s denial of a postconviction relief motion for death row inmate Jermaine Foster, rejecting claims that a key co-defendant’s testimony was coerced by state officials.

In a per curiam opinion issued July 16, 2026, the court ruled that there was competent and substantial evidence to support a circuit court’s finding that the trial testimony used to convict Foster was credible. The decision keeps in place the death sentences Foster received for his role in a 1992 robbery and shooting spree that left two people dead.

Foster was convicted in 1994 of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, and four counts of kidnapping. According to court records, Foster and three co-defendants—Leondra Henderson, Gerard Booker, and Alf Catholic—staged a series of robberies to recover Booker’s gambling losses.

During the incident, the group forced a car carrying four people off the road into a vacant field. Foster then shot Anthony Faiella, Michael Rentas, and Anthony Clifton. Clifton and Faiella died from their injuries, while Rentas survived. The fourth passenger, Tammy George, was not shot.

In his latest appeal, Foster argued that his constitutional rights were violated because the state knowingly presented false testimony from Henderson. Foster claimed that Henderson had since recanted his original statement that Foster planned to kill the victims if they did not have money.

During an evidentiary hearing held in late 2023, Foster presented 14 witnesses to argue that Henderson’s testimony had been forced. However, Henderson himself testified at the hearing, denying some of the conversations and stating he had manufactured the coercion story to help Foster. Ultimately, Henderson stood by his trial testimony regarding Foster’s intent to kill.

The state’s prosecutor at the time, Jeffrey Ashton, also testified that while investigators had to “push” Henderson to admit his own level of involvement, no one told the co-defendant what to say. Ashton noted that the only threat involved was “the natural threat of prosecution and eventual sentence.”

The Supreme Court deferred to the circuit court’s assessment of the witnesses, writing that “resolving any perceived gaps in Henderson’s testimony was part of the postconviction court’s credibility determination—a determination to which we defer given its record support.”

Foster also challenged the trial court’s refusal to admit a polygraph report into evidence during the postconviction hearing. The high court rejected this argument as well, pointing out that polygraph results are generally inadmissible under Florida law. The justices added that even if the exclusion had been an error, it was harmless because a letter from Booker’s attorney detailing the contents of the polygraph had already been accepted into evidence.

Chief Justice Couriel and Justices Labarga, Muñiz, Grosshans, Francis, and Sasso concurred in the decision. Justice Tanenbaum did not participate in the ruling.

READ: Florida Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence For Marine Veteran Who Killed Nassau Deputy

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