SVENSON'S DEATH AND ITS AFTERMATH

Tom was my supervisor and I was at the scene of the crime shortly after the murder occurred (along with other staff members). I testified at the trial as I had been the next to last person to see him that evening. I was appointed by the Department at that time to be custodian of the file on Phillips during the trial and subsequent appeals.

Tom was shot and killed by Harry Franklin Phillips, DC# 008035 (currently on Death Row for that offense) on August 31, 1982, a parolee who had been revoked previously for technical violations that were related to an "imagined" crush on his female parole officer.

He followed her out of the county and approached her in a Publix, asking for a kiss, etc. At the parole hearing, he made a veiled threat to Tom in the men's restroom at Lake Butler. Despite the parole revocation (his original parole was for an armed robbery) he was released to parole again to the 11-4 or North Office in Miami. He began showing up in unusual places attempting to contact persons who had been involved in his previous conviction (the State Attorney for example) and revocation. He also was observed several times by his parked car at the routes that several of the officers involved in the case took to their homes after work. A number of meetings with Phillips were taking place during this time re-asserting his conditions of parole during which he became increasingly agitated.

Just a week before Tom's murder, there was also an incident in which an unknown suspect fired several shots into the home of a probation officer who was dating Phillips' probation officer, as he sat on the couch with her. The shots just missing them. Again, Phillips was the prime suspect, but it was not proven.

Tom was shot outside the North Office while placing some old phone books into the trash. He tried to run after being shot, but one of the bullets struck his spine and he was only able to run about 40 feet before collapsing. At that point, Phillips reloaded the gun and emptied the gun into Tom. Phillips had hidden in the parking lot and waited for me and another officer, Francis Gaiter, to leave before ambushing Tom.

This issue has been used in training CPO's because during this entire episode, Tom and the officers involved kept extensive case notes detailing all their interactions with Phillips. I testified from these case notes at trial, as they were considered part of the daily business record, not hearsay, and it was as if Tom was there to testify against Phillips in the murder trial. His detailed recollection of the threats at Lake Butler, another threat made by Phillips during a visit to his home by Tom and other officers where there was a verbal confrontation between Tom and Phillips' mother, as well as the notes in the files from other officers detailing Phillips activities in the time up to the murder were essential in proving motive in the crime and gave a true picture of events, which contradicted the testimony from others that Phillips was a good parolee. During Phillips' interview with Miami-Dade Police Detective Greg Smith, he made a number of outrageous allegations about Tom and his probation officer. The case notes provided a true picture of what was actually happening with this case.

Detective Smith, who was the lead detective in the case, and prosecutor David Waksman of the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office have made several presentations at FCCD conferences and other statewide training sessions detailing the lessons to be learned from this tragic incident:

• Keep detailed case notes
• Realize that all offenders have a potential to cause you harm
• Keep other staff and supervisors aware of circumstances of your offenders which arouse suspicion.

Smith, who retired from the Miami-Dade Police Department and Waksman, who remained with his agency, have since passed away.

After his original conviction, a Death Warrant was signed by Governor Martinez on October 5, 1987. A stay was issued and Phillips death sentence (not the conviction) was overturned by the Supreme Court and a new sentencing hearing ordered. He was again sentenced to death in that re-hearing. An appeal of that sentence was not upheld. He has been on Death Row since February 1, 1984. In 2008, in another appeal, the Florida Supreme Court affirms the circuit court’s finding that Phillips is not mentally retarded and affirms its denial of relief. On June 29, 2022, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Phillips sought a certificate of appealability (“COA”) to appeal the district court’s denial of his motion for leave to amend his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition. On 10/07/2022, the appellee’s motion to accept its response as timely filed was granted. The motion for a COA was denied because Phillips has not made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.  According to US Court of Appeals docket, another appeal regarding his case was set for argument in April 2023.