Prisoner’s mom, Florida lawmaker target law that lets accomplices be charged with murder

Lisa Antonini’s introduction to the felony murder rule was on a Sunday morning in 2006, when Seminole County deputies knocked on her door, then handcuffed her 18-year-old son and put him in the back of a cruiser in his boxers.

He was facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of his friend, Lake Brantley High School football player and weightlifter Mitch Weiner, who was killed during a drug deal-turned-robbery.

Antonini’s son, Brian Harvey, didn’t kill Weiner. But he was in the car and, deputies alleged, participated in the robbery. That meant he could be charged under the felony murder rule, which allows anyone involved in a felony that ends in a death to be charged with murder.

Harvey, now 32, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a 22-year prison sentence. His mother has earned two degrees in criminal justice since his arrest and started two nonprofits in hopes of changing the law so only a killer can be charged with murder.

Amid nationwide calls for criminal justice reform, Antonini said she’s hopeful her cause can find traction. Last week, she held a Facebook Live event with State Sen. Randolph Bracy, who filed a bill in this year’s legislative session that would limit the felony murder rule to accomplices who helped commit or plan the slaying.

The legislation died in committee, but Bracy said he plans on filing it again and thinks it will have a better chance next time around. Other states, including California, have made a similar change in recent years.

“I think there’s momentum for a number of reforms,” said Bracy, D-Orlando. “Now more than any time is the best time to pass a bill like this.”

Bill to face opposition

Bracy’s bill would limit the felony murder rule to those who act in “reckless indifference to human life” or assist in a slaying. It would be retroactive, so those imprisoned under the old law could petition to be resentenced.

Carrie Boyd, Florida policy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said abolishing the felony murder rule will be a priority for the organization at next year’s legislative section.

“I think at its core our legal system is predicated on fairness and justice. This law reeks of injustice,” she said.

But the change will face opposition from law enforcement, prosecutors and victim advocates, who say it serves as a crime deterrent. Someone who agrees to commit a felony bears responsibility for whatever happens during the crime, they argue.

“I just look at some of those cases that, if it hadn’t been for that person committing a crime, that victim would still be alive,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said. “If you just stayed at home and didn’t commit a crime, the person would still be alive.”

One such example, Mina said, would be a case in which a victim is killed during a robbery by two suspects, both armed.

“You have to expect that if you go to a robbery and put a gun in someone’s face, you have to realize you are responsible for that killing even if you didn’t pull the trigger,” he said.

Mina said he would not be opposed to adjusting sentencing guidelines to give the non-killer less prison time than the killer, but it should still be a harsh punishment.

Although California abolished the felony murder law in 2018, the effort faced strong opposition from county prosecutors.

In addition to the argument that the law was a crime deterrent, a fiscal analysis of amending it said to do so “could cost millions of dollars to process resentencing petitions, as well as to transport people to and from courts for resentencing,” the Marshall Project reported.

Drug deal, robbery or murder plot?

With $800 in cash in his shoe, Weiner met Harvey, 21-year-old Stephen “Murda” Johnson and 24-year-old Ruben Senior, in a car on Aug. 5, 2006, to buy a pound of marijuana, according to court records.

Weiner, 17, was in the back seat with Johnson, with Senior driving and Harvey in the passenger seat. As they drove down Interstate 4 in Seminole County, Johnson pulled out a gun and shot Mitchell in the head while robbing him of the $800.

They dumped Weiner — still breathing — in a ditch on Upsala Road in Sanford, where he was later found dead.

Harvey went back to his Altamonte Springs home. That night, a friend came over, claiming his motorcycle had broken down. Unbeknownst to Harvey, his friend was a confidential informant and wearing a wire.

Harvey was recorded saying he knew about the robbery and that none of the trio had marijuana when they met Weiner. But the tape was barely audible. Antonini says her son didn’t know about the robbery and certainly didn’t want Weiner to die.

“Mitch and Brian were good friends,” she said.

Harvey also was heard on the tape saying he was terrified and Johnson had threatened to kill him. Harvey was found guilty at trial and sentenced to life in prison, but the conviction was tossed after an appeals court said the judge didn’t properly explain the felony murder rule.

A second trial ended in a mistrial for juror misconduct. Antonini said her son pleaded guilty before his third trial to avoid the risk of a guilty verdict and life behind bars.

Johnson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Senior, also serving a life sentence, has said he had no prior knowledge of the killing and would not have agreed to drive if he knew what was going to happen.

Weiner’s parents, who couldn’t be reached for comment, in a letter read in court by a family friend said that, instead of seeing their son get married and have kids, “we get to visit the cemetery.”

“We will miss him for the rest of our days,” they wrote.

Antonini said she also suffers, knowing her son is in prison until 2025 for a murder he didn’t commit and will be considered a convicted felon and murderer for the rest of his life.

“Yes, there was a crime committed,” admitted Antonini. “Did he deserve life in prison? No, he set up a drug deal.”

Bracy: ‘A gross injustice’

Bracy, who heard from numerous families with loved ones charged under the felony murder rule after he filed the bill to change it, said he doesn’t buy the argument that anyone involved in a felony that ends in death is just as responsible as the killer.

“You are responsible for what you did,” he said. “I think it’s a gross injustice to charge someone with a crime they didn’t do.”

The felony murder rule can be applied to a wide array of circumstances, as an August 2014 killing in downtown Orlando illustrated.

Orlando police Officer Eduardo Sanguino fired nine times at Kody Roach outside the Club Vixen bar, as Roach reached for a gun. Seven bullets hit Roach, who survived. But two of the bullets went into the bar, one of which hit and killed 21-year-old Maria Godinez Castillo.

Roach was charged with first-degree felony murder, but he pleaded to a weapons charge after the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office concluded there wasn’t enough evidence for a murder case. He served five years in prison and was released earlier this year. Sanguino was cleared of wrongdoing. Roach is suing the Police Department.

Mina, who was Orlando’s police chief at the time, said the Roach case is a “perfect example” why the felony murder rule should exist.

“If it had not been for Kody Roach recklessly displaying a weapon in a crowded downtown area, the victim would still be alive,” he said.

The City of Orlando settled with Godinez Castillo’s family for $300,000, but admitted no wrongdoing.

Her family argues it’s Sanguino who should be in jail.

dharris@orlandosentinel.com