RAPIST: DARIUS MARK KIMBROUGH (EXECUTED ON NOVEMBER 12, 2013)

            On this date, November 12, 2013, a rapist-killer, Darius Mark Kimbrough was executed by lethal injection in Florida. He was convicted of the October 3, 1991 murder of Denise Collins. Please go to the Unit 1012 Blog to learn more about the victim.

 

Darius Mark Kimbrough

 

The victim, Denise Collins

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/kimbrough1353.htm

Summary: Denise Collins was discovered in her bathroom by paramedics. She was nude, semiconscious, and covered in blood. The sliding glass door on her second-floor apartment was partially open, and there were ladder impressions on the ground under the balcony. Collins was rushed to the hospital but died shortly thereafter. DNA evidence showed that the semen taken from the bed sheets matched Kimbrough, and some of the pubic hairs matched his. However, additional pubic hairs from another unidentified black male and a Caucasian male were also found. The DNA evidence indicated that the blood samples taken from the bed matched Kimbrough. A workman at the apartment complex identified Kimbrough as the man who had watched him put away a ladder in the complex at the time of the murder. The crime went unsolved until Kimbrough was arrested for raping a 22-year-old woman in March 1992. He was sentenced to 10 1/2 years for burglary and sexual battery. DNA from that attack was then used to connect him to the Collins assault. 

Citations:
Kimbrough v. State, 700 So. 2d 634 (Fla. 1997). (Direct Appeal)
Kimbrough v. State, 886 So. 2d 965 (Fla. 2004). (PCR)
Kimbrough v. Sec'y, DOC, 565 F.3d 796 (11th Cir. Fla. 2009). (Habeas) 

Final / Special Meal:
Two slices of pizza, fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, chicken gizzards, chocolate-chip ice cream and fruit punch. 

Final Words:
None. 

Internet Sources:

Florida Department of Corrections

DC Number: 374123
Name: KIMBROUGH, DARIUS
Race: BLACK
Sex: MALE
Hair Color: BLACK
Eye Color: BROWN
Height: 5'09"
Weight: 237 lbs.
Birth Date: 12/04/1972
Aliases: DARIUS KIMBROUGH, DARIUS MARQUTTA KIMBROUGH, JEFFREY KIMBROUGH 

Current Prison Sentence History:
03/09/1992 BURGLARY ASSAULT ANY PERSON 12/15/1993 ORANGE 9202630 10Y 6M 0D
03/09/1992 SEX BAT/INJURY NOT LIKELY 12/15/1993 ORANGE 9202630 10Y 6M 0D
10/03/1991 1ST DG MUR/PREMED. OR ATT. 12/09/1994 ORANGE 9210868 DEATH SENTENCE
10/03/1991 BURGLARY ASSAULT ANY PERSON 12/09/1994 ORANGE 9210868 SENTENCED TO LIFE
10/03/1991 SEX BAT/ WPN. OR FORCE 12/09/1994 ORANGE 9210868 SENTENCED TO LIFE 

Incarceration History: 12/19/1994 to 11/12/2013 

Darius Mark Kimbrough

ProDeathPenalty.Com

The victim, Denise Collins, was found nude and semi-conscious in her bathroom by paramedics;?she was covered with blood. The sliding glass door to her second floor apartment was partially open, and there were some ladder impressions under the balcony. Collins was rushed to the hospital, where she died soon thereafter. The officers took semen evidence from the bed sheets, took blood evidence from the victim, and found pubic hairs in the bed and in a towel. The samples were sealed in a bag and sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab for analysis. 

A resident of the apartment complex named Lee told officers that he had twice seen a man in the vicinity of the apartment and had seen a ladder on the apartment's balcony. Officers were unsuccessful in searching for the man, but later Lee identified Kimbrough from a picture lineup. A workman in the complex identified Kimbrough as a man who had watched him putting away a ladder in the complex around the time of the murder. The DNA evidence showed that the semen taken from the bed sheets was compatible with Kimbrough's, and some of the pubic hairs matched his. There were, however, additional pubic hairs from another unidentified black man and a caucasian male. The DNA evidence indicated that the blood samples taken from the bed matched Kimbrough's. The medical examiner testified at trial that the victim had a fractured jaw and fracturing around her left temple. The cause of death was hemorrhaging and head injury in the brain area resulting from blunt injury to the face. There was also evidence of vaginal injury, including tears and swelling consistent with penetration. There were bruises on her arms. 

The defense's theory suggested that the victim's ex-boyfriend had committed the crime since he was with the victim shortly before, had used a ladder before at her apartment, had a key, and had beaten her previously. The evidence of prior beating was excluded. In the sentencing order, the judge listed three aggravators: prior violent felony, committed during the course of a felony, and heinous, atrocious, or cruel. To support the prior violent felony aggravator, the judge cited Kimbrough's prior convictions for both burglary of a dwelling with battery therein and sexual battery. The court found that the murder here was committed during sexual battery or attempt to commit sexual battery, citing DNA evidence and bruising, as well as evidence that the victim and defendant did not know each other. The heinous nature of the crime was supported by the size of the victim, the three blows to her head causing fracture by blunt force, evidence of a struggle (the room was in disarray), and the amount of blood found around the room. The judge considered age as a statutory mitigator (Kimbrough was nineteen), but rejected it because there was no evidence establishing that he was immature or impaired. The court considered the following nonstatutory mitigation: Kimbrough had an unstable childhood, maternal deprivation, an alcoholic father, a dysfunctional family, and a talent for singing. The court found that the mitigation did not temper the aggravators. 

Denise Collins was an aspiring artist at the time of her death. She went to high school in Titusville and attended colleges in Boston. She got a job at Kinko's in Orlando after earning a fine arts degree, but she wanted to be a graphic artist. She loved cats and was "big-hearted," said her mother. "She had a very pleasing personality. She was outgoing and laid-back," Stewart said. "She was very pretty, a very attractive girl." Collins spent her last evening listening to CDs at a friend's apartment along with other friends, including Gary Boodhoo, her former boyfriend. She returned to her apartment at night, and detectives believe she was attacked sometime between midnight and 4 a.m. the next day. 

"He lived 22 years too long and too well and he's going to go out clean and easy, and he doesn't deserve it," said Diane Stewart, Collins' mother, in a recent telephone interview. "She didn't go out that way, and he doesn't deserve what he's getting. He should go out the way she did. That's how we feel." Stewart, who lives in New Jersey, said she planned to attend the execution with Collins' sister. Boodhoo recalled Collins as a loving person who did work in painting, drawing and collages. "There was such a beauty to her work, her personality, her relationship with others," Boodhoo said. "I'm just glad he's going to die ... I couldn't be happier about it. He's the worst kind of human being there is." 

 

On this date, November 12, 2013, a rapist-killer, Darius Mark Kimbrough (left) was executed by lethal injection in Florida. He was convicted of the October 3, 1991 murder of Denise Collins (right).

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://noticias.terra.cl/mundo/ejecutan-con-inyeccion-letal-a-violador-y-asesino-de-joven,4edbf1e8d5942410VgnVCM4000009bcceb0aRCRD.html]