The ruling allows prosecutors to pursue capital punishment against Julio Montez Morris over charges that include the killings of two men.
MIAMI, FL — A Florida appeals court has cleared prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Julio Montez Morris, a Miami-Dade man accused of involvement in the killings of a key prosecution witness and another man during a long-running murder case.
The Third District Court of Appeal ruled that a lower court improperly barred prosecutors from treating Morris’ case as a capital prosecution because of a death penalty waiver that the State Attorney’s Office said had been filed by mistake. In an Oct. 14 opinion, the appellate court granted the state’s request to overturn that order and said the prosecution may continue as a death penalty case unless prosecutors formally waive capital punishment on the record.
Morris was originally indicted with Clifton Dickson in the first-degree murder of Jazzmon Parker and the attempted premeditated murder of Donnell Parker. Prosecutors filed a notice stating that they intended to seek the death penalty against Morris. According to the appeals court, Ezell Finklea was a key witness who allegedly saw Morris kill Parker. The court said Morris and Dickson were also accused of attacking Finklea before Morris was arrested. Dickson was later acquitted after being tried separately.
Morris’ trial followed, but the case changed dramatically after Finklea and Ira Williams were killed while the trial was underway. The court declared a mistrial. A grand jury later indicted Morris, James William Kelly and Howard Tranard Waters in connection with the deaths of Finklea and Williams. Prosecutors filed notices of intent to seek the death penalty against all three men. The superseding indictment charged Morris with three counts of first-degree murder involving Parker, Finklea and Williams, along with other offenses. The charges remain allegations, and Morris has not been convicted in the case.
Finklea, 61, had cooperated with prosecutors for years in the Parker case. Earlier reporting by the Miami Herald said Finklea told police he witnessed Parker’s 2012 killing and later testified at hearings or depositions despite threats. In January 2019, Finklea and his friend Williams, 70, were shot and killed while Finklea was in a vehicle along Northwest 30th Avenue. Prosecutors later alleged Morris had arranged for Finklea to be killed while Morris was in jail. Morris, Waters and Kelly were charged in connection with the killings.
The dispute now before the appeals court centered not on whether Morris committed the crimes but on whether prosecutors had already surrendered their ability to seek his execution. In March 2021, a deputy chief assistant in the State Attorney’s Office legal division filed a document titled “Announcement of Death Penalty Waiver” for Morris. According to the appellate opinion, the attorney was conducting a routine audit and did not know about the superseding indictment or the newer murder charges.
The appeals court said the filing was intended as an administrative record relating to the original indictment and did not go through the State Attorney’s Office process for deciding whether to waive the death penalty in a capital case. No waiver was filed for Kelly or Waters. The Morris filing also was not announced in open court, and the court said prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge continued handling the case as a capital prosecution for more than three years.
An assistant state attorney discovered the waiver in June 2024 and contacted Morris’ defense attorney. Prosecutors later asked the trial court to clarify the effect of the document, arguing that the office never intended to waive the death penalty on the superseding charges. Morris’ lawyers argued that the written waiver had been filed with the court and could not simply be withdrawn after the deadline for prosecutors to announce an intent to seek capital punishment.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Alberto Milian concluded that the filing prevented the state from seeking the death penalty on Morris’ current charges. Prosecutors challenged that decision in the Third District Court of Appeal. The appellate panel concluded that treating the mistaken administrative filing as a binding waiver improperly interfered with a decision reserved for prosecutors under Florida law.
The appeals court stressed that its ruling was based on what it described as unusual and specific facts. The judges said no prosecutor exercising informed discretion had decided to waive the death penalty on the superseding indictment. The court also noted that the filing had bypassed the office’s internal review process and had never been formally announced in court. The panel therefore quashed the lower court order that required the case to proceed as a noncapital prosecution.
The Oct. 14 opinion followed an earlier appellate decision issued in July. The court denied requests for rehearing, rehearing by the full court and certification while withdrawing its earlier opinion and substituting the updated ruling. The decision leaves the prosecution against Morris classified as a capital case unless the State Attorney’s Office formally waives the death penalty as to the current charges. The ruling does not determine Morris’ guilt or what sentence would ultimately be imposed if he is convicted.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.