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Trial Continues In Plant City Home Invasion That Killed 1

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 4, 2008

TAMPA - Clayton Maxwell watched as his sister's boyfriend and four cohorts put bandannas across their faces and then armed themselves with hammers and a gun, he testified today.

They walked into a house and came out carrying a boom box, a small electric-piano keyboard and food.

Weeks later, a Plant City Police Department detective told Maxwell he was facing a murder charge. One of the men living in that home, José Anaya, was beaten to death with a hammer. Maxwell opted to help prosecutors. He told his story to the jury during this week's prosecution of Justin Jerrod Grayer, his sister's boyfriend.

Grayer's public defender tried to paint Maxwell as a drug addict who is known to hallucinate. She said he is out to save his own skin by testifying against someone else.

Prosecutors, however, have said Maxwell witnessed the moments leading up to the attack as well as the aftermath.

On the night of Oct. 8, 2006, Maxwell testified, his sister and her friends were hanging out with him at his Mulberry home. His sister wanted drugs, he said, so they drove to Plant City. Her boyfriend and his buddies followed in a gold Acura.

After midnight, he said, Grayer and his friends went into the home of a man who would sell them drugs. After about 45 minutes, they came out and put gloves on their hands and bandannas over their faces. They walked to a home across the street and went in.

When they came out, he said, they put stolen items in Maxwell's Jeep Cherokee and left in the Acura. Maxwell said he couldn't find his keys, so he began to walk back to Mulberry, a 20- to 30-minute drive.

Maxwell said his sister went back to the drug dealer's house, found his keys and picked him up.

Back in Mulberry, Maxwell testified, the other men soon showed up in the Acura. They cooked the stolen food and went to bed.

Later, Maxwell went outside to look at the Acura. Inside, he saw a shirt that was stained red. With his sister following, he drove the Acura to a wooded area, poured gasoline on the floorboards, seats and dash and set it on fire.

A couple of weeks later, he was interviewed by a police detective. He told the detective about the robbery but lied about having burned the car.

He eventually told the full story, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and is expected to receive a five-year prison sentence.

Assistant Public Defender Anna Frederiksen-Cherry repeatedly asked Maxwell about his initial lies to the detective. She asked him whether he was trying to save himself from a life sentence by agreeing to testify against Grayer. Maxwell said he was.

Frederiksen-Cherry pointed out that Maxwell was a regular user of methamphetamine, marijuana, Xanax and alcohol. At the time of the attack, he was not taking medicine prescribed for a mental condition.

She asked Maxwell whether he often hallucinated while on one of his drug binges – that could include hourly use of methamphetamine for up to 13 days straight.

Maxwell testified that he has been known to hallucinate and lose track of time. He said he sometimes has trouble identifying who he is with when he is on a binge.

"When -- and only when -- I'm on methamphetamines," he said.

Maxwell said he was using marijuana and alcohol on the night of the attack but had not taken methamphetamine.

Wednesday, two of the victims in the attack testified that they saw several black men enter their home and strike them with the butt of a gun and hammers. Maxwell is white; the other defendants are black.

One of the witnesses, Diogenes Vazquez, testified that he recognized the voice of his attacker, although the man wore a mask. When a detective showed him pictures of several possible suspects, he pointed to Grayer. Grayer, Vazquez said, often hung out at the house across the street. It was Grayer's voice he heard while he was being struck on the head and hands with a hammer, he testified.

If convicted on the murder charge, Grayer faces a mandatory life in prison.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations Friday.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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