Doug Gilding

Doug Gilding
Born	(1972-05-22) May 22, 1972 Portland, Maine, United States
Criminal status	Incarcerated on Interstate Transfer at Maine State Prison
Convictions	Conspiracy to Robbery Armed Robbery Felony Causing Injury (2) First Degree Felony Murder
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole

Douglas Steven Gilding (born May 22, 1972) is an incarcerated American convicted as a ‘non-present principal’ in the 1997 robbery and murder at Suzanne’s Oyster Reef and Pub in Longwood, Florida, United States. He was arrested on June 6, 1997 in Seminole County. After turning down a 4-year plea deal that would have required him to testify against his co-defendants, Gilding was found guilty at a jury trial of being the “brains” by helping plan the robbery during a 10-minute conversation in his roommate/co-defendant’s car. He was given a life-without-parole sentence under Florida’s felony murder law, for a crime committed while he was home in bed sleeping.

Gilding grew up in a small town in Maine, then went to college in Florida. Before his arrest in 1997, he worked as an actor in Hollywood, California for a short time, and also as a stock trader. While in prison he has gotten certified as a paralegal, taught GED classes for other inmates, and trained service dogs for disabled veterans.

Doug Gilding with service dog trainee Millie

His case is notable because he was not present when the actual crime was committed, similar to Ryan Holle, who’s sentence was recently commuted by Florida’s governor. Gilding’s unique situation, and the fact that he has spent nearly the last 30-years in prison, is a prime argument against the Felony murder rule.

Details of the Crime

In the early morning hours of May 15, 1997, two men burst into Suzanne’s Oyster Reef and Pub at closing time. One of them fired a shot into the ceiling, as they demanded wallets, jewelry, and car keys. Witnesses described the robbers as black, in their early 20s, and 5 feet 11 inches to 6 feet tall. They were later identified as Juan Smallwood and Thomas Chenault.

During the course of the robbery four patrons were pistol-whipped, and one was shot in the leg. At one point, a patron got into a struggle with Chenault, who had the gun. Smallwood, who had a knife, stabbed the patron. Rufus Morse, employed as the cook at Suzanne’s, came out of the bathroom and startled Chenault, who shot Morse in the head, killing him instantly. Patrons began throwing bottles at the robbers, who then fled the bar.

After their arrest two weeks later, Smallwood and Chenault confessed to investigators. In addition, a third man, Michael Stafford, confessed to providing the weapons and driving the getaway car. The three robbers identified two other men as being involved in the planning of the robbery: Gilding, and his roommate John Fisher.

According to testimony, on the night before the robbery Fisher, driving his van, with Gilding as the passenger, met up with Stafford, Chenault, and Smallwood in a parking lot down the road from Suzanne’s. The five of them sat in Fisher’s van and discussed the layout of Suzanne’s, where the safe and drugs were, and the best way to rob the bar. After an approximately 10-minute long conversation, Stafford, Chenault, and Smallwood got back into their own vehicle and drove off. Shortly thereafter, Fisher and Gilding returned to their apartment, and were home in bed sleeping in a different county when the robbery and murder were committed.

Convictions

Gilding, Smallwood, and Chenault all went to trial, and although prosecutors had originally been seeking the death penalty, they received life-without-parole sentences. Stafford and Fisher avoided the death penalty by taking plea deals in exchange for their testimony against the other co-defendants.

Stafford pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and received 15-years in prison for his role as getaway driver and providing the weapons used in the robbery/murder. He was released in 2010. Despite originally facing the death penalty for being a principal planner of the robbery, Fisher pleaded guilty to accessory-after-the-fact and received 4-and-a-half years in prison. He was released in 2001.

Application of the Felony Murder Rule

Gilding, who was not present when the robbery was committed, was charged as a 'non-present principal' to first degree murder under a legal doctrine known as the Felony murder rule. This doctrine allows persons to be held liable for a murder committed by a co-defendant, even if the person was not present when the murder occurred or the death was accidental. "The United States is the only developed nation that still has these draconian felony murder laws on the books." The doctrine has been completely abolished in England, Canada, Ireland, and most of Europe. This means that someone who played a relatively minor role in a crime, such as a get away driver or co-conspirator, could spend his or her life behind bars despite not having killed anyone. "This type of sentence should be reserved for the most heinous criminals not peripheral players."

Doug Gilding with service dog trainee Blondie

In Gildings case, because he was convicted as a co-conspirator to the robbery, he was found to be guilty of the murder committed by Chenault, despite the fact, that he was home in bed sleeping when the crime occurred.

Trial

Shortly after his arrest on June 6, 1997, Gilding refused a 4-year plea deal where he would be required to testify against his co-defendants, which was later offered to, and accepted by, Fisher. He was also offered a deal similar to Stafford's before trial, but chose to fight the case in front of a jury. Gilding’s trial lasted five days, during which his attorneys requested a mistrial based on perjury committed on the witness stand by Stafford.

Before Gilding's trial, Assistant State Attorney Charles Tabscott had filed a motion to withdraw Michael Stafford’s plea deal and re-charge him with first-degree murder. Tabscott claimed that Stafford was lying in his depositions, and "trying to minimize his involvement in the crime". In addition, Tabscott argued, Stafford was "making himself useless as a state witness against his four co-defendants". The judge agreed that Stafford had "changed his testimony", but declined to throw out the plea deal, and ordered Tabscott and Stafford to try and "iron out the inconsistencies". Despite having argued on record that Stafford was a liar and useless as a witness, Tabscott nonetheless decided to use him as a key witness in Gilding's trial.

In addition, shortly after his attempt to withdraw Stafford's plea deal failed, prosecutor Tabscott offered John Fisher the same 4-year plea deal that Gilding had earlier refused, in exchange for his testimony against Gilding. Fisher, who had been facing the death penalty, quickly accepted the offer. Tabscott then set Gilding's trial date with both Stafford and Fisher as witnesses who would testify that it was Gilding who had been the "brains" and done most of the planning for the robbery.

On the third day of Gilding's trial, Stafford gave a fifth and completely different version of the events leading up to the Suzanne's robbery. Gilding's defense attorney called Stafford a liar and moved for a mistrial. They accused prosecutor Tabscott of "desecrating the witness stand by intentionally presenting false testimony". Trial Judge O.H. Eaton Jr. actually asked Tabscott if he thought Stafford was telling the truth, to which the prosecutor replied "I am not going to answer that question".

Judge Eaton decided to let the case go to the jury, despite the credibility issues. Gilding’s attorneys argued that it was "Stafford and Fisher – not their client – who were the principal planners of the Suzanne's robbery." They pointed out that since Stafford's original confession, each subsequent statement changed to make him look more innocent and Gilding more guilty. Nevertheless, after deliberations, the jury came back with a guilty verdict on all counts. On April 8, 1999, Gilding was sentenced to: 5 years in prison for conspiracy to commit robbery; natural life without parole for first-degree felony murder; and 30 years for robbery and both counts of felony causing injury.

Writing the Ryan Holle Reform Act

After almost 25 years in prison, Gilding decided to write a felony murder reform bill from his prison cell while on COVID lock-down. He was inspired by the 2007 New York Times article "Serving Life for Providing Car to Killers," by Adam Liptak, which tells the story of 20-year-old Ryan Holle. He was partying at his apartment with friends one night. While some of the group began discussing and planning to rob a drug dealer down the road, Holle was not involved in that conversation. Ryan’s only role in the robbery was to loan his friends his car. Ryan then went to bed. However, his friends went on to rob the dealer and ended up killing a woman. Under Florida’s felony murder law, Ryan was convicted and sentenced to life without parole for a crime committed while he was at home in bed, asleep.

This perceived injustice was pointed out by former Florida Governor (now U.S. Senator) Rick Scott when, in 2015, he commuted Ryan Holle’s sentence to 25 years in prison. He said that although Holle had some culpability, it was not deserving of a life sentence:

"For lending his car, Ryan Holle is serving a life sentence. This is the same sentence given to [his co-defendant], the man who viciously beat [the victim] to death. I believe the purpose of commutations is to undo such obviously inequitable results. The court was required by law to give Holle the same sentence as the man who actually killed [the victim]. ... Because of Ryan Holle’s responsibility for [the victim]'s death is clearly less than his [co-defendant]’s, I believe his sentence should likewise be less."

This was the first commutation for felony murder in Florida history.

Doug Gilding with service dog trainee Captain, similar to the photo published in the ABA Journal.

Upon reading about Ryan Holle’s commutation, Gilding realized that his own case was very similar in that he was also at home in bed, asleep, when the crime was committed. He wrote the 'Ryan Holle Reform Act' to fix the Florida felony murder law and cap the amount of time in prison a person could receive if they were not the actual killer or were not a major participant in the crime that resulted in someone’s death. The American Bar Association published an article about the 'Ryan Holle Reform Act' in their February/March 2022 issue of ABA Journal magazine.

So far, the bill has received limited support. With Holle now released from prison, advocates hope that he will be able to engage legislators on the issue of Florida’s felony murder law, which currently allows individuals, like Holle and Gilding, who did not kill anyone or were not present during the crime, to receive life sentences.

Advocacy by the Georgetown University Prisons and Justice Initiative

In the fall of 2024, Gilding and Ryan Holle were in contact with Dateline NBC producer Dan Slepian (reporter of The Sing Sing Chronicles). After learning of the similarities between Gilding's case and Holle's, and noting that Gilding remained in prison after nearly 30 years, Slepian introduced him to his longtime friend, Marc Morjé Howard.

Professor Howard is the founder of the Georgetown University Prisons and Justice Initiative, and the co-founder of Making an Exoneree (Georgetown's version of the Innocence Project). Prof. Howard saw the injustice in Gilding's case and submitted it to the Making an Exoneree (MAE) program. Starting in January 2025, the MAE team assigned to Gilding's case began researching records and interviewing people connected to Gilding. In May 2025, they completed a short documentary with the hope that greater public awareness of Gilding's situation will lead to a review of his life-without-parole sentence and, perhaps after three decades, get him a second chance similar to Ryan Holle.

The cases of Ryan Holle and Douglas Gilding have been cited by legal scholars and criminal justice reform advocates as notable examples in debates over the felony murder rule. Uniquely, both men were reportedly at home and asleep when the crimes occurred, yet were convicted as non-present principals under Florida’s felony murder statute and sentenced to life without parole.

See also

• Felony murder rule (Florida)
• Ryan Holle – Criminal defendant whose case involved a controversial interpretation of the felony murder rule; sentence commuted by Florida's governor.

External links

• Free Doug Gilding – Official website with information about Douglas Gilding’s case and contact details.