Blackwood v. State
| Decision Date | 12 October 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. SC03-1553.,No. SC04-945.,SC03-1553.,SC04-945. |
| Citation | 946 So.2d 960 |
| Parties | Lynford BLACKWOOD, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee/Cross-Appellant. Lynford Blackwood, Petitioner, v. James R. McDonough, etc., Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Todd G. Scher, Law Office of Todd G. Scher, P.L., Miami, FL, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, and Debra Rescigno and Melanie Dale Surber, Assistant Attorneys General, West Palm Beach, FL, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
Lynford Blackwood appeals an order of the circuit court denying the part of his motion for postconviction relief filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851 which requested a new trial. The State of Florida cross-appeals the part of the order granting Blackwood a new sentencing proceeding. Blackwood also petitions this Court for a writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the decision of the circuit court granting in part and denying in part the motion for postconviction relief, and we deny habeas relief.
Lynford Blackwood was charged with the first-degree murder of Carolyn Thomas-Tynes. The two had dated on and off for approximately ten years, but the relationship ended in October 1994. The victim had since begun dating another man and was six weeks pregnant when Blackwood visited her to return some personal items on January 6, 1995. The two engaged in consensual sex, but a heated argument ensued. The victim was discovered with a folded washcloth and a bar of soap lodged in the back of her throat. She also appeared to have been strangled, both manually and with speaker wire. Forensic evidence indicated that the victim struggled during several minutes of asphyxiation. Blackwood admitted having strangled the victim but stated his belief that she was alive when he left and reiterated that he did not intend to kill her. See Blackwood v. State, 777 So.2d 399, 403 (Fla.2000).
After the withdrawal of prior counsel, the trial court appointed Robert Ullman as Blackwood's counsel in June 1996. Ullman represented Blackwood in both the trial and penalty phases.1 The jury found Blackwood guilty of first-degree murder, and the penalty phase commenced on January 23, 1997, approximately seven weeks after trial. During the penalty phase, the State presented the medical examiner, who testified as to the cause and nature of the death, and the victim's mother, who presented victim impact testimony. Blackwood presented eleven witnesses consisting of friends and family, as well as a detention officer who testified that Blackwood demonstrated good behavior while incarcerated and had become an inmate trustee. The jury recommended the death sentence by a vote of nine to three. Id. at 403.
Ullman contacted Dr. Trudy Block-Garfield, a clinical psychologist, on February 25, 1997, to elicit her aid in investigating mitigating circumstances. Block-Garfield had evaluated Blackwood on two prior occasions for competency. She had been unable to determine competency at the first evaluation due to Blackwood's severely depressed state but found him competent to stand trial after the second evaluation, during which she performed a psychosocial evaluation and an initial screening test for neurological deficits. The tests indicated a low IQ range and possible neurological deficits, but due to Blackwood's continuing depression, she could not definitively determine whether Blackwood suffered neurological impairment. Block-Garfield evaluated Blackwood a third time in March 1997 for evidence of mitigating circumstances. In addition to her own prior competency reports, she consulted a transcript of Blackwood's confession, the medical examiner's deposition and autopsy reports, and police reports. She did not administer any clinical tests for determining mental health mitigation during this third evaluation. She found that Blackwood had no prior criminal history and that he had been under the influence of a mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the crime but that it did not rise to the level of being extreme. The trial court held a Spencer hearing2 on April 11, 1997, at which Blackwood presented testimony from Block-Garfield. 777 So.2d at 404-05.
Based at least in part upon Block-Garfield's testimony, the trial court ultimately found Blackwood's lack of a significant history of prior criminal activity as a statutory mitigating circumstance, and gave that mitigating circumstance significant weight. The court also found eight nonstatutory mitigating circumstances: (1) Blackwood suffered from a mental or emotional disturbance that was not extreme (given moderate weight); (2) he had a good capacity for rehabilitation (given very little weight); (3) he had cooperated with police (given moderate weight); (4) the murder resulted from a lover's quarrel (given no specific weight, but the court considered this factor to the extent that the killing was born out of a prior relationship and was fueled by passion); (5) Blackwood's remorse (given some weight); (6) Blackwood is a good parent (given some weight); (7) his employment record (given some weight); and (8) his low intelligence level (given some weight). However, the trial court also found one aggravating circumstance in that the murder was heinous, atrocious, or cruel (HAC). See § 921.141(5)(h), Fla. Stat. (1995).
The court accepted the recommendation of the jury and imposed the death sentence. On direct appeal, this Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence by a vote of four to three. Id. at 413.3 The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review. Blackwood v. Florida, 534 U.S. 884, 122 S.Ct. 192, 151 L.Ed.2d 135 (2001). Blackwood filed an initial motion for postconviction relief in October 2002. The trial court struck the motion for failure to comply with the requirements of rule 3.851. An amended motion was filed on December 2, 2002, raising five issues.4 After summarily denying three of the claims and holding an evidentiary hearing on the other two claims, the trial court concluded that Blackwood was entitled to a new sentencing proceeding. It denied relief on all other claims. This appeal and cross-appeal followed.
Subsequent to a Huff5 hearing, the trial court summarily denied Blackwood's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel during the guilt phase. The trial court stated Blackwood failed to show any nexus between his allegations of counsel's substance abuse and counsel's deficient performance. In addition, the trial court said that Blackwood failed to demonstrate any legal basis upon which counsel could have successfully challenged the jurors and that he failed to show how counsel's cross-examination of the lead detective was deficient or prejudicial. Relief was also denied because Blackwood failed to show prejudice because counsel's failure to object to evidence solicited during the state's examination of one of the police detectives was harmless error. The court found that the claims of inadequate penalty phase preparation and inadequate assistance of a mental health expert were sufficiently pled and ordered an evidentiary hearing on these claims.
After the evidentiary hearing, the court stated, "The dispositive issue presented by [these claims] is whether Mr. Blackwood was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel as a result of his counsel's failure to investigate and present any mental health mitigation at the penalty phase proceeding." The court found that Blackwood had been deprived of the effective assistance of counsel and held that he was entitled to receive a new penalty phase. Blackwood appeals the summary denial of his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel during the guilt phase of the trial, and the State cross-appeals the granting of a new penalty phase.6
Blackwood argues his trial counsel was ineffective during the guilt phase of his trial and that the trial court erred in summarily denying relief on this claim. Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel must be analyzed under the standard espoused in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). In order to be entitled to relief, a defendant must successfully address two components:
First, the claimant must identify particular acts or omissions of the lawyer that are shown to be outside the broad range of reasonably competent performance under prevailing professional standards. Second, the clear, substantial deficiency must further be demonstrated to have so affected the fairness and reliability of the proceeding that confidence in the outcome is undermined.
Maxwell v. Wainwright, 490 So.2d 927, 932 (Fla.1986) (citing Strickland). Blackwood contends that the trial court erred in summarily denying his postconviction claim of ineffectiveness of counsel during the guilt phase of the trial. He contends that he made specific fact-based allegations, unrefuted by the record, that demonstrate the ineffective assistance of trial counsel Robert Ullman in five areas: racial bias; substance abuse; jury selection; cross-examination; and failure to object.
"To uphold the trial court's summary denial of claims raised in a 3.850 motion, the claims must be either facially invalid or conclusively refuted by the record." Peede v. State, 748 So.2d 253, 257 (Fla.1999). Each of Blackwood's claims alleging ineffective assistance of counsel during the guilt phase is either facially invalid or refuted by the record. In addition, Blackwood failed to preserve the issue of racial bias and failed to demonstrate that he is entitled to relief on the four remaining subissues raised under the ineffectiveness claim.
Blackwood contends the postconviction motion sets forth an unrefuted...
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