Chandler v. State

• Decision Date: 17 April 2003
• Docket Number: No. SC01-1468.,SC01-1468.
• Citation: 848 So.2d 1031
• Parties: Oba CHANDLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

848 So.2d 1031

Oba CHANDLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC01-1468.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 17, 2003.

Rehearing Denied June 24, 2003.

Baya Harrison, Monticello, FL, for Appellant.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, and Candance M. Sabella, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, FL, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Oba Chandler, a prisoner under sentence of death, appeals the trial court's denial of his motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the trial court's order denying Chandler postconviction relief.

BACKGROUND

Oba Chandler was charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the murder of Joan Rogers, and her two daughters, Michelle and Christe. This Court previously summarized the facts surrounding these crimes in the opinion on direct appeal. See Chandler v. State, 702 So.2d 186, 189-191 (Fla.1997)

.

On September 29, 1994, Chandler was found guilty of all three counts of firstdegree murder. The next day a penalty phase proceeding was held, and the jury unanimously recommended that Chandler be sentenced to death for each of the three murders. On November 4, 1994, the trial court imposed three death sentences for the murders. We affirmed Chandler's convictions and sentences on direct appeal. See id. at 189. The United States Supreme Court denied Chandler's petition for writ of certiorari on April 20, 1998. See Chandler v. Florida, 523 U.S. 1083, 118 S.Ct. 1535, 140 L.Ed.2d 685 (1998).

In June of 1998, Chandler filed an initial motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. In May of 2000, Chandler filed an amended 3.850 motion asserting seven claims.¹ Following a Huff² hearing, an evidentiary hearing was held on November 2, 2000.³ Thereafter, the trial court entered an order denying relief. This appeal follows.

ANALYSIS

On appeal, Chandler raises three claims: (1) the trial court erred in denying Chandler an evidentiary hearing regarding his claim that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to seek a venue change; (2) the trial court erred in failing to find that trial counsel was ineffective in dealing with evidence of a similar crime that was introduced at trial pursuant to Williams v. State, 110 So.2d 654 (Fla.1959), (Williams Rule evidence); and (3) the trial court erred in failing to find that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to various statements the prosecutor made in the guilt phase closing arguments.⁴ We address each of these issues in turn.

CHANGE OF VENUE

The indictment in this case alleged that the murders occurred in either Pinellas County or Hillsborough County, Florida. Pursuant to section 910.03(1), Florida Statutes (1993), Chandler initially elected to be tried in Hillsborough County. Subsequently, Chandler's trial counsel filed a motion for change of venue, alleging that Chandler could not get a fair and impartial trial anywhere in the Tampa Bay area. Prior to hearing the motion, the trial court contacted defense counsel and the State to determine if the parties could reach an agreement to conduct the trial in Pinellas County. Pursuant to a new law, the trial court had the option of picking a jury from another county and bringing the jurors to Pinellas County for the trial. See § 910.03(3), Fla. Stat. (Supp.1994). Before hearing Chandler's change of venue motion, the trial court informed the parties that if a stipulation could be entered wherein Chandler would elect Pinellas County over Hillsborough County, the court would agree to select the jury in Orange County and return the jurors to Pinellas County, where they would be sequestered during trial. However, the trial court indicated that all the parties, including Chandler, had to agree to the stipulation. A hearing was held on the motion for change of venue, at which the court explained the stipulation to Chandler in great detail. After the hearing, the trial court entered an order explaining the stipulation and stating that the parties and Chandler had agreed to the stipulation.⁵ The order also indicated that in the event any portion of the stipulation was rescinded, the entire stipulation would be rescinded.

In the order denying Chandler's current postconviction motion, the trial court stated that a subsequent motion to change venue objecting to the jury being picked in Orange County would have caused her to consider the previous stipulation void. The trial court also stated that if the stipulation had been voided, any change of venue motion that Chandler filed would have been held in abeyance while the court attempted to pick an impartial jury in Hillsborough County, the county of original venue. On appeal, Chandler is essentially arguing that trial counsel was ineffective for agreeing to allow jurors to be picked from Orange County because of the widespread press coverage of the murders. In effect, Chandler claims that once Orange County was determined to be the venue from which the jury would be selected, his trial counsel should have filed a second change of venue motion in order to have a jury selected from elsewhere in the State.

In denying Chandler relief on this claim, the trial court first determined that the underlying issue was procedurally barred. We agree. On direct appeal, Chandler did not challenge any members of the Orange County jury as being unfair or unable to be impartial. Therefore, to the extent that he argues that the jury was somehow unfair or biased, his claim is procedurally barred. See, e.g., Harvey v. Dugger, 656 So.2d 1253, 1256 (Fla.1995)

(holding that claims that could have been brought in direct appeal were procedurally barred from being brought in postconviction proceedings); Swafford v. Dugger, 569 So.2d 1264, 1267 (Fla.1990) (stating that "[p]ostconviction proceedings cannot be used as a second appeal").

Furthermore, Chandler has not established either element of the test for establishing ineffective assistance of counsel. In order to prove an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, a defendant must establish two elements:

First, the defendant must show that counsel's performance was deficient. This requires showing that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the "counsel" guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Second, the defendant must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. This requires showing that counsel's errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable. Unless a defendant makes both showings, it cannot be said that the conviction or death sentence resulted from a breakdown in the adversary process that renders the result unreliable.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); see also Wike v. State, 813 So.2d 12, 17 (Fla.2002)

; Rutherford v. State, 727 So.2d 216, 219-20 (Fla.1998); Rose v. State, 675 So.2d 567, 569 (Fla.1996). To establish prejudice, "[t]he defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome." Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694,

104 S.Ct. 2052. Ineffective assistance of counsel claims present a mixed question of law and fact subject to plenary review based on the Strickland test. See Stephens v. State, 748 So.2d 1028, 1033 (Fla.1999). This requires an independent review of the trial court's legal conclusions, while giving deference to the trial court's factual findings. See id.

Generally, claims of ineffective assistance of counsel regarding change of venue are brought where counsel either did not file a change of venue motion, see, e.g., Buford v. State, 492 So.2d 355 (Fla. 1986),

or where counsel failed to obtain a change of venue, see, e.g., Rolling v. State, 695 So.2d 278 (Fla.1997). Chandler, by way of comparison, was given an initial selection between Pinellas or Hillsborough counties based on the indictment, and was given the additional option of stipulating to have his jury selected from Orange County. Hence, the question before us is whether Chandler's trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a second motion for change of venue because of pretrial publicity. With regard to when a change of venue is necessary to protect a defendant's rights, we have provided the following test:

The test for determining a change of venue is whether the general state of mind of the inhabitants of a community is so infected by knowledge of the incident and accompanying prejudice, bias, and pre-conceived opinions that jurors could not possibly put these matters out of their minds and try the case solely on the evidence presented in the courtroom.

The trial court in its discretion must determine whether a defendant has raised such a presumption of prejudice under this standard.... In exercising its discretion, a trial court must make a two-pronged analysis, evaluating: (1) the extent and nature of any pretrial publicity; and (2) the difficulty encountered in actually selecting a jury.

Rolling, 695 So.2d at 284-285 (citations omitted) (quoting McCaskill v. State, 344 So.2d 1276, 1278 (Fla.1977)). Furthermore, the existence of pretrial publicity in a case does not necessarily lead to an inference of partiality or require a change of venue:

[P]retrial publicity must be examined in the context of numerous circumstances, including; (1) when it occurred in relation to the time of the crime and the trial; (2) whether the publicity was made up of factual or inflammatory stories; (3) whether the publicity favored the prosecution's side of the story; (4) the size of the community; and (5) whether the defendant exhausted all of his peremptory challenges.

Foster v. State, 778 So.2d 906, 913 ...