Floyd v. State

• Decision Date: 17 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. SC00-1533, No. SC97043.
• Parties: James FLOYD, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. James Floyd, Petitioner, v. Michael W. Moore, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

808 So.2d 175

James FLOYD, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

James Floyd, Petitioner, v. Michael W. Moore, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Respondent.

Nos. SC00-1533, SC97043.

Supreme Court of Florida.

January 17, 2002.

Pamela H. Izakowitz, Assistant CCRC, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel-South, Tampa, FL, for Appellant/Petitioner.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Carol M. Dittmar, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, FL, for Appellee/Respondent.

PER CURIAM.

James Floyd, a prisoner under sentence of death, appeals the trial court's summary denial of his motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, and he petitions this Court for a writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const. For the reasons stated below, we affirm in part and reverse in part the trial court's order denying postconviction relief without an evidentiary hearing; and remand for the limited purpose of conducting an evidentiary hearing on Floyd's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and his Brady claim.¹ We deny Floyd's petition for writ of habeas corpus.

BACKGROUND

Floyd was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1984 murder of Annie Bar Anderson. The facts in this case are taken from Floyd's initial direct appeal where they are set forth in greater detail. See Floyd v. State, 497 So.2d 1211 (Fla.1986). The relevant facts are as follows:

James Floyd was indicted for the murder of Annie Bar Anderson. He was also charged with two counts of forgery, two counts of uttering a forged check, and two counts of grand theft.

The victim was found dead in one of the bedrooms of her home on the evening of Tuesday, January 17, 1984. She was last seen alive on the afternoon of January 16, 1984, when she cashed a check at her bank. According to the testimony of the medical examiner, she had been killed sometime that afternoon or evening by a stab wound to her chest. When the police arrived at the victim's home on January 17, 1984, the back door was unlocked, and there were no signs of a forced entry. In the room in which they found the victim, there were fresh "pry marks" beneath the window, indicating that someone had attempted to exit from that window.

On the afternoon of the victim's death (Monday, January 16), Floyd had cashed a check for $500 from the victim's account. He was arrested after attempting to flee from the police when he tried to cash a second check for $700 on the same account two days later (Wednesday, January 18). When questioned by the police, Floyd admitted forging the $700 check, explaining that he had found the checkbook on Tuesday near a dumpster. He subsequently revised his story when confronted with the police knowledge that he had cashed the $500 check on Monday. In addition, he admitted owning a brown jacket that was found outside the bank where he was arrested. A sock soaked with blood of the victim's blood type (which was not the defendant's blood type) was found in one of the jacket pockets.

Id. at 1212-13. The jury convicted Floyd of first-degree murder and recommended death by a vote of seven to five. See id. at 1213. The trial court followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Floyd to death.² On appeal, this Court affirmed Floyd's conviction but vacated the death sentence. See id. at 1212. We determined that the cold, calculated, and premeditated (CCP) and avoid arrest aggravating factors were not established beyond a reasonable doubt. See id. at 1214. In addition, we found that the trial judge failed to adequately instruct the jury on mitigating circumstances. See id. at 1215-16. Accordingly, we remanded the case for a resentencing hearing before a jury. See id. at 1216.

Following a resentencing hearing, the jury recommended death by a vote of eight to four. The trial court followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Floyd to death. In so doing, the trial court found two aggravating circumstances³ and no mitigating circumstances. We affirmed Floyd's death sentence on appeal. See Floyd v. State, 569 So.2d 1225 (Fla.1990).

Floyd timely filed his initial 3.850 motion on August 17, 1992. Although the motion was signed by counsel, it was unverified. Floyd subsequently filed a verification on April 8, 1994, and an amended 3.850 motion on August 1, 1994. On April 12, 1996, the State filed a motion to strike Floyd's amended motion as unverified. On May 16, 1996, the trial court entered an order finding that Floyd's motions were improperly verified. Thereafter, the trial court entered an order granting the State's motion to strike Floyd's motions. Floyd appealed the trial court's order to this Court and we dismissed the appeal without prejudice for Floyd to file a properly verified amended 3.850 motion. See Floyd v. State, No. 89,783, 698 So.2d 1225 (Fla. Aug.18, 1997). Floyd subsequently filed a properly verified amended 3.850 motion on April 9, 1998. On November 13, 1998, Floyd filed his final amended motion raising nineteen claims.⁴

Following a Huff⁵ hearing, the trial court entered an order summarily denying thirteen of Floyd's claims⁶ and directing the State to show cause why Floyd was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the remaining six claims.⁷ The State filed its response to the show cause order on April 16, 1999. On July 22, 1999, the trial court entered an order summarily denying Floyd's remaining claims. Thereafter, Floyd filed a motion to reconsider and set aside the denial of his 3.850 motion and a motion to disqualify the trial judge. The trial court denied both of Floyd's motions.

3.850 APPEAL

Floyd raises eight issues on appeal,⁸ many of which may be disposed of summarily because they are procedurally barred,⁹ facially or legally insufficient,¹⁰ or without merit.¹¹ Floyd's remaining claims, however, warrant discussion and we will address them in turn.

INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

In his postconviction motion, Floyd raised several claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Specifically, Floyd asserted that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to adequately investigate and present mitigating evidence during the penalty phase at resentencing,¹² and counsel provided ineffective assistance during voir dire at the same resentencing.¹³ In addition, Floyd asserted that his original trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance during the guilt phase.¹⁴ Floyd contends that the trial court should have held an evidentiary hearing on these claims. We agree.

Under rule 3.850, a postconviction defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing unless the motion and record conclusively show that the defendant is entitled to no relief. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850(d); Peede v. State, 748 So.2d 253, 257 (Fla.1999); Gaskin v. State, 737 So.2d 509, 516 (Fla.1999). A "movant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel if he alleges specific `facts which are not conclusively rebutted by the record and which demonstrate a deficiency in performance that prejudiced the defendant.'" Gaskin, 737 So.2d at 516 (quoting Roberts v. State, 568 So.2d 1255, 1259 (Fla.1990)); see also Mendyk, 592 So.2d at 1079; Kennedy v. State, 547 So.2d 912, 913 (Fla.1989). Upon review of a trial's court summary denial of postconviction relief without an evidentiary hearing, this Court must accept a defendant's factual allegations as true to the extent they are not refuted by the record. See Occhicone v. State, 768 So.2d 1037, 1041 (Fla.2000); Gaskin, 737 So.2d at 516; Lightbourne v. Dugger, 549 So.2d 1364, 1365 (Fla.1989).

In Gaskin, we reiterated that "[w]hile the postconviction defendant has the burden of pleading a sufficient factual basis for relief, an evidentiary hearing is presumed necessary absent a conclusive demonstration that the defendant is entitled to no relief." Gaskin, 737 So.2d at 516. Indeed, we have strongly urged trial courts to err on the side of granting evidentiary hearings in cases involving initial claims for ineffective assistance of counsel in capital cases. See id. at 516 n. 17; see also Mordenti v. State, 711 So.2d 30, 33 (Fla.1998) (Wells, J., concurring) (advocating mandatory evidentiary hearing for all initial 3.850 motions asserting ineffective assistance of counsel, Brady, and other newly discovered evidence claims in capital cases); Ragsdale, 720 So.2d at 207 (recognizing that this Court has encouraged trial courts to hold evidentiary hearings on postconviction motions). Based upon our review, we find that Floyd set forth a sufficient factual basis for relief which was not conclusively refuted by the record.¹⁵ Accordingly, the trial court should have held an evidentiary hearing on these claims of ineffectiveness of counsel.

BRADY CLAIM

Floyd also asserted in his postconviction motion that the State withheld exculpatory evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). As previously stated, a postconviction defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing unless the motion and record conclusively demonstrate that the defendant is entitled to no relief. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850(d); Gaskin, 737 So.2d at 516. Floyd contends that the trial court should have held an evidentiary hearing on his Brady claim. We agree. Based upon our review, we conclude that Floyd was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on this claim because the record did not conclusively refute Floyd's factual allegations that the State withheld exculpatory evidence in violation of Brady.¹⁶

HABEAS CORPUS

Appellate counsel's ineffectiveness is appropriately raised in a petition for writ of habeas corpus. See Freeman v. State, 761 So.2d 1055, 1069 (Fla.2000). In order to grant habeas relief on the basis of ineffectiveness of appellate counsel, this Court must determine

whether the alleged omissions are of such magnitude as to constitute a serious error or substantial deficiency falling measurably outside the

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