Hall v. State, 92,008.

• Citation: 742 So.2d 225
• Decision Date: 01 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 92,008.,92,008.
• Parties: Freddie Lee HALL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

742 So.2d 225

Freddie Lee HALL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 92,008.

Supreme Court of Florida.

July 1, 1999.

Jack W. Crooks, Assistant Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Tracy L. Martinell, Dayle M. Green, and Jeff Shama, Staff Attorneys, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Middle Region, Tampa, Florida, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Robert J. Landry, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, Florida, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Freddie Lee Hall, a prisoner under sentence of death, appeals the trial court's order denying his motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We affirm the trial court's order for the reasons expressed herein.

Hall and an accomplice, Mack Ruffin, were convicted in separate trials of the February 1978 abduction and murder of a young woman. The facts of this crime are set forth in detail in our opinion on direct appeal. See Hall v. State, 403 So.2d 1321, 1323 (Fla.1981). Both Hall and Ruffin were sentenced to die in the electric chair. This Court affirmed Hall's conviction and sentence. Hall, 403 So.2d at 1325. In September 1982, Hall's first death warrant was signed. Hall filed a rule 3.850 motion, and this Court affirmed the circuit court's denial of that motion and denied Hall's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Hall v. State, 420 So.2d 872, 874 (Fla.1982). A federal district court granted a temporary stay of execution but eventually denied relief. Hall v. Wainwright, 565 F.Supp. 1222, 1244 (M.D.Fla.1983). The Eleventh Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court's decision and remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing. Hall v. Wainwright, 733 F.2d 766, 778 (11th Cir.1984). The district court again denied relief, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed. Hall v. Wainwright, 805 F.2d 945, 948 (11th Cir.1986). Hall then petitioned this Court for a writ of habeas corpus based on a claim that his sentencing proceeding violated Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393, 107 S.Ct. 1821, 95 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987). This Court held that any error in the sentencing proceeding was harmless. Hall v. Dugger, 531 So.2d 76, 78 (Fla.1988). Hall's second death warrant set execution for September 20, 1988. Hall filed his second rule 3.850 motion, which the circuit court denied. On appeal, this Court considered additional non-record facts and ordered that Hall be resentenced because of a Hitchcock error in sentencing. Hall v. State, 541 So.2d 1125, 1128 (Fla.1989). On resentencing, the jury recommended a death sentence, and the judge imposed it, finding seven aggravators and "unquantifiable" nonstatutory mitigation. State v. Hall, No. 78-52-CF (Fla. 5th Cir.Ct., Feb. 21, 1991) (Findings of Fact for Sentencing Order). This Court affirmed. Hall v. State, 614 So.2d 473 (Fla.1993).

Hall filed the present rule 3.850 motion to seek relief from this resentencing judgment, and it is the denial of that motion which is the subject of this appeal. The circuit court summarily denied all but one of Hall's thirty-three claims. The circuit court held an evidentiary hearing on August 25, 1997, as to Hall's claim that he was incompetent to proceed in the resentencing. Following the hearing, the trial court issued a sixty-five page order denying all relief. State v. Hall, No. 78-52-CF (Fla. 5th Cir.Ct., Oct. 31, 1997) (Final Order). Hall raises five claims in this appeal.¹

We find that Hall's first, third, and fifth claims are procedurally barred and that Hall fails to demonstrate any merit to his fourth claim. These four claims warrant only limited discussion. In his first claim, Hall argues that the Florida capital sentencing statute is unconstitutional facially and as applied in allowing the death penalty for an incompetent or mentally retarded person. This claim is procedurally barred because it was not raised on direct appeal. See Remeta v. Dugger, 622 So.2d 452, 455-56 (Fla.1993). Issues that could have been raised on direct appeal but were not are noncognizable claims through collateral attack. See Teffeteller v. State, 24 Fla. L. Weekly S110, 734 So.2d 1009 (Fla.1999); Johnson v. State, 593 So.2d 206 (Fla.1992); Smith v. State, 445 So.2d 323 (Fla.1983). Likewise, Hall's third claim, that execution by electrocution is cruel or unusual punishment or both under the Florida and United States Constitutions, is procedurally barred because it was not raised on direct appeal. Teffeteller; Remeta.

In his fifth claim, Hall contends that an error occurred in the trial court's finding that aggravators outweighed mitigators in the resentencing. The trial court correctly found this claim to be procedurally barred in that it was raised and addressed by this Court on direct appeal. See Final Order at 58. This Court held as follows in Hall's second direct appeal:

Hall also attacks the trial judge's findings in regards to the mitigating evidence. We disagree that the judge committed reversible error or that death is disproportionate for this killing. The judge considered four statutory mitigators and more than twenty items of nonstatutory mitigating evidence grouped into three general areas, i.e., mental, emotional, and learning disabilities; abused and deprived childhood; and disparate treatment of co-perpetrator. Although the judge initially stated that some of the mitigating evidence was "unquantifiable," he later spent almost six pages analyzing the mitigating evidence and concluded that whatever mitigators had been established did not outweigh the aggravators.

In considering allegedly mitigating evidence the court must decide if "the facts alleged in mitigation are supported by the evidence," if those established facts are "capable of mitigating the defendant's punishment, i.e., ... may be considered as extenuating or reducing the degree of moral culpability for the crime committed," and if "they are of sufficient weight to counterbalance the aggravating factors." Rogers v. State, 511 So.2d 526, 534 (Fla.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1020, 108 S.Ct. 733, 98 L.Ed.2d 681 (1988); Campbell v. State, 571 So.2d 415 (Fla.1990). "The decision as to whether a mitigating circumstance has been established is within the trial court's discretion." Preston [v. State], 607 So.2d [404] at 412 [(Fla.1992)]. The judge carefully and conscientiously applied the Rogers standard and resolved the conflicts in the evidence, as was his responsibility. The record supports his conclusion that the mitigators either had not been established or were entitled to little weight.

Hall, 614 So.2d at 478-79 (citations omitted).

In his fourth claim, Hall contends that the circuit court's summary denial of all but one issue raised in Hall's 3.850 motion violated his rights to substantive and procedural due process. After reviewing all of the claims raised, the circuit judge stated in a sixty-five page postconviction order his rationale, based on the record, for denying relief on each claim, including the ineffective assistance of counsel claims. See Final Order. Hall provides no substantive basis for support of his claim that the circuit court's detailed order in respect to these claims was erroneous. We appreciate the circuit court's fully delineating its ruling on each issue. We reject Hall's fourth claim in this appeal as being plainly insufficient.

This brings us to Hall's remaining claim, in which he contends that the postconviction circuit court erred in finding him competent to proceed at resentencing. Hall argues that his resentencing was unconstitutional in that the effects of his mental retardation rendered him incompetent to be resentenced. Hall further contends that the court erred because it had an incomplete understanding of how mental retardation affects competency.

At the evidentiary hearing below, Hall presented the testimony of two of Hall's three resentencing counsel and four mental health experts. Hall also introduced into evidence copies of his medical records from the Department of Corrections between 1978 and 1996. Counsel Patricia Jenkins testified at the hearing that Hall was rational during resentencing but did not participate in planning trial strategy. Counsel Michael Johnson, who is now a circuit judge, testified that he consulted mental health experts for evaluations of Hall as to competency prior to the resentencing and that he would have asked for a competency hearing if he believed that any expert would support an incompetency finding.

Dr. Harry Krop, a psychologist, testified that he evaluated Hall twice as a confidential expert at the request of defense counsel in March and September 1990, prior to resentencing, and found him to have an IQ of 73 and probable brain damage. Dr. Krop opined that neither finding necessarily reflected upon the issue of Hall's competency. He further testified that Hall was taking antidepressant medication at the time of resentencing and had a schizophrenic personality disorder but that Hall nevertheless understood the situation and was competent to proceed to resentencing. Dr. Jethro Toomer, a psychologist, testified that he had evaluated Hall in August 1988 as to potential mental health mitigation, but not as to competency, and found Hall's IQ to be sixty and his mental age to be thirteen. Dr. Toomer testified that he would find it unlikely that someone who is mentally retarded would meet the criteria for competency but that he was never asked to evaluate Hall as to competency at the time of resentencing and that he could not render such an opinion at the evidentiary hearing. Dr. Alfred Fireman, a psychiatrist, testified as to potential effects of prescription drugs but stated that he had never met or evaluated Hall and could not offer an opinion as to his competency. Dr. Mark Zimmerman, a psychologist, testified that he had evaluated Hall in 1995, at the request of defense counsel, and found that Hall's IQ was 74 and that he was...