Lowe v. State, SC05-633.
| Decision Date | 06 November 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. SC05-633.,No. SC05-2333.,SC05-633.,SC05-2333. |
| Citation | 2 So.3d 21 |
| Parties | Rodney Tyrone LOWE, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee/Cross-Appellant. Rodney Tyrone Lowe, Petitioner, v. Walter A. McNeil, etc., Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Neal A. Dupree, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Rachel L. Day and Caroline E. Kravath, CCR Counsel, Southern Region, Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Appellant/Cross-Apellee/Petitioner.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, Leslie T. Campbell and Lisa-Marie Lerner, Assistant Attorneys General, West Palm Beach, FL, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant/Respondent.
Rodney Tyrone Lowe appeals an order of the trial court granting in part and denying in part his motion to vacate his conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. He also petitions this Court for a writ of habeas corpus. The State cross-appeals, challenging the trial court's order granting Lowe a new penalty phase. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the trial court's order and deny habeas relief.
Rodney Tyrone Lowe was charged with and convicted of attempted robbery and the first-degree murder of Donna Burnell. Lowe was sentenced to death for his participation in the crimes. On direct appeal, we summarized the facts of the crime as follows. On the morning of July 3, 1990, Donna Burnell was working as a clerk at the Nu-Pack convenience store in Indian River County when a would-be robber shot her three times with a .32 caliber handgun. Burnell suffered gunshot wounds to the face, head, and chest and died on the way to the hospital. The killer fled the scene without taking any money from the cash drawer. During the week following the shooting, investigators received information linking the defendant, Rodney Lowe, to the crime. Lowe was questioned by investigators at the police station and, after speaking to his girlfriend, gave a statement that implicated himself in the murder. Following this statement, Lowe was arrested and indicted for first-degree murder and attempted robbery.
At trial, the State presented witnesses who testified that, among other things, Lowe's fingerprint had been found at the scene of the crime, his girlfriends car was seen leaving the parking lot of the Nu-Pack immediately after the shooting, his gun had been used in the shooting, his time card showed that he was clocked-out from his place of employment at the time of the murder, and Lowe confessed to a close friend on the day of the shooting. The State also presented, over defense objection, the statement Lowe gave to the police on the day of his arrest. Lowe advanced no witnesses or other evidence in his defense.
At the conclusion of the penalty phase, the jury, by a vote of nine to three, recommended the imposition of the death penalty. The judge followed the jury's recommendation and imposed the death penalty, finding two aggravating circumstances, specifically: (1) the defendant was previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person; and (2) the capital felony was committed while the defendant was engaged in or was an accomplice in an attempt to commit robbery. In imposing the death penalty, the trial judge expressly found the mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the aggravating factors. The trial judge also sentenced Lowe to fifteen years' imprisonment for the attempted robbery conviction.
On direct appeal, Lowe raised seventeen issues—ten guilt phase issues and seven penalty phase issues.1 This Court rejected Lowes arguments on all claims and affirmed his convictions and sentence of death. Lowe v. State, 650 So.2d 969 (Fla. 1994).
On March 19, 1997, Lowe filed his initial motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. After Lowe filed several amended postconviction motions and amendments to these motions, the trial court held a Huff2 hearing. Subsequently, the trial court entered an order denying twelve of the thirty-three claims and held an evidentiary hearing on the remaining claims. After the evidentiary hearing, Lowe filed two supplemental claims, and an additional evidentiary hearing was set for the Brady3 violation claim. On August 11, 2004, the trial court issued an order denying all of Lowe's claims in his second amended postconviction motion.
On August 26, 2004, Lowe filed a successive postconviction motion based on newly discovered evidence and also filed a motion for rehearing. On November 23, 2004, the trial court held a hearing on the motion for rehearing and the first successive postconviction motion. On January 13, 2005, Lowe filed a second successive postconviction motion based on newly discovered evidence. On March 2, 2005, Lowe filed an amendment to his second successive postconviction motion. However, before the State could respond to this motion, on March 18, 2005, the trial court issued an order denying a new trial but granting a new penalty phase based on the motion for rehearing and the first successive motion. Lowe has appealed the denial of part of his postconviction motion, raising five claims, and has also filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, raising three claims. The State has cross-appealed.
Lowe raises the following five claims on appeal: (1) he was denied an adversarial testing at the guilt phase of his trial because trial counsel was ineffective, the State suppressed material exculpatory evidence, and newly discovered evidence has been disclosed, and for these reasons the jury did not know that Dwayne Blackmon was the shooter; (2) evidence that Lowe did not act alone was never presented to the jury because counsel failed to properly investigate and the State withheld evidence that multiple parties were involved in the crime; (3) because counsel was ineffective and the State withheld material evidence, critical impeachment of Dwayne Blackmon was never presented to the jury; (4) trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to object to irrelevant and inflammatory evidence; and (5) trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to challenge the admissibility of Lowe's statement on the ground that it was obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights, and by failing to impeach Patricia White. The State cross-appeals and argues that the trial court failed to follow the law when it granted a new penalty phase based on claims of ineffective assistance and newly discovered evidence relating to allegations that Dwayne Blackmon confessed to killing the victim. We affirm the trial court's denial of relief on all claims raised by Lowe, and affirm the trial court's order granting a new penalty phase.
Lowe argues that for various reasons trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance during his trial. In order to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must show that trial counsel's performance was deficient and that the deficient performance prejudiced the defendant so as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); see also Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (2003) (). As to the first prong, the defendant must establish that "counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the `counsel' guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment." Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052; see also Cherry v. State, 659 So.2d 1069, 1072 (Fla.1995). For the second prong, the reviewing court must determine whether there is a reasonable probability that, but for the deficiency, the result of the proceeding would have been different. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052. "A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome." Id. "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." Id. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052.
Generally, this Court's standard of review following a denial of a postconviction claim where the trial court has conducted an evidentiary hearing accords deference to the trial court's factual findings. McLin v. State, 827 So.2d 948, 954 n. 4 (Fla.2002). "As long as the trial court's findings are supported by competent substantial evidence, `this Court will not substitute its judgment for that of the trial court on questions of fact, likewise of the credibility of the witnesses as well as the weight to be given to the evidence by the trial court.'" Blanco v. State, 702 So.2d 1250, 1252 (Fla.1997) (quoting Demps v. State, 462 So.2d 1074, 1075 (Fla. 1984)). However, the circuit court's legal conclusions are reviewed de novo. See Sochor v. State, 883 So.2d 766, 771-72 (Fla.2004).
Lowe contends that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to present the testimony of Lisa Miller and Ben Carter that Blackmon admitted to killing the victim. Lowe indicates that Miller and Carter both testified at the evidentiary hearing that they were present when Blackmon admitted to his involvement in the robbery and the killing of the victim.
At the evidentiary hearing, Miller testified that a few months after the murder, she was at Blackmon and Carter's grandmother's house with Carter, Blackmon, Brenda Shuh, and Blackmon's wife, Victoria Blackmon. According to Miller's testimony, while they were at the grandmother's house Blackmon stated, After making that statement, Blackmon began talking to Carter about the details of the robbery and the...
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