Patton v. State

• Citation: 784 So.2d 380
• Decision Date: 28 September 2000
• Docket Number: No. SC89669.,SC89669.
• Parties: Robert PATTON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Florida

784 So.2d 380

Robert PATTON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC89669.

Supreme Court of Florida.

September 28, 2000.

Rehearing Denied December 22, 2000.

Todd G. Scher, Chief Assistant CCRC, Office of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel-South, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Fariba N. Komeily and Lisa Rodriguez, Assistant Attorneys General, Miami, Florida, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Robert Patton appeals an order entered by the trial court summarily denying his motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons stated below we remand this case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on the claim that counsel was ineffective for failing to raise intoxication or insanity as a defense to first-degree premeditated murder, despite the substantial evidence of the defendant's long-term use of drugs and history of mental illness. In all other respects we affirm.

The pertinent facts are taken from our opinion on direct appeal:

[O]n September 2, 1981, the victim, a Miami police officer, attempted to stop appellant for traveling the wrong way on a one-way street. Appellant abandoned his car, which was later determined to have been stolen, and fled the scene on foot. He ran down an alley with the officer in pursuit. Witnesses heard gunshots and one witness testified that appellant had hidden in the alley and waited for the officer to approach before shooting him. The officer was found dead with two bullet wounds. One bullet had penetrated his heart, killing him instantly, and another had entered the officer's foot in a manner indicating that the officer had been shot after he was dead and lying prostrate.

Immediately after the shooting, appellant stole a car at gunpoint and fled the area. He was arrested later that day and charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, grand theft, and violation of probation. Two days later, after obtaining a search warrant, the police recovered the murder weapon from beneath a heating grate in appellant's grandmother's home.

Patten v. State, 467 So.2d 975-76 (Fla. 1985).¹

Robert Patton (Patton) was charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, and grand theft of a motor vehicle. He was found guilty as charged. During the penalty phase, the jury sent a note to the judge indicating that it was deadlocked by a six-to-six vote. The trial judge gave the jury an Allen² charge, instructing the jury to continue deliberations. The jury returned with a seven-to-five vote recommending Patton be sentenced to death. The judge sentenced him to death for first-degree murder, 110 years for armed robbery, and 5 years for grand theft.

Patton appealed his convictions and sentences. This Court affirmed all the convictions and the armed robbery and grand theft sentences. See Patten v. State, 467 So.2d 975 (Fla.1985). However, the death sentence was vacated and the case was remanded for a new sentencing proceeding before a different jury because the jury was given an improper Allen charge. See id. At resentencing, the jury recommended death by an eleven-to-one vote, and the judge imposed a death sentence. On appeal, the death sentence was affirmed. See Patten v. State, 598 So.2d 60 (Fla.1992).

Patton filed a postconviction motion pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 on June 7, 1994. He filed a second amended motion for postconviction relief on July 22, 1995. The State filed a response to the second amended motion and supplied the trial court with six boxes of records on July 28, 1995. At a telephone hearing held on September 21, 1995, the trial judge stated she was summarily denying the motion for the reasons advanced in the State's response. The trial judge asked the State to prepare an order to that effect. The State prepared two proposed orders, each detailing the arguments made in the State's response as the reasons for denying the motion for postconviction relief. One proposed order granted the State's motion to compel production of the defense attorney's files, and the other proposed order denied it. Both proposed orders were presented to Patton for objections. He objected to both proposed orders, arguing they went beyond the trial judge's directions. Patton wanted the proposed orders to merely state that the motion for postconviction relief was denied for all the reasons argued in the State's response without stating the actual arguments. He further objected to the proposed order granting the motion to compel production of documents, arguing the motion to compel should be denied. Both proposed orders and Patton's objections were forwarded to the trial judge. The judge signed the proposed order which denied Patton's motion for postconviction relief and denied the motion to compel. A copy of the signed order was sent to the State, and the State sent a copy to defense counsel. In this appeal, Patton raises twenty issues.³ The nine issues which were or should have been raised on direct appeal and are therefore procedurally barred will not be addressed.⁴See Eutzy v. State, 536 So.2d 1014 (Fla.1988); Woods v. State, 490 So.2d 24 (Fla.1986). While we find only one issue warrants an evidentiary hearing, we will briefly comment on the other issues.

Need for an Evidentiary Hearing

Patton argues four reasons in support of his claim that the trial court erred in summarily denying his postconviction motion: (1) the allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel were legally sufficient and not conclusively rebutted by the record; (2) the court considered evidence from the file that was not in the record to summarily deny the motion; (3) it was improper for the judge to delegate authority to the State to draft the order denying the motion for postconviction relief; and (4) it was improper for the judge to fail to attach specific portions of the record to the order denying relief.

A defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a motion for postconviction relief unless (1) the motion, files, and records in the case conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief; or (2) the motion or particular claims are legally insufficient. See Maharaj v. State, 684 So.2d 726 (Fla.1996); Anderson v. State, 627 So.2d 1170 (Fla.1993); Holland v. State, 503 So.2d 1250 (Fla.1987). The defendant in a postconviction proceeding bears the burden, however, of establishing a prima facie case based upon a legally valid claim. Mere conclusory allegations are not sufficient. See Kennedy v. State, 547 So.2d 912 (Fla.1989).

Because the record does not conclusively refute some of Patton's allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel, the court should have held an evidentiary hearing. Specifically, the court should have held a hearing to determine if counsel was ineffective in failing to investigate and present evidence that Patton was intoxicated or insane at the time of the shooting. Instead, the court summarily denied this claim stating a strategy must be presumed. If this were the standard, a strategy could be presumed in every case and an evidentiary hearing would never be required on claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. To the contrary, it was necessary for the court to conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine whether counsel was acting competently when she chose not to present an intoxication or insanity defense to a charge of first-degree premeditated murder, where she had conceded that the defendant shot the victim. These defenses have the potential to affect the outcome of the trial since voluntary intoxication or insanity can negate the specific intent needed for first-degree murder. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).

With regard to the intoxication defense, counsel had information that the defendant was a heavy drug user and had a substantial history of drug and alcohol abuse dating back to when he was seven years old. Counsel knew of but did not present evidence that Patton had been doing speedballs (a mixture of cocaine and heroin) only seven hours prior to the shooting, that the stolen car Patton had driven prior to the murder had drug paraphernalia in it, or that Patton had fresh track marks on his arm at the time he was arrested. Because this evidence was available but not presented to the jury, the issue of intoxication needs to be explored in the adversarial setting of an evidentiary hearing.

With regard to the insanity defense, there was also ample evidence available which could have suggested to defense counsel that Patton was legally insane at the time he committed this murder, including the fact that Patton had previously been adjudicated insane. The State argues that counsel was unable to find an expert who would testify that Patton was legally insane, and therefore she was not ineffective for failing to present this defense. This argument is rebutted by the record. Dr. Toomer testified at resentencing that Patton was legally insane at the time he shot the police officer. In addition there are records available that document Patton's history of mental illness. A proven claim of insanity at the time of the offense would negate the specific intent needed for a first-degree murder conviction. At the very least this claim should be tested at an evidentiary hearing.

Moreover, one of the bases for the State's argument that counsel could not find an expert to testify that Patton was legally insane was the fact that four court-appointed experts testified Patton was competent to stand trial. This argument is flawed for two reasons. First, whether a defendant is competent to stand trial is not necessarily relevant on the question of whether the defendant was insane at the time of the killing. Competency to stand trial and insanity at the time of the offense involve the defendant's mental state at separate and distinct...