Sheppard v. State
Citation | 338 So.3d 803 |
Decision Date | 10 March 2022 |
Docket Number | SC19-1512, No. SC20-422 |
Parties | Billy Jim SHEPPARD, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. Billy Jim Sheppard, Jr., Petitioner, v. Ricky D. Dixon, etc., Respondent. |
Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
Robert S. Friedman, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Dawn B. Macready, Assistant Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, North Region, Tallahassee, Florida, and Stacy R. Biggart, Special Assistant Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Gainesville, Florida, for Appellant/Petitioner
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Michael T. Kennett, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, for Appellee/Respondent
Billy Jim Sheppard, Jr., appeals an order of the circuit court denying his motion to vacate his conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851 and petitions this Court for a writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const.
In the proceedings below, the circuit court granted a new penalty phase and the State has not challenged that ruling. Therefore, only postconviction claims relevant to the guilt phase issues are presented on appeal. Sheppard's petition for writ of habeas corpus raises two claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the circuit court's order and deny the petition for writ of habeas corpus.
Sheppard was convicted of the first-degree murders of Monquell Wimberly and Patrick Stafford. See Sheppard v. State , 151 So. 3d 1154, 1157 (Fla. 2014). The jury recommended the death penalty for the murder of Wimberly by a vote of eight to four and life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the murder of Stafford. Id. at 1164. The trial court followed the jury's recommendations. Id. We affirmed both convictions and the sentence of death on direct appeal, id. at 1157, and summarized the relevant facts as follows:
Id. at 1158-60 (footnote omitted).
Sheppard was taken into custody and after being read and waiving his Miranda1 rights, he was interviewed by Detective Bowers and Detective Glen Warkentien.2 Id. at 1161. Sheppard initially denied carjacking James's car, but he later admitted that he and Evans took the car for a "joyride." Id. Sheppard maintained that he got into the driver's side and that he later got out of the car while Evans kept it. Id. Sheppard denied taking the car by force and denied any involvement with the Wimberly or Stafford murders. Id.
Sheppard's cellmate, Michael Roberts, gave the following testimony:
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Truehill v. State
... ... has not demonstrated that counsel's strategic decision to ... avoid the topic of the prior identification was unreasonable ... and we affirm the circuit court's determination as to ... this issue. See Sheppard v. State , 338 So.3d 803, ... 819-20 (Fla. 2022) (reasonable trial strategy to avoid ... challenging a witness's identification to avoid giving ... the witness another opportunity to identify the defendant as ... the shooter) ... iii ... Cris ... ...