Squires v. State, 72776
| Decision Date | 01 February 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 72776,72776 |
| Citation | 558 So.2d 401 |
| Parties | 15 Fla. L. Weekly S49 William Michael SQUIRES, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Larry Helm Spalding, Capital Collateral Representative, and Billy H. Nolas, Timothy D. Schroeder, Julie D. Naylor and Martin J. McClain, Asst. Capitol Collateral Representatives, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Candance M. Sunderland, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
William Michael Squires was convicted of the murder of Jesse Albritton during a service station robbery on the night of September 2, 1980. His conviction and sentence of death were affirmed. Squires v. State, 450 So.2d 208 (Fla.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 892, 105 S.Ct. 268, 83 L.Ed.2d 204 (1984). Thereafter, he filed a motion for postconviction relief which was denied without a hearing. On appeal, this Court reversed in part and remanded for an evidentiary hearing on specified issues of ineffective assistance of counsel and violations of the principle of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Squires v. State, 513 So.2d 138 (Fla.1987). After hearing extensive testimony on these issues, the trial court once again denied the motion. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.
Squires first argues that his counsel was ineffective for failure to interview Donald Hynes as a possible defense witness. Squires claims that Hynes should have been interviewed because of his potential to provide testimony which would have contradicted the testimony of prosecution witnesses, Terry and Charlotte Chambliss. At trial, the Chamblisses testified that Squires and Hynes had come to their house on the night of the murder and asked them to help them hide their automobile. Terry Chambliss said that Squires told him that he had run into trouble during a robbery and that he had to "dust one." Squires asserts that Hynes would have testified that rather than being at the Chamblisses' house on September 2, 1980, he and Squires actually hid their car at the Chamblisses on the night of September 7, 1980, following an unrelated Thoni's Service Station robbery they had committed.
In some respects, Squires' position could more properly be characterized as complaining that counsel was ineffective for not calling Hynes as a witness because Squires' lawyer, Rick Edwards, actually had a copy of a statement Hynes had given to the police as well as a copy of Hynes' answers given in a polygraph examination. In any event, Edwards testified that the theory of the defense was to demonstrate, through witnesses and receipts signed on stolen credit cards, that Squires was in Alabama and Georgia on or about the time of the murder. Squires furnished most of the information to support the alibi. Early in the case, Squires told Edwards to stay away from Hynes and only suggested just before the trial that he ought to talk to Hynes. At this point, Edwards' investigator could not find Hynes.
Edwards testified that he knew that Hynes would not be able to corroborate Squires' alibi of not being in Tampa on September 2. Furthermore, he also knew Hynes would tell of a damaging conversation with Squires at a Tampa park on September 7 in which Squires told him that Ed Fowler had killed a man while using Squires' car, and he wanted Hynes' advice as to whether he should kill Fowler. In fact, Edwards said he was concerned that Hynes might actually say that Squires was in Tampa on the date of the murder. Thus, he said that when he learned the state was not going to call Hynes, he thought it best to leave him alone.
In Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), the defense counsel's duty to investigate was at issue. The United States Supreme Court stated:
[C]ounsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary. In any ineffectiveness case, a particular decision not to investigate must be directly assessed for reasonableness in all the circumstances, applying a heavy measure of deference to counsel's judgments.
The reasonableness of counsel's actions may be determined or substantially influenced by the defendant's own statements or actions. Counsel's...
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...On February 1, 1990, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's denial of Petitioner's Rule 3.850 motion. Squires v. State, 558 So.2d 401 (Fla.1990). On June 1, 1990, Petitioner filed his second Rule 3.850 motion in the state trial court. The trial court denied Petitioner's motion......
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