State v. Lewis
| Decision Date | 27 October 1994 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 82930,78199,s. 82930 |
| Citation | 656 So.2d 1248 |
| Parties | 19 Fla. L. Weekly S545, 20 Fla. L. Weekly S163 STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Lawrence Francis LEWIS, Appellee. Frank Lee SMITH, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Michael J. Minerva, Capital Collateral Representative, Martin J. McClain, Chief Asst. CCR, Thomas H. Dunn, Sp. Asst. CCR, and Gail E. Anderson, Todd G. Scher, Stephen M. Kissinger and John S. Sommer, Asst. CCRs, Office of the Capital Collateral Representative, Tallahassee, for appellant/appellee.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Sara D. Baggett, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee/appellant.
We review the orders of the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, in and for Broward County, Florida, in the cases of State v. Lewis, No. 87-9095CF10 (Fla. 17th Cir.Ct. Oct. 11, 1993), and Smith v. State, No. 85-4654CF (Fla. 17th Cir.Ct. Jan. 6, 1994), pursuant to jurisdiction granted under article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution. Given the similarity of issues, we have consolidated the cases for our review.
Lewis was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by Judge Stanton S. Kaplan of the Broward County Circuit Court. The conviction and sentence were affirmed in Lewis v. State, 572 So.2d 908 (Fla.1990), cert. denied, 501 U.S. 1259, 111 S.Ct. 2914, 115 L.Ed.2d 1077 (1991). In 1992, Lewis filed a 3.850 motion before Judge Kaplan, but sought to disqualify the judge from presiding over the proceeding by asserting that Judge Kaplan: (1) had a personal relationship with Lewis's trial counsel; (2) harbored an animosity towards Lewis; (3) made inappropriate remarks while being interviewed on a television news program; and (4) had a conflict of interest based on the funding methods of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (which includes Broward County). 1 Judge Kaplan granted Lewis's motion and disqualified himself. Thereafter, Lewis caused the judge to be served with a witness subpoena for the purpose of taking his deposition. 2 The trial court denied the State's motion to quash the subpoena, the State sought review, and the Fourth District Court of Appeal transferred the case to this Court.
Smith was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by Judge Robert W. Tyson of the Broward County Circuit Court. The conviction and sentence were affirmed in Smith v. State, 515 So.2d 182 (Fla.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 971, 108 S.Ct. 1249, 99 L.Ed.2d 447 (1988). After the Governor signed his death warrant, Smith filed a motion for post-conviction relief and a request for a stay of execution. We reversed the trial court's denial of Smith's motion for post-conviction relief and remanded for an evidentiary hearing. Smith v. State, 565 So.2d 1293 (Fla.1990). After the evidentiary hearing, the trial court again denied Smith's motion for post-conviction relief. Smith appealed, alleging that Judge Tyson engaged in ex parte communications with the prosecutor when preparing the order that denied Smith's motion. We temporarily relinquished jurisdiction to the trial court for the purpose of "getting the facts" relevant to the alleged ex parte communications. Smith subpoenaed Judge Tyson for the purpose of taking his deposition. The State filed a motion to quash and a motion for a protective order asserting that Smith failed to follow the procedures established in Davis v. State, 624 So.2d 282 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993). The trial court denied the motion to quash, but granted a protective order limiting Smith's inquiry to the facts surrounding the order's preparation. The State filed an emergency motion seeking review in this Court and we granted a stay of the circuit court proceedings pending our disposition of the review proceedings in Lewis and Davis. On February 4, 1994, we consolidated Lewis and Smith.
These two cases present the following issues: (1) can parties engage in pre-hearing discovery when pursuing post-conviction claims pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850; and (2) if such discovery is permitted, may the parties depose the trial judge? We answer both issues in the affirmative, and find that it is within the trial judge's inherent authority, rather than any express authority found in the Rules of Criminal Procedure, to allow limited discovery. In this vein, we find the procedures established in Davis persuasive and adopt the following paragraph as our own In most cases any grounds for post-conviction relief will appear on the face of the record. On a motion which sets forth good reason, however, the court may allow limited discovery into matters which are relevant and material, and where the discovery is permitted the court may place limitations on the sources and scope. On review of an order denying or limiting discovery it will be the [moving party's] burden to show that the discretion has been abused.
624 So.2d at 284. The trial judge, in deciding whether to allow this limited form of discovery, shall consider the issues...
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Ingram v. State
...'good-reason' standard for the postconviction discovery process. See [State v.] Marshall, [148 N.J. 89, 690 A.2d 1 (1997)]; State v. Lewis, 656 So.2d 1248 (Fla.1994); People ex rel. Daley v. Fitzgerald, 123 Ill.2d 175, 121 Ill.Dec. 937, 526 N.E.2d 131 (1988). As noted by the Illinois Suprem......
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...standard for the postconviction discovery process. See [State v. ] Marshall, [148 N.J. 89, 690 A.2d 1 (1997) ]; State v. Lewis, 656 So.2d 1248 (Fla.1994) ; People ex rel. Daley v. Fitzgerald, 123 Ill.2d 175, 121 Ill.Dec. 937, 526 N.E.2d 131 (1988). As noted by the Illinois Supreme Court, th......
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Ingram v. State, No. CR-03-1707 (Ala. Crim. App. 9/29/2006)
...standard for the postconviction discovery process. See [State v.] Marshall, [148 N.J. 89, 690 A.2d 1 (1997)]; State v. Lewis, 656 So. 2d 1248 (Fla. 1994); People ex Daley v. Fitzgerald, 123 Ill.2d 175, 121 Ill.Dec. 937, 526 N.E.2d 131 (1988). As noted by the Illinois Supreme Court, the good......
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