Straight v. Wainwright, s. 62168
| Decision Date | 14 September 1982 |
| Docket Number | 62182,Nos. 62168,s. 62168 |
| Citation | 422 So.2d 827 |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
| Parties | Ronald STRAIGHT, Petitioner, v. Louie L. WAINWRIGHT, Respondent. Ronald STRAIGHT, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
Raymond E. Makowski, Jacksonville, and Steven L. Seliger, Quincy, for petitioner/appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and David P. Gauldin and Carolyn M. Snurkowski, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tallahassee, for respondent/appellee.
These consolidated cases are before the Court on petition for a writ of habeas corpus and on appeal from a circuit court order denying postconviction relief under Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. Petitioner-appellant is a state prisoner under sentence of death. We deny the petition for a writ of habeas corpus and affirm the denial of the Rule 3.850 motion. The previously entered temporary stay of execution has already expired.
Petitioner-appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to death. The judgment and sentence were affirmed on appeal. Straight v. State, 397 So.2d 903 (Fla.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1022, 102 S.Ct. 556, 70 L.Ed.2d 418 (1981). Petitioner-appellant recently moved the trial court in which he was convicted and sentenced for an order vacating, setting aside, or correcting the judgment and sentence. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing and denied the motion. Petitioner-appellant appealed. Meanwhile, he also filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in this Court. We granted a temporary stay of execution and consolidated the cases for consideration and disposition in this single opinion.
First, petitioner argues that he was deprived of a full and meaningful appeal due to ineffective representation provided by his appellate counsel. He identifies several instances where appellate counsel did not raise or brief issues which may have had merit, and contends that the failure to brief non-frivolous issues constitutes ineffective representation.
The first omission petitioner identifies is the failure of appellate counsel to argue that the trial court had expressly restricted the jury to consideration of statutory mitigating circumstances. The instruction given to the jury, petitioner points out, tracked the language of section 921.141(6), Florida Statutes (1975), and therefore, he argues, failed to apprise the jury of its right and duty to consider any factor in mitigation shown by the evidence. Petitioner argues further that there were nonstatutory mitigating circumstances which the jury could have considered had it not been limited by the court's instructions. The statute and the instructions given comported with due process and the Eighth Amendment. See Peek v. State, 395 So.2d 492 (Fla.), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 964, 101 S.Ct. 2036, 68 L.Ed.2d 342 (1981); Songer v. State, 365 So.2d 696 (Fla.1978) (on rehearing), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 956, 99 S.Ct. 2185, 60 L.Ed.2d 1060 (1979). The contention that the failure of appellate counsel to raise this issue was an omission falling substantially short of the standard expected of competent attorneys is therefore without merit. See Knight v. State, 394 So.2d 997 (Fla.1981).
Next petitioner argues that appellate counsel was ineffective in that he failed to argue that the trial court had erred in instructing the jury on all the statutory aggravating circumstances rather than just those established by some evidence. It was proper for the judge to instruct on all the statutory aggravating circumstances. For the judge to have instructed only on those factors which she found supported by evidence would have improperly invaded the province of the jury. We therefore find that such omission was not substantially deficient when measured against the standard expected of competent attorneys.
Petitioner argues that his appellate counsel was deficient for not arguing that the trial court had erred in not finding the existence of certain nonstatutory mitigating circumstances. While it might be expected that a reasonably competent attorney would attempt to seek review of a trial court's refusal to find mitigating circumstances, such an attempt would not have affected the outcome of the appeal since it lies within the province of the trial judge to decide whether a particular mitigating circumstance has been established and the weight to be given to it. Riley v. State, 413 So.2d 1173, 1175 (Fla.1982). Therefore this contention is without merit.
Petitioner argues that his appellate counsel was deficient in that he failed to argue that the trial judge, in imposing sentence, improperly considered the opinions of officers familiar with the case on the propriety of the death penalty, as revealed by interviews conducted in the course of preparation of a presentence investigation. Since we have approved the use of such background reports with proper disclosure, there was no error. This omission was not substantially deficient and the point is without merit.
Petitioner argues that his appellate counsel rendered ineffective representation in that he did not argue that the trial judge had given improper double consideration to a circumstance of the crime having relation to two separate statutory aggravating circumstances. We treated the matter in deciding the appeal and found the error harmless. We do not find the omission to have been a substantial deficiency.
All of the asserted deficiencies refer to tactical decisions of appellate counsel. We hold that petitioner has failed to show deficiencies falling substantially below the standard expected of competent counsel which affected the outcome of the appeal.
Second, petitioner argues that this Court erred when it affirmed his sentence of death after concluding that only three of the four statutory aggravating circumstances found by the trial court were proper. Petitioner contends that since the sentencing judge obviously found all four factors applicable when one of them was not, this Court could not reasonably have concluded that the sentencer would have reached the same conclusion had it known that one of the factors was invalid. Our holding on this issue when it arose on the original appeal was grounded on controlling precedent. Petitioner's present attack on our previous decision is without merit.
Third, petitioner argues that this Court's earlier affirmance of the sentence of death gave implicit approval to the trial court's reliance on nonstatutory aggravating circumstances. Petitioner argues that the trial judge considered opinions reported in a presentence investigation as to the propriety of a sentence of death in petitioner's case. As was stated above, we have approved the use of presentence investigations in capital sentencing knowing that they frequently contain reports of opinions of persons familiar with an offender. This point is without merit.
All points raised in the petition for habeas corpus are without merit.
Appellant argues that the imposition of the sentence of death upon him was violative of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution in that the instructions to the jury had the effect of restricting mitigating considerations to the statutory mitigating circumstances. Appellant cites Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978), for the proposition that such restrictive instructions may render a death sentence violative of the Eighth Amendment.
As we stated above in responding to the argument on ineffective appellate counsel, this contention is without merit. Our capital felony sentencing law and jury instructions based thereon do not limit consideration to statutory mitigating circumstances. See Peek v. State, 395 So.2d 492 (Fla.), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 964, 101 S.Ct. 2036, 68 L.Ed.2d 342 (1981); Songer v. State, 365 So.2d 696 (Fla.1978) (on rehearing), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 956, 99 S.Ct. 2185, 60 L.Ed.2d 1060 (1979).
Appellant argues that the court below should have set aside the judgment and sentence on the ground that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at both the guilt and the sentencing portions of his trial. Appellant calls our attention to several actions taken by trial counsel that are now said to have been...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Chavez v. State
...avoid a counterproductive course. See Florida v. Nixon, 543 U.S. 175, 191-92, 125 S.Ct. 551, 160 L.Ed.2d 565 (2004). In Straight v. Wainwright, 422 So.2d 827 (Fla.1982), the defendant challenged his trial counsel's failure to further investigate mitigating evidence. There, trial counsel tes......
-
Hannon v. State
...guiding statutory considerations when issues of life or death are involved. An analogy can also be drawn to Straight v. Wainwright, 422 So.2d 827 (Fla.1982), a case in which the defendant challenged his trial counsel's failure to investigate for the purpose of developing evidence of mitigat......
-
Hannon v. Secretary, Department of Corrections
...he suffered from some sort of brain injury or mental illness at the time of the murders. An analogy can also be drawn to Straight v. Wainwright, 422 So.2d 827 (Fla.1982), a case in which the defendant challenged his trial counsel's failure to investigate for the purpose of developing eviden......
-
Maxwell v. Wainwright
...jury. The jury was not misled on the permissibility of considering all mitigating evidence it found persuasive. See Straight v. Wainwright, 422 So.2d 827, 830 (Fla.1982). Appellant argues that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that its sentencing recommendation, either for death......