Thompson v. State
| Decision Date | 28 August 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. SC07-489.,SC07-489. |
| Citation | 990 So.2d 482 |
| Parties | Melvin B. THOMPSON, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
This case is before the Court for review of the decision of the First District Court of Appeal in Thompson v. State (Thompson II), 949 So.2d 1169 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007). The district court certified that its decision is in direct conflict with the decisions of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Goines v. State, 708 So.2d 656 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998), and Second District Court of Appeal in Kleppinger v. State, 884 So.2d 146 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). Thompson II, 949 So.2d at 1179. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. The question before this Court concerns the appropriate standard for determining prejudice with regard to an ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on counsel's failure to disqualify the presiding judge. We hold that the test set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), is the proper standard for evaluating such claims, and we quash the decision of the First District in Thompson II.
Below, we review the facts of this case and the conflict in the district courts. Next, we discuss the ineffective assistance of counsel standard enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Strickland and addressed in Lockhart v. Fretwell, 506 U.S. 364, 113 S.Ct. 838, 122 L.Ed.2d 180 (1993). Then, we explain our reliance on the Strickland standard in evaluating a claim based on counsel's failure to disqualify the presiding judge. Finally, we apply the Strickland standard to the facts of this case.
Melvin Thompson was charged by information with sexual battery with a deadly weapon (count I), burglary of a dwelling while armed (count II), aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (count III), and false imprisonment (count IV).
Prior to trial, Thompson's attorney filed a motion to withdraw as counsel. In support of this motion, the attorney asserted that Thompson had orally threatened to physically harm counsel and his family. At a subsequent hearing on this motion Thompson's counsel stated that Thompson had threatened, if convicted, to kill defense counsel, members of counsel's family, anyone associated with his case, and then himself. Thompson himself denied counsel's assertions. The trial judge then asked counsel what charges Thompson faced, and the following exchange took place:
MR. GREENBERG [defense counsel]: In 95-2874 the offenses are sexual battery with a deadly weapon, a life felony; burglary of a dwelling while armed, a first degree punishable by life; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a third degree felony; and false imprisonment, a third degree felony.
The trial court then denied counsel's motion to withdraw, explaining:
If there has been a threat made, the Court concludes that it was a threat that could never be carried out. If he's convicted, which was the condition of his threat, if he's convicted, he will be in prison for the rest of his life and he couldn't do physical harm to you or Mr. Poitinger or Mr. Murrell or me or anyone else.
Subsequently, Thompson's counsel filed a motion to disqualify the trial judge which alleged, in part, that Thompson feared that he would not receive a fair trial because the trial judge's comments at the prior hearing "indicate the court has determined the sentence to be imposed in this case prior to trial" and "indicate the court will not be inclined to consider any mitigating circumstances if the defendant is convicted of these offenses and is predisposed to sentence the defendant to the maximum possible sentence." The trial court denied this motion as untimely because the motion was filed some fourteen days after the earlier hearing, whereas the criminal rules provide that a motion for disqualification of a trial judge must be made within ten days after the discovery of the facts constituting the grounds for disqualification.
Thereafter, Thompson's case proceeded to trial, and a jury found Thompson guilty as charged of sexual battery with a deadly weapon (count I), burglary of a dwelling with a specific finding of "while armed" and "with a person assaulted" (count II), aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (count III), and false imprisonment (count IV). A presentence investigation report was prepared in anticipation of sentencing, and it contained a sentencing scoresheet that showed a permissible sentencing range of 122.5 months to 204.2 months in state prison. However, the trial court sentenced Thompson to life imprisonment on count I and five years concurrent imprisonment on counts III and IV. The court also sentenced Thompson to life probation on count II, to run consecutively with his prison sentences.
Thompson appealed his convictions and sentences and asserted, among other claims, that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to timely file the motion for disqualification of the trial judge. However, the First District affirmed Thompson's convictions and sentences, "without prejudice to Appellant to file a timely motion for postconviction relief based upon ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failure to timely file Appellant's motion for disqualification of trial judge." Thompson v. State (Thompson I), 764 So.2d 630, 632 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000). The First District observed that the motion to disqualify the trial judge was legally and facially sufficient to require disqualification and the trial judge would have been required to disqualify himself had it been timely filed. Id. at 631. Because the record was silent as to any possible reason for counsel's tardiness and inconclusive as to any resulting prejudice, the First District determined that the issue of ineffectiveness could be best addressed in postconviction proceedings. Id. at 631-32. The district court held that any postconviction proceedings on this issue should be conducted before a different trial judge. Id. at 632.
Thompson then filed an amended motion for postconviction relief which alleged that trial counsel was ineffective for not timely filing a legally sufficient motion to disqualify the trial and sentencing judge. After holding an evidentiary hearing, the postconviction court denied Thompson's motion for postconviction relief.
When Thompson again appealed to the First District, the district court affirmed the denial of postconviction relief based upon Thompson's ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Thompson II, 949 So.2d at 1170. The First District noted its disagreement with the decisions of the Second District in Kleppinger and the Fourth District in Goines, which the First District characterized as requiring "all ineffective assistance of counsel claims to be reviewed to determine whether `the result of the proceeding was fundamentally unfair or unreliable,' even when a defendant cannot show that the result at trial or the sentence imposed would have been different." Thompson II, 949 So.2d at 1177.1
In Goines, the Fourth District also addressed a postconviction claim based on defense counsel's failure to disqualify the presiding judge. 708 So.2d at 657. The court concluded that "in the absence of a reasonable tactical decision not to do so, it constitutes ineffective assistance not to seek disqualification on the grounds revealed in this case, which plainly show a reasonable fear of judicial bias." Id. at 660. The district court explained "that the prejudice component of Strickland is concerned with whether counsel's deficient performance `renders the result of the trial unreliable or the proceeding fundamentally unfair.'" Goines, 708 So.2d at 660 (quoting Lockhart, 506 U.S. at 372, 113 S.Ct. 838). The court rejected the State's argument that in order to demonstrate prejudice under Strickland the defendant was required to demonstrate that the outcome would have been different if counsel had secured disqualification and the proceedings were then presided over by another judge. Goines, 708 So.2d at 661. Similarly, the Second District in Kleppinger rejected an outcome-determinative standard for prejudice and held that "[t]he finding of prejudice [under Strickland] turns on whether disqualification would have been required, not on whether the outcome of a new trial would have been different." Kleppinger, 884 So.2d at 149 (citing Goines, 708 So.2d at 660).
As recognized by the United States Supreme Court, the Sixth Amendment right to counsel exists in order to protect the fundamental right to a fair trial. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 684, 104 S.Ct. 2052. A fair trial is defined as "one in which evidence subject to adversarial testing is presented to an impartial tribunal for resolution of issues defined in advance of the proceeding." Id. at 685, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Because the purpose of the right to effective assistance of counsel is to ensure a fair trial, "[t]he benchmark for judging any claim of ineffectiveness must be whether counsel's conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result." Id. at 686, 104 S.Ct. 2052.
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