FIDEL V. TRUJILLO, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Fidel Trujillo appealed the denial of his postconviction motion for relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. The court affirmed the denial of his first claim of ineffective assistance of counsel but reversed the summary dismissal of his second claim, which alleged his counsel interfered with his right to testify due to language barriers, and remanded for him to amend the insufficient allegations.
The court affirmed the denial of claim one but reversed the summary dismissal of claim two. The postconviction court must provide the petitioner an opportunity to amend a legally insufficient claim if it is not conclusively refuted by the record and may be corrected in good faith, requiring remand with instructions to strike the claim and allow amendment within a reasonable time.
[1] A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel based on interference with the right to testify is cognizable under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850.
[2] To establish ineffective assistance of counsel, a petitioner must allege both deficient performance and resulting prejudice.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the Florida Supreme Court's opinion in Spera v. State, 971 So. 2d 754 (Fla.2007), requires the postconvietion court to provide the petitioner an opportunity to amend a legally insufficient claim so long as that claim is not conclusively refuted by the record and may be corrected in good faith”
Establishes the legal standard requiring courts to allow amendment of insufficient postconviction claims rather than summary dismissal
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMr. Trujillo filed a postconviction motion raising two claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. In claim two, he alleged that his counsel interfer…
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[*1007] CASANUEVA, Judge.
Mr. Trujillo filed a two-claim motion for postconvietion relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. The postconvietion court summarily denied claim one on its merits and summarily dismissed claim two as facially insufficient. We affirm the denial of claim one without further comment. We reverse the dismissal of claim two and remand for further proceedings.
In claim two, Mr. Trujillo claimed that his counsel was ineffective because he interfered with Mr. Trujillo’s right to testify in his own defense. Mr. Trujillo claimed that he did not speak English and there was no interpreter present at his proceedings. He claimed that he did not understand his right to testify and could not have knowingly, voluntarily, or intelligently waived that right. This claim is cognizable under rule 3.850. See Oisorio v. State, 676 So. 2d 1363 (Fla.1996). The postconvietion court correctly determined that the claim was facially insufficient because Mr. Trujillo failed to allege any prejudice that resulted from counsel’s allegedly deficient performance. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).
However, the Florida Supreme Court’s opinion in Spera v. State, 971 So. 2d 754 (Fla.2007), requires the postconvietion court to provide the petitioner an opportunity to amend a legally insufficient claim so long as that claim is not conclusively refuted by the record and may be corrected in good faith. There is nothing in the record before us to suggest that Mr. Trujillo would be unable to sufficiently supplement his allegation. Accordingly, we reverse the summary dismissal of claim two with instructions to strike the claim, with leave to amend within a specific, reasonable amount of time. See id. at 762.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
VILLANTI and KHOUZAM, JJ„ Concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984)
- Spera v. State, 971 So. 2d 754 (Fla. 2007)
- Oisorio v. State, 676 So. 2d 1363 (Fla. 1996)