LUGENE KEITH, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1986-08-05
No. BL-120
WIGGINTON and NIMMONS, JJ., concur.
492 So. 2d 444 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1986) Positive Treatment
Cited by 13 cases

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Synopsis

Keith appealed the denial of his post-conviction motion for ineffective assistance of counsel, challenging his guilty plea to manslaughter. The court affirmed the denial, holding that Keith failed to provide adequate detail regarding his claims of ineffective assistance and that his signed negotiated sentence form negated arguments about misrepresentation.


Holding

The court affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief, holding that Keith failed to meet his burden under Strickland v. Washington by not providing adequate detail about the alleged omissions and deficient conduct, and that his signed negotiated sentence form establishing a 10-year cap negated his claim that his plea was illegally induced.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant claiming ineffective assistance of counsel must demonstrate a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's errors, the outcome of the proceeding would have…

[2] A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel based on counsel's failure to present mitigating evidence is insufficient without specifying what that evidence is.

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Key Quotes

“a defendant must show there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different”

States the governing legal standard from Strickland v. Washington for ineffective assistance of counsel claims

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Facts & Procedural History

Keith entered a negotiated guilty plea to manslaughter on November 19, 1985, in exchange for a sentencing cap of 10 years, which he received. Keith la…

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Opinion of the Court
MILLS, Judge.

MILLS, Judge.

Keith appeals from an order which denied his motion for post-conviction relief sought pursuant to Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850. We affirm.

Keith entered a negotiated guilty plea to a charge of manslaughter on 19 November 1985. This plea was entered in exchange for an agreement that he would not be sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of 10 years. Per this agreement, Keith received a 10-year sentence.

After various other appeals, Keith filed this current motion for post-conviction relief asserting ineffective assistance of counsel. Specifically, Keith contends his guilty plea was illegally induced by his appointed counsel, as the public defender verbally assured him he could expect to be sentenced to only a three-year term. Keith further contends he was denied effective assistance by the public defender’s failure to present evidence which would have constituted grounds for a lesser sentence, and by the public defender’s actions in allowing derogatory statements to be made at Keith’s sentencing in connection with his presentencing investigation report.

The test for determining whether a defendant’s counsel has been ineffective is stated by the United States Supreme Court in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), and by the Florida Supreme Court in Knight v. State, 394 So. 2d 997 (Fla.1981). These cases are in agreement and state that a defendant must show there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.

The first step in carrying this burden is for the defendant to detail in an appropriate pleading the specific omission or overt act upon which the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is based. In the present case, Keith failed to give adequate detail in connection with his charge that his trial counsel committed error by failing to present mitigating evidence inasmuch as he does not state what that evidence is. Likewise, Keith has failed to specify what derogatory statements were made at his sentencing hearing which he felt caused him bias. Without this detail it is impossible to determine whether the public defender’s conduct was deficient, and if so, whether it affected the outcome of the sentencing proceeding. As a consequence, we find Keith has failed to establish a ground for relief under these two arguments. See, Smith v. Smith, 445 So. 2d 323 (Fla.1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1220, 104 S.Ct. 2671, 81 L.Ed.2d 375 (1984).

As concerns Keith's contention that his plea of guilty cannot be considered voluntary due to his counsel’s misrepresentations to him, we adjudge that the negotiated sentence form which Keith signed negates this argument. The form provides for a sentencing cap of ten years and not three. As stated by the Second District in Ray v. State, 480 So. 2d 1300 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985): “... we perceive a difference between a ‘judgment call,’ whereby an attorney offers an honest but incorrect estimate of what sentence a judge may impose, and a clear misstatement of how the law affects a defendant’s sentence.”

Affirmed.

WIGGINTON and NIMMONS, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Swain v. State, 502 So. 2d 494 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)
    …omez v. Beto, 462 F. 2d 596 (5th Cir.1972), such allegations must be in sufficient detail to apprise the court of the names of the witnesses, substance of their testimony, and how the omission prejudiced the outcome of the trial. See Keith v. State, 492 So. 2d 444 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). In the same manner, appellant’s other allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel fall far short of facially indicating that the specific omission or act complained of was a substantial and serious deficiency falling measur…
  • Thames v. State, 702 So. 2d 1368 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)
    …onditions of his probation may refute his claim as they would show whether appellant was made aware prior to the entry of that plea that his maximum incarcera-tive exposure for the violations exceeded one year in the county jail. See Keith v. State, 492 So. 2d 444, 445 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986).…
  • Rusciano v. State, 578 So. 2d 63 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)
    …PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. See Hooper v. State, 232 So. 2d 257 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970), and Keith v. State, 492 So. 2d 444 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). HERSEY, C.J., and ANSTEAD and POLEN, JJ., concur.…

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