JAMES MARTENS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court affirmed the conviction for aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a firearm but reversed the summary denial of a post-conviction motion for ineffective assistance of counsel, requiring an evidentiary hearing on whether defense counsel improperly rejected a plea offer without consulting the defendant.
A trial court's clarifying questions to witnesses do not constitute unwarranted intervention or violate a defendant's right to silence when directed to pre-arrest events, but a motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel based on rejection of a plea offer without client consultation must receive an evidentiary hearing.
[1] A trial court's questioning of witnesses to clarify disputed testimony regarding pre-arrest events does not constitute unwarranted intervention or violate a defendant's r…
[2] A motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel based on defense counsel's rejection of a plea offer without consulting the defendant requires an evidentiary hearing…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMartens was convicted of aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a firearm with a three-year minimum mandatory sentence. He appealed both the co…
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PER CURIAM.
These consolidated appeals emanate from a judgment of conviction for aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a firearm with a three-year minimum mandatory sentence imposed; as well as an appeal from a summary denial of a motion for collateral relief made pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850.
From a review of the record, we reject the defendant’s claim of the trial court’s unwarranted and excessive intervention in interrogation of witnesses. In this case, the interrogation conducted by the trial court was to clarify for the benefit of the jury the swearing match engaged in between the victim and the defendant. Similarly, we reject the defendant’s claim that the trial judge’s questions impinged upon the defendant’s right to silence since it is clear that all questions were directed to events which occurred prior to the defendant’s arrest. For this reason, the appeal from the judgment of conviction is affirmed.
The defendant’s motion for post-judgment relief was improperly denied without benefit of an evidentiary hearing. The motion alleged ineffective assistance of counsel. There remains a dispute as to whether the prosecutor who inaugurated plea negotiations would have followed through with them had not defense counsel completely rejected the offer out of hand without consulting with the defendant. Meeks v. State, 382 So. 2d 673 (Fla.1980). For this reason, the order summarily denying the defendant’s motion for post-judgment relief is reversed.
Affirmed in part, and reversed in part, and remanded.
NESBITT and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ., concur.
SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge
(dissenting in part).
I do not believe that the trial court’s repeated intrusions into the trial could have reasonably been perceived by the jury as merely serving to clarify the testimony. Instead, they seem, in large part, to have argumentatively aligned the court with the prosecution’s version of the disputed facts. In my view, therefore, the court’s apparently unfair participation in the trial entitles the defendant to a new one. Hamilton v. State, 109 So. 2d 422 (Fla. 3d DCA 1959).
I do not disagree with the majority’s disposition of the Rule 3.850 issue.
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Citator
Cited By
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Cottle v. State, 733 So. 2d 963 (Fla. 1999)…ate, 466 So. 2d 409, 410 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985) (remanding because the “allegations, if true, may be found by a trier of fact to constitute a substantial omission by defense counsel”); Young v. State, 625 So. 2d 906 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993); Martens v. State, 517 So. 2d 38, 39 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1987), review denied, 525 So. 2d 879 (Fla.1988).3 But see Zamora v. Wainwright, 610 F.Supp. 159, 161 (S.D.Fla.1985) (noting that claim of failure to plea bargain must allege the State would have offered plea and court would have ac…
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Young v. State, 608 So. 2d 111 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992)…hat the failure of trial counsel to communicate or to communicate correctly the facts and merits of a plea bargain offered by the state may warrant relief to a criminal defendant. Davis v. State, 559 So. 2d 630 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990); Martens v. State, 517 So. 2d 38 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987), rev. denied, 525 So. 2d 879 (Fla.1988); Ginwright v. State, 466 So. 2d 409 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). See also Turner v. Tennessee, 858 F. 2d 1201 (6th Cir.1988), vacated on other grounds, 492 U.S. 902, 109 S.Ct. 3208, 106 L.Ed.2d 559 (…1 / 2
Authorities Cited
- Meeks v. State, 382 So. 2d 673 (Fla. 1980)
- Hamilton v. State, 109 So. 2d 422 (Fla. 3d DCA 1959)