EDDIE JERMAIN WILLIAMS
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 1st DCA | 2021-04-14
No. 20-1655
Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2021)

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Holding

Trial counsel was not deficient in making a motion for judgment of acquittal arguing the State failed to prove an essential element of robbery, and the trial court properly denied postconviction relief without an evidentiary hearing.


Headnotes

[1] Trial counsel's performance is not deficient under Strickland v. …

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Key Quotes

“Counsel argued that the State failed to prove an essential element of robbery. Curiously, this is the same argument Appellant now claims should have been made.”

Court's analysis of whether counsel's performance was deficient

Facts & Procedural History

Eddie Williams was convicted of robbery. He filed a postconviction motion under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 claiming his trial counsel wa…

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Opinion of the Court
Long

PER CURIAM.

Appellant, Eddie Williams, appeals the denial of his postconviction claim of ineffective assistance of counsel under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. Mr. Williams claims his counsel was ineffective in making his motion for judgment of acquittal and that the trial court should have held an evidentiary hearing on this claim. Ineffective assistance of counsel claims are analyzed under the two-prong test of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984)—deficient performance and resulting prejudice—and present mixed questions of law and fact. Bradley v. State, 33 So. 3d 664, 672 (Fla. 2010).

Mr. Williams’s trial counsel was not deficient in making the motion for judgment of acquittal. Counsel argued that the State failed to prove an essential element of robbery. Curiously, this is the same argument Appellant now claims should have been made.

The record conclusively demonstrates that Appellant was not entitled to postconviction relief. See Hutchinson v. State, 17 So. 3d 696, 700 (Fla. 2009). The trial court did not err in denying this postconviction claim without first conducting an evidentiary hearing.

AFFIRMED.

BILBREY, NORDBY, and LONG, JJ., concur. _____________________________


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