ROY CLIFTON SWAFFORD, PETITIONER,
v.
RICHARD L. DUGGER, ETC., RESPONDENT; ROY CLIFTON SWAFFORD, APPELLANT, V. STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. | 1990-11-14
Nos. 76769, 76884
SHAW, C.J., and OVERTON, MCDONALD, EHRLICH and GRIMES, JJ., concur., BARKETT, J., dissents with an opinion, in which KOGAN, J., concurs.
569 So. 2d 1264 Florida Supreme Court (1990) Caution
Cited by 68 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Roy Swafford, a death row inmate, petitioned for habeas corpus and appealed the denial of his postconviction motion, raising claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, Brady violations, improper victim impact evidence, and instructional error. The Florida Supreme Court rejected all claims as either procedurally barred, lacking merit, or unsupported by the record, and denied the stay of execution.


Holding

All of Swafford's claims are either procedurally barred, lack merit, or are conclusively refuted by the record. The trial court properly denied postconviction relief without an evidentiary hearing, and no stay of execution is warranted.


Headnotes

[1] Habeas corpus is not a vehicle for a second appeal, and allegations of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel cannot be used to circumvent this rule.

[2] Failing to brief or argue a nonmeritorious issue does not constitute ineffective assistance of appellate counsel.

Previewing 2 of 6 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

Key Quotes

“Habeas corpus is not to be used for second appeals.”

Establishes the fundamental procedural principle that postconviction proceedings cannot serve as a vehicle for raising issues that should have been raised on direct appeal.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Swafford was convicted by jury of first-degree murder and sexual battery of a gas station/store clerk. The trial court sentenced him to death, and the…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Roy Swafford, a prisoner under death warrant, petitions the Court for writ of habeas corpus, appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion for postconviction relief, and requests a stay of execution. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const.; Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850. Finding no merit to Swafford’s arguments, we refuse to issue the writ, affirm the trial court’s denial of his motion, and deny a further stay.

A jury convicted Swafford of the first-degree murder and sexual battery of a gas station/store clerk. Agreeing with the jury’s recommendation, the trial court sentenced him to death. We affirmed Swaf-ford’s convictions and sentence. Swafford v. State, 533 So. 2d 270 (Fla.1988),1 cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1100, 109 S.Ct. 1578, 103 L.Ed.2d 944 (1989).

Swafford presents four issues in his habeas petition: 1) ineffective assistance of appellate counsel for not convincing this Court that one of Swafford’s statements to a travelling companion should not have been admitted at trial; 2) the state failed to prove sexual battery and counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to raise this issue on appeal; 3) victim impact evidence violated Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496, 107 S.Ct. 2529, 96 L.Ed.2d 440 (1987), South Carolina v. Gathers, 490 U.S. 805, 109 S.Ct. 2207, 104 L.Ed.2d 876 (1989), and Jackson v. Dugger, 547 So. 2d 1197 (Fla.1989), and counsel rendered ineffective assistance by not raising this claim on appeal; and 4) the jury instructions improperly shifted to Swafford the burden of showing life imprisonment to be the appropriate penalty. We fully considered the admissibility of Swafford’s statement on direct appeal. 533 So. 2d at 272-275. Habeas corpus is not to be used for second appeals. Porter v. Dugger, 559 So. 2d 201 (Fla.1990); Blanco v. Wainwright, 507 So. 2d 1377 (Fla.1987). After appellate counsel raises an issue, failing to convince this Court to rule in an appellant’s favor is not ineffective performance. See Porter; Harris v. Wainwright, 473 So. 2d 1246 (Fla.1985). Allegations of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel may not be used to evade the rule against using habe-as corpus as a second appeal. Porter; Harris; Blanco. This issue, therefore, is procedurally barred.

If counsel had challenged the sufficiency of the evidence regarding sexual battery, we would have found no merit regarding that claim. Evidence presented at trial sufficiently supports the sexual battery conviction and the aggravating factors of heinous, atrocious, or cruel and committed during a felony.2 Failing to brief or argue a nonmeritorious issue is not ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. King v. Dugger, 555 So. 2d 355 (Fla.1990); Suarez v. Dugger, 527 So. 2d 190 (Fla.1988). Therefore, we find no merit to Swafford’s second issue.

Although Swafford argues that trial counsel objected to the introduction of victim impact evidence, the record does not show any such objections. Appellate counsel, therefore, cannot be considered ineffective for failing to argue a Booth violation because the claim had not been preserved for appeal. Squires v. Dugger, 564 So. 2d 1074 (Fla.1990); Porter. Moreover, Booth claims are cognizable in habeas corpus proceedings only in extraordinary circumstances, such as were present in Jackson. Clark v. Dugger, 559 So. 2d 192 (Fla.1990); Parker v. Dugger, 550 So. 2d 459 (Fla.1989); Jackson. Such extraordinary circumstances are not present in this ease, and Swafford’s third claim is procedurally barred.

The fourth claim, shifting the burden of persuasion, should have been raised on direct appeal, but trial counsel did not object to what current counsel considers error. The claim is, therefore, procedurally barred. Squires; Porter. Swafford raised sixteen issues in his postconviction motion: 1) violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); 2) refusal to provide full access to the state’s files; 3) ineffectiveness of counsel at the guilt phase; 4) ineffectiveness of counsel at the penalty phase; 5) conflict of interest of one of Swafford’s public defenders who also was a special deputy sheriff; 6) conflict of interest of an attorney who previously represented both Swafford and a codefendant in another criminal matter and who continued to represent the codefendant after conviction; 7) security measures at trial violated Swafford’s rights; 8) using an improperly obtained prior conviction to aggravate the sentence; 9) violation of Booth; 10) the trial court failed to independently weigh the aggravating and mitigating factors; 11) the jury instructions improperly shift the burden to a defendant to show life to be the appropriate penalty; 12) violation of Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985); 13) failure to prove corpus delicti of sexual battery; 14) the cold, calculated, and premeditated instruction violates Maynard v. Cartwright, 486 U.S. 356, 108 S.Ct. 1853, 100 L.Ed.2d 372 (1988); 15) the heinous, atrocious, or cruel instruction violates Maynard; and 16) application of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851 violates Swaf-ford’s rights. After considering the petition, the trial court, in a sixteen-page order reciting reasons therefor, denied it without an evidentiary hearing. Swafford argues that we should reverse the court’s order and remand for such a hearing. We disagree.

Postconvietion proceedings cannot be used as a second appeal. State v. Bolender, 503 So. 2d 1247 (Fla.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 873, 108 S.Ct. 209, 98 L.Ed.2d 161 (1987). Thus, the court properly found claims 7 through 15 procedurally barred because they should have been raised, if at all, on direct appeal. E.g., Roberts v. State, 568 So. 2d 1255 (Fla.1990); Provenzano v. Dugger, 561 So. 2d 541 (Fla.1990); Buenoano v. Dugger, 559 So. 2d 1116 (Fla.1990); Hill v. Dugger, 556 So. 2d 1385 (Fla.1990). We also agree with the trial court that the testimony complained about in claim 9 is not the type of victim impact evidence prohibited by Booth. As to claim 5, co-counsel’s involvement in the case was minimal and Swafford could not have been prejudiced. The court correctly found claim 6 to be irrelevant. As noted by the court, we have repeatedly held that claim 16 has no merit. E.g., Roberts; Correll v. Dugger, 558 So. 2d 422 (Fla.1990). Regarding issue 2, the court found that the dictates of Provenzano and State v. Kokal, 562 So. 2d 324 (Fla.1990), had been complied with. We find no abuse of discretion in declining a stay to allow further review of the recently furnished investigatory files.

In claim 1, Swafford argued that the state failed to disclose exculpatory evidence. “The test for measuring the effect of the failure to disclose exculpatory evidence, regardless of whether such failure constitutes a discovery violation, is whether there is a reasonable probability that ‘had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different.’ ” Duest v. Dugger, 555 So. 2d 849, 851 (Fla.1990) (quoting United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 682, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 3383, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985)). The court found that no Brady violation had occurred and that Swafford had not established the materiality of the information he claims the state withheld. Thus, the court concluded: “There is no possibility that the result of the proceeding would have been different even if all this information were available.” Swafford has shown no error in the court’s ruling, and we hold that the court correctly refused to hold an evidentiary hearing on this claim. Accord Roberts.

Claims 3 and 4 alleged ineffective assistance of counsel at both the guilt and penalty phases of trial. To prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance, both substandard performance and prejudice caused by that performance must be demonstrated. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). To be granted an evidentiary hearing on such a claim, a petitioner must allege specific facts not conclusively rebutted by the record that show a deficient and prejudicial performance. Roberts; Kennedy v. State, 547 So. 2d 912 (Fla.1989). Here, the court found Swafford’s allegations “are refuted by the record, represent trial strategy, or are legally insufficient.” The court also held that Swafford had demonstrated no prejudice under any of the claims. Regarding the evidence Swafford now advances, the court stated that Swafford’s father would not testify at trial and that his mother could not and that the now-advanced information would not have changed the result. We agree that Swafford’s claims fail to meet the prejudice test of Strickland and hold that the court did not err in refusing to hold an evidentiary hearing on claims 3 and 4. Accord Roberts; Correll.

Therefore, we deny the petition for writ of habeas corpus, affirm the trial court’s denial of postconviction relief, and deny a further stay of execution.

It is so ordered.

SHAW, C.J., and OVERTON, MCDONALD, EHRLICH and GRIMES, JJ., concur. BARKETT, J., dissents with an opinion, in which KOGAN, J., concurs.

NO MOTION FOR REHEARING WILL BE ALLOWED.

. The facts are set out more fully in the opinion on direct appeal.

. The victim’s being abducted also supports these aggravating factors.

Dissent
BARKETT, Justice,

BARKETT, Justice,

dissenting.

I believe Swafford is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on his claims under Brady v. Maryland and on his ineffective assistance of counsel claims.

KOGAN, J., concurs.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (36 total)

  • Freeman v. State, 761 So. 2d 1055 (Fla. 2000)
    …ue is procedurally barred. See Francis v. Barton, 581 So. 2d 583 (Fla.1991); Porter v. Dugger, 559 So. 2d 201 (Fla.1990). Appellate counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to convince the Court to rule in appellant’s favor. See Swafford v. Dugger, 569 So. 2d 1264, 1266 (Fla.1990) (“After appellate counsel raises an issue, failing to convince this Court to rule in an appellant’s favor is not ineffective performance.”). Next, Freeman claims appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to argue that applying…
    1 / 2
  • Harvey v. Dugger, 656 So. 2d 1253 (Fla. 1995)
    …ore, claims 5(a), 5(b), 5(c), 6, 8(c), and 92 are proeedurally barred from review in this proceeding because they could have been raised on direct appeal. Further, postconvietion proceedings are not to be used as a second appeal. Swafford v. Dugger, 569 So. 2d 1264, 1267 (Fla.1990). Therefore, claims 8(b), 8(d), and 14 are proeedurally barred as these issues were raised on direct appeal. It is also not appropriate to use a different argument to relitigate the same issue. Medina v. State, 573 So. 2d 293, 295 (F…
  • Teffeteller v. Dugger, 734 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 1999)
    …llate counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to raise unpreserved claims); Suarez, 527 So. 2d at 193 (same). Claims 1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 21, 22 and part of 6 were raised on direct appeal and rejected as meritless by this Court. See Swafford v. Dugger, 569 So. 2d 1264, 1266 (Fla.1990) ("After appellate counsel raises an issue, failing to convince this Court to rule in an appellant's favor is not ineffective performance.”).…

Previewing 3 of 36 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited (27 total)

View all 27 cited authorities →

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw