MAURICE BERNARD WOODEN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Maurice Bernard Wooden appealed the trial court's summary denial of his Rule 3.850 motion for post-conviction relief, raising claims about an improper minimum mandatory firearm sentence and ineffective assistance of counsel. The appellate court affirmed the denial, finding the ineffective assistance claim facially insufficient due to conclusory allegations lacking factual detail.
The trial court properly denied the motion, but on different grounds than stated. The first ground (firearm sentence) was properly raised and considered on its merits and found lacking. The second ground (ineffective assistance) was properly denied not because it should have been raised on direct appeal, but because the allegations were facially insufficient—mere conclusions without factual detail.
[1] A claim that a firearm was used to impose a minimum mandatory term must be raised on direct appeal.
[2] Ineffective assistance of counsel claims are properly raised in a motion for post-conviction relief, not on direct appeal.
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“it is well-settled that ineffective assistance of counsel is not properly raised on direct appeal, but rather by motion pursuant to Rule 3.850”
Establishes the proper procedural vehicle for raising ineffective assistance claims
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn September 10, 1990, Wooden pled nolo contendere to aggravated battery and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, including a mandatory 3-year mini…
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«TOANOS, Chief Judge.
Maurice Bernard Wooden has appealed an order of the trial court summarily denying his motion for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to Rule 3.850, Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure. We affirm.
On September 10, 1990, Wooden pled nolo contendere to aggravated battery. He was sentenced to a 20-year term of incarceration, including a 3-year minimum mandatory term for use of a firearm. He filed the instant petition on January 14, 1991, alleging that: 1) it was error to impose the minimum mandatory term when it was not proven that a firearm was used, and 2) his counsel was ineffective. As support for the latter ground, Wooden made the general allegations that counsel coerced his plea, and failed to conduct proper pre-trial investigation. The trial court summarily denied the motion, finding that both grounds should have been raised on direct appeal.
The trial court was correct as to the first ground, and we affirm as to that ground. However, it is well-settled that ineffective assistance of counsel is not properly raised on direct appeal, but rather by motion pursuant to Rule 3.850. See Gardner v. State, 550 So. 2d 176 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989). Based on this error, this court requested a response from the Attorney General’s office pursuant to Toler v. State, 493 So. 2d 489 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). The state responds that, as to the allegation of ineffective assistance, the trial court erred in denying the motion on the stated ground. It nevertheless urges affirmance based on the conclusory nature of the allegation, citing Flint v. State, 561 So. 2d 1343, 1344 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (a 3.850 motion is facially insufficient when the allegations thereof contain mere conclusions).
We agree that, as to the allegation of ineffective assistance of counsel, the trial court’s order should be affirmed on grounds of facial insufficiency as the allegations are mere conclusions without recitation of sufficient factual detail. See Robinson v. State, 393 So. 2d 33, 35 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981) (if a trial court’s order is sustainable under any theory revealed by the record on appeal, notwithstanding that it may have been entered for erroneous reasons, the order will be affirmed).
Affirmed.
BOOTH and WOLF, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Robinson v. State, 637 So. 2d 998 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…involved an evidentiary matter which should have been raised on direct appeal. It is well-settled that ineffective assistance of counsel claims are properly raised by motion pursuant to Rule 3.850, rather [*999] than direct appeal. Wooden v. State, 589 So. 2d 372 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). The trial court further found that even if the court accepted appellant’s allegations as true, appellant may not prevail because appellant’s allegations involve matters within the judgment and strategy of trial counsel. The tri…
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Davis v. State, 627 So. 2d 112 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)…facially insufficient to state a claim for postconviction relief because it is merely a conclusory allegation with no factual support for the contention that the jury venire did not reflect a fair cross-section of the community. See Wooden v. State, 589 So. 2d 372 (Pla. 1st DCA 1991); Mitchell v. State, 581 So. 2d 990 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). We affirm the trial court’s denial of relief as to this issue without prejudice to the filing of a sufficiently specific motion for posteonviction relief. Appellant also al…
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Brown v. State, 633 So. 2d 112 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)…e the imposition of a minimum mandatory sentence on direct appeal, the issue is not barred from review on a posteonvietion motion. The trial court in this case reached the opposite conclusion by relying on a First District case. See Wooden v. State, 589 So. 2d 372 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). Even the First District has not consistently followed this rule. See Bell v. State, 589 So. 2d 1374 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). It is clear that Second District precedent directly conflicts with Wooden. There are valid reasons for per…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Toler v. State, 493 So. 2d 489 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)
- Robinson v. State, 393 So. 2d 33 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)
- Flint v. State, 561 So. 2d 1343 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)
- Gardner v. State, 550 So. 2d 176 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)