TIMOTHY CURTIS HUDSON, APPELLANT, CROSS-APPELLEE,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE, CROSS-APPELLANT
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Timothy Hudson, a death row inmate, appealed a trial court's order on his motion for postconviction relief challenging his death sentence for murder. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's decision, which found ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase and granted Hudson a new sentencing proceeding, while rejecting most of his other claims.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's order, finding that competent, substantial evidence supported the trial court's rulings. The court rejected Hudson's argument that he was entitled to a new trial on all claims, rejected the state's argument that the trial court erred in granting a new sentencing proceeding, and directed the trial court to conduct a new sentencing proceeding within ninety days.
[1] A court's order on a motion for postconviction relief will be affirmed if competent, substantial evidence supports its rulings.
[2] Claims raised in a motion for postconviction relief may be procedurally barred if not previously raised.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The record discloses that competent, substantial evidence supports the trial court's rulings, and we refuse to disturb those rulings.”
Establishes the standard of review applied by the supreme court in evaluating the trial court's factual findings and legal conclusions on postconviction relief claims.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceHudson was convicted by jury of breaking into his former girlfriend's home and killing her roommate. The jury recommended death, and the trial court i…
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PER CURIAM.
Timothy Hudson, a prisoner on death row, appeals and the state cross-appeals the trial court’s order on Hudson’s motion for postconviction relief. We have jurisdiction. Art. Y, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.; Fla. R.Crim.P. 3.850.
We affirm the trial court’s order. A jury convicted Hudson of breaking into his former girlfriend’s home and killing her roommate and recommended that he be sentenced to death.
The trial court agreed with that recommendation, and this Court affirmed Hudson’s convictions and sentences. Hudson v. State, 538 So. 2d 829 (Fla.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 875, 110 S.Ct. 212, 107 L.Ed.2d 165 (1989).
After the governor signed his death warrant, Hudson filed a motion for postconvietion relief raising the following issues: 1) public defender had a conflict of interest; 2) ineffective assistance for failing to develop an intoxi cation defense; 3) ineffective assistance at the penalty phase; 4) ineffective assistance for failing to develop a competent mental health evaluation; 5) ineffective assistance regarding jury selection; 6) trial court failed to find and consider mitigation; 7) burden shift by penalty phase instructions; and 8) unconstitutional automatic aggrava-tors.
The trial court stayed Hudson’s execution and held that there would be an evidentiary hearing on the first four claims and any portion of the others relating to counsel’s effectiveness. The court also held that the merits portions of the other claims were procedurally barred.
In his order rendered after the hearing the judge held that only the second and third claims merited any discussion. As to claim 2, failure to develop an intoxication defense, the judge found no merit to Hudson’s claim of ineffective assistance. Regarding claim 3, however, the judge found that counsel had been ineffective in preparing for the penalty phase and held that Hudson should be resentenced.
Now, Hudson argues that the court erred in not finding merit in more of his arguments and in not awarding him a new trial. The state, on the other hand, contends that the court erred in granting Hudson a new sentencing proceeding. We disagree with both sides’ claims. The record discloses that competent, substantial evidence supports the trial court’s rulings, and we refuse to disturb those rulings. The trial court’s order, therefore, is affirmed. We direct the trial court to empanel a jury and conduct a new sentencing proceeding within ninety days of the date this opinion becomes final.
It is so ordered.
BARKETT, C.J., and OVERTON, McDonald, shaw, grimes, kogan and HARDING, JJ., concur.
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Stephens v. State, 748 So. 2d 1028 (Fla. 1999)…877-78 (Fla. 1997); Clark v. State, 690 So. 2d 1280, 1282 (Fla. 1997), with Diaz v. Dugger, 719 So. 2d 865, 868 (Fla.1998), cert. denied,-U.S.-, 119 S.Ct. 1580, 143 L.Ed.2d 675 (1999); Koon v. Dugger, 619 So. 2d 246, 250 (Fla.1993); Hudson v. State, 614 So. 2d 482, 483 (Fla.1993); Phillips v. State, 608 So. 2d 778, 782 (Fla. 1992). .See, e.g., United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 336 n. 10, 118 S.Ct. 2028, 141 L.Ed.2d 314 (1998) (the question of whether a fine is “constitutionally excessive” as a matte…
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Hudson v. State, 708 So. 2d 256 (Fla. 1998)…udson I). In postconviction, the circuit court found that Hudson’s penalty-phase counsel had provided ineffective representation in that he had failed to adequately investigate and present extensive mitigation evidence. We affirmed. Hudson v. State, 614 So. 2d 482 (Fla.1993) (Hudson II). A .new penalty phase was conducted before a jury, which recommended death. The trial court imposed a second death sentence,3 and Hudson appealed to this Court. In Hudson II, the last time this case was before this Court, we…
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Hardwick v. Crosby, 320 F.3d 1127 (11th Cir. 2003)…"Hudson’s penalty-phase counsel had provided ineffective representation in that he had failed to adequately investigate and present extensive mitigation evidence,” Hudson, 708 So. 2d at 257, and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed, Hudson v. State, 614 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 1993) (per curiam). Critical to this determination was the failure of penalty-phase counsel to provide the mental-health expert with available evidence of Hudson’s cocaine addiction and its effect on his mental state at the time of the armed…
Authorities Cited
- Hudson v. State, 538 So. 2d 829 (Fla. 1989)
- D'Angelo v. Ill. Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Comm'n, 493 U.S. 875 (U.S. 1989)
- Martin v. Del. Law Sch. of Widener Univ., Inc., 493 U.S. 875 (U.S. 1989)