JACK PHILLIP CATLETT, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1993-11-30
Nos. 92-2520, 93-401
Before HUBBART, COPE and GODERICH, JJ.
627 So. 2d 558 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1993) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 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

A Florida appellate court affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief for a defendant convicted of armed robbery at two separate trials. The court rejected the defendant's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel regarding voir dire procedures, failure to object to similar crimes evidence, and failure to request jury instructions.


Holding

The court held that none of the defendant's ineffective assistance claims warranted an evidentiary hearing because either the allegations did not state sufficient grounds for collateral relief or were refuted by the record. Specifically: counsel was authorized to stipulate regarding judge presence during voir dire under the law applicable at the time of trial; counsel's failure to object to admissible similar crimes evidence did not fall below professional standards; and even assuming the failure to request a jury instruction constituted deficient performance, there was no reasonable probability it would have changed the outcome given the uncontradicted evidence of guilt.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant's post-conviction motion to vacate judgment and sentence may be summarily denied without an evidentiary hearing if the allegations, even if true, do not state…

[2] Prior to the effective date of State v. …

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

Key Quotes

“the allegations of the defendant's motions to vacate, even if true, do not state a sufficient ground for collateral attack relief or are otherwise refuted by the files and record in the case, and therefore no evidentiary hearing on the motions was required”

Establishes the court's standard for reviewing denials of post-conviction relief motions without hearing

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

Jack Catlett was convicted of armed robbery in two separate trials. On direct appeal, this court previously affirmed both convictions. Catlett then fi…

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.

This is a consolidated appeal by the defendant Jack Catlett from a summary denial, without an evidentiary hearing, of his post-conviction motions to vacate judgment and sentence pursuant to Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850. Prior to the filing of these Rule 3.850 motions, this court affirmed on direct appeal the defendant’s armed robbery convictions and sentences entered at two separate trials. Catlett v. State, 568 So. 2d 1325 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Catlett v. State, 567 So. 2d 1069 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990). We affirm the orders under review because, simply stated, the allegations of the defendant’s motions to vacate, even if true, do not state a sufficient ground for collateral attack relief or are otherwise refuted by the files and record in the case, and therefore no evidentiary hearing on the motions was required. Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850(d); State v. Weeks, 166 So. 2d 892 (Fla.1964).

First, the defendant alleges that his trial lawyer rendered ineffective assistance of counsel in the case because he did not obtain an on-the-record consent from the defendant when counsel stipulated with the state that the trial judge need not be present during the voir dire examination of the prospective jury panel. Because this case was tried in both instances before the effective date of State v. Singletary, 549 So. 2d 996 (Fla.1989), it is clear that defense counsel was authorized at the two trials below to enter into such a stipulation and that it was unnecessary for the defendant to join in his counsel’s waiver of the judge’s presence during voir dire of the prospective jurors. Id. at 997. As an aside, such stipulations are no longer valid for all cases tried, unlike this case, after the effective date of Singletary. Id.

Second, the defendant asserts that his trial lawyer rendered ineffective assistance of counsel in the case because counsel did not object at trial to the introduction of certain similar crimes evidence or to the prosecuting attorney’s argument to the jury based on such evidence. We reject this contention because the evidence to which counsel did not object was admissible similar crimes evidence and thus defense counsel’s failure to object to such evidence, as well as the state’s jury argument based thereon, did not fall below accepted professional standards. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); Gore v. State, 599 So. 2d 978, 983 (Fla.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 610, 121 L.Ed.2d 545 (1992); Burr v. State, 466 So. 2d 1051, 1053 (Fla.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 879, 106 S.Ct. 201, 88 L.Ed.2d 170 (1985).

Finally, the defendant asserts that his trial lawyer rendered ineffective assistance of counsel in the case because counsel failed to request a proper cautionary instruction to the jury concerning the similar crimes evidence. Even if such failure fell below accepted professional standards, there is no reasonable probability, as a matter of law, that, but for this deficiency, the result at trial would have been different — given the uncontradiet-ed and unimpeached evidence of guilt adduced at trial against the defendant. This being so, the defendant’s claim of ineffective assistance must necessarily fail. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).

Affirmed.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Williamson v. State, 123 So. 3d 1060 (Fla. 2013)
    …vidence corroborating [the victim’s] testimony” — i.e., testimony that the defendant had confessed to the rape, and nails removed from the trees where the victim was tied up, with twine still attached to one of the nails); see also Catlett v. State, 627 So. 2d 558, 559 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)(no prejudice for failing to request cautionary instruction on similar crimes evidence, where “there is no reasonable probability ... [that] the result at trial would have been different — given the uncontradicted and unimpeac…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw