CARLOS A. JONES, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1994-06-08
No. 93-1344
SMITH and LAWRENCE, JJ., concur.
637 So. 2d 999 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1994) Positive Treatment
Cited by 14 cases

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Synopsis

Carlos Jones appealed the denial of his post-conviction rule 3.850 motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The court affirmed, holding that the motion was facially deficient because factual allegations were set forth in an accompanying memorandum of law rather than under oath in the motion itself, and that even if properly sworn, the allegations were legally insufficient.


Holding

The motion was legally insufficient on its face because all matters of fact must be set forth under oath in the motion itself, with only matters of law presented in supporting memoranda. Additionally, even if the factual allegations had been properly sworn, they were legally insufficient under applicable precedent to support relief.


Headnotes

[1] A motion for post-conviction relief must set forth all factual allegations under oath within the motion itself, not in a separate memorandum of law.

[2] Assertions of fact in a memorandum of law supporting a post-conviction relief motion are not considered sworn statements for the purpose of rule 3.850.

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Key Quotes

“all matters of fact must be set forth under oath in the motion itself, and only matters of law may be presented in a supporting memorandum or brief”

Establishes the core holding that factual allegations in rule 3.850 motions must be sworn and contained in the motion, not in supporting documents

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Facts & Procedural History

Jones filed a rule 3.850 post-conviction motion claiming ineffective assistance of counsel based on his counsel's failure to call certain witnesses at…

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Opinion of the Court
ZEHMER, Chief Judge.

ZEHMER, Chief Judge.

Carlos Jones brings this appeal from the trial court’s order summarily denying his motion for post-conviction relief pursuant to rule 3.850, Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure. The motion alleges ineffective assistance of counsel because his counsel failed to call certain witnesses during trial. The trial court denied relief for the reason that “Defendant has failed to allege facts upon which relief may be granted.... ” We affirm. See Highsmith v. State, 617 So. 2d 825 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993); Robinson v. State, 516 So. 2d 20 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). We write this opinion, however, to bring attention to a frequently recurring deficiency in many rule 3.850 motions that requires summary denial of relief.

In the instant ease, the motion properly set forth the initial information required by rule 3.850(c)(l)-(5); but as to the requirements of subparagraph (6) — that the motion also set forth a brief statement of the facts relied on to support the motion — the motion merely referred the trial court to an attached “Memorandum of Law.” All of the facts relied on to support the motion were set forth in the memorandum of law rather than the motion itself. While the motion was made under oath as required by rule 3.850, the assertions of fact in the attached memorandum were not made under oath.

Rule 3.987 prescribes an appropriate form of motion that complies with the requirements of rule 3.850, and the instructions in subparagraph (1) of that rule specifically require that the motion be sworn to so that “[a]ny false statement of a material fact may serve as the basis for prosecution and conviction for perjury.” Subparagraph (2) of that rule also states that, “If briefs or arguments are submitted in support of your legal claims (as opposed to your factual claims), they should be submitted in the form of a separate memorandum of law.” (Emphasis added.) It is perfectly evident, therefore, that to comply with these two rules, all matters of fact must be set forth under oath in the motion itself, and only matters of law may be presented in a supporting memorandum or brief. The motion filed in this case failed to meet the requirements of these rules by setting forth facts in the accompanying memorandum, and was legally insufficient on its face to warrant any relief from the trial court. For this reason, the order denying relief must be affirmed.1

It appears, however, that the trial court nevertheless passed on the sufficiency of the facts set forth in the accompanying memorandum of law, and we agree that even if those allegations of fact had been properly made under oath they were legally insufficient under Highsmith and Robinson to support any basis for relief under rule 3.850.

AFFIRMED.

SMITH and LAWRENCE, JJ., concur. . We decline to approve the suggestion made in Meagher v. Dugger, 861 F. 2d 1242 (5th Cir.1988), that a movant may cure the type of defect present in the instant case by incorporating the memorandum of law by reference in the motion. That suggestion is inconsistent with requirements in rules 3.850 and 3.987. But cf. Price v. State, 487 So. 2d 34 (Fla. 1st 1986), wherein we held that the movant’s incorporating in his motion, on rehearing of the order denying it, a properly sworn affidavit supporting the grounds of the motion, was sufficient to comply with the rule and permit us to consider the facial sufficiency of the motion to allege a basis for relief. The critical consideration is that the matters of fact relied on by the movant be made under oath subjecting the movant to the penalties for perjury if the asserted facts are false.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Schofield v. State, 641 So. 2d 172 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)
    …(Fla. 1st DCA 1994). Thus, where the allegations of fact are contained in a document that is not under oath, as is the case with Schofield’s three supplemental doc [*173] uments, the grounds alleged in the motion must be denied. Id.; Jones v. State, 637 So. 2d 999 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). AFFIRMED. MICKLE and LAWRENCE, JJ., and SHIVERS, Senior Judge, concur.…
  • Saba v. State, 677 So. 2d 41 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)
    …sworn, we affirm the trial court’s denial of defendant’s 3.850 motion without prejudice. See Green v. State, 635 So. 2d 159 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994) (3.850 motion requires proper oath); Vereen v. State, 637 So. 2d 386 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994); Jones v. State, 637 So. 2d 999 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). We note however that if a copy of the colloquy had been attached to the order of denial we would have simply affirmed. See Montgomery v. State, 615 So. 2d 226, 227 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993) (ineffective assistance/involuntary plea cla…
  • Garnel D. Rackley v. State, 667 So. 2d 207 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)
    …orandum of law which was not under oath. The trial court properly denied the motion finding it to be facially insufficient to support the granting of any relief as all matters of record were alleged in the un-sworn memorandum of law. Jones v. State, 637 So. 2d 999 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s ruling. This disposition is without prejudice to appellant’s right to resubmit the motion with a proper oath. Schofield v. State, 641 So. 2d 172 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). ERVIN, JOANOS and V…

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